• Abubakar Kyari canvasses non-public funding in mechanisation, native manufacturing, cold-chain infrastructure
•Afreximbank urges financing of complete agricultural worth chain, cautions in opposition to manufacturing with out market entry
•Atai Akpan says sustainability compliance can shut Nigerian farmers out of European markets and inexperienced financing
•Autodex targets 4,000 tractors, 8,000 hand tillers yearly via native meeting
James Emejo in Abuja
Stakeholders in the agricultural sector, yesterday warned that the nation dangers forfeiting billions of {dollars} in export earnings and rising green-financing alternatives except it urgently shifts from uncooked commodity manufacturing to technology-driven, industrial-scale agriculture anchored on worth addition and environmental sustainability.
They additionally challenged the federal government, monetary establishments, producers and farmers to translate years of agricultural reform commitments into measurable investments, internationally aggressive merchandise and export-ready worth chains.
Their admonition got here on the opening of the third version of the Farm, Food and Allied Technologies Expo (FARMFATECH 2026) with the themed, “Driving Agricultural Industrialisation: Local Manufacturing, Technology Transfer and Export for Africa’s Prosperity” in Abuja.
In his keynote adddress, Head of Sustainability and SDG Alignment, World Agriculture Forum Nigeria Council, Mr. Atai Akpan, was notably crucial of the nation’s gradual progress, insisting that Nigeria may not afford to substitute speeches and coverage pronouncements for concrete motion.
He careworn that Nigerian agricultural producers may more and more discover themselves excluded from worldwide markets and financing alternatives as sustainability, traceability and environmental compliance turn into crucial circumstances for commerce.
Akpan mentioned Nigeria was nonetheless lagging behind in assembly rising world necessities, regardless of the large financial alternatives accessible in sustainable agriculture and carbon markets.
“We need to move beyond speeches,” he careworn, including that little progress had been made in worth addition and the nation’s preparedness for worldwide sustainability obligations.
He defined that the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation, which takes impact from December 30, 2026, for big and medium-sized operators and June 2027 for smaller operators, would impose further necessities on exporters of commodities together with cocoa, oil palm, rubber, soya and wooden.
Under the regulation, exporters should be capable of set up the geographical origin of their merchandise and reveal that the land on which they had been produced had not been deforested or degraded after 2020.
Akpan mentioned farmers and cooperatives unable to supply the required data may jeopardise their exporters’ entry to European markets, doubtlessly leaving them depending on much less demanding home retailers.
He mentioned sustainability compliance was additionally turning into a situation for accessing finance, with banks more and more required to account for climate-related dangers related to their lending portfolios.
Under Nigeria’s roadmap for adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) sustainability requirements, banks and different public curiosity entities are anticipated to start reporting climate-related data from January 2028.
Consequently, agribusinesses with out credible operational, power, emissions and supply-chain data may face difficulties securing financing as lenders strengthen their threat assessments.
Akpan additionally drew consideration to the nation’s restricted participation in the worldwide carbon-credit market, which he estimated at over $300 billion, lamenting that the nation had attracted lower than two per cent of the accessible alternatives.
He mentioned Nigeria was lacking out on a major supply of funding and income due to insufficient preparation, weak sustainability infrastructure and failure to translate environmental commitments into verifiable tasks.
The financial implications, he maintained, lengthen past environmental concerns to export earnings, industrial competitiveness, employment and entry to worldwide capital.
He urged agricultural companies to start mapping their provide chains, measuring gas and electrical energy consumption, documenting emissions and establishing credible sustainability data.
Afreximbank calls for value-chain financing
Similarly, the Manager, Clients Relations, Anglophone West Africa, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Mr. Otitodilichukwu Onuegbu, emphaised that Africa’s continued dependence on exporting unprocessed agricultural commodities was undermining its capability to create wealth, industrialise and compete successfully in worldwide markets.
He famous that the continent’s agricultural problem was not merely insufficient manufacturing or entry to credit score, however its incapacity to rework ample uncooked supplies into processed, packaged and branded merchandise able to commanding increased costs.
Onuegbu mentioned Africa should transfer away from its conventional place on the decrease finish of worldwide worth chains and prioritise home processing, industrial manufacturing and worth addition.
He famous that producing extra agricultural commodities with out constructing the capability to course of, mixture, transport and market them would perpetuate the continent’s financial disadvantages.
According to him, the crucial financing hole is the failure to fund your complete agricultural ecosystem slightly than concentrating lending on particular person farmers.
He defined that financing manufacturing with out aggregation creates bottlenecks, simply as funding processing services with out ample working capital may go away factories underutilised.
Similarly, financing exporters with out dependable provides, established markets and fee preparations exposes your complete worth chain to business dangers.
Onuegbu mentioned Afreximbank was selling an built-in financing mannequin protecting manufacturing, aggregation, processing, logistics and market entry.
He recognized devices together with tools financing, working capital, warehouse and stock financing, receivables financing, ensures and risk-sharing preparations as essential to unlock agricultural industrialisation.
The financial institution, he mentioned, was additionally deploying initiatives resembling its Export Trading Company programme to mixture produce from farmers and cooperatives, facilitate processing, present market intelligence and join African producers to regional and worldwide consumers.
He additional highlighted the Africa Trade Exchange, a digital business-to-business and business-to-government market designed to attach African commodity producers, processors and consumers.
Onuegbu careworn that African nations should start to see the continent itself as a significant market slightly than concentrating disproportionately on Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
He additionally recognized high quality assurance as a significant obstacle to agricultural exports, explaining that worldwide consumers demand traceability, laboratory testing, certification and compliance with destination-market requirements.
He cited cases the place agricultural consignments failed to fulfill export specs due to deficiencies in high quality and dealing with, ensuing in substantial business losses.
Afreximbank, he mentioned, had established Africa Quality Assurance Centres to supply testing, inspection, certification and different providers required to convey African merchandise in line with worldwide requirements.
He urged stakeholders to maneuver from commodity manufacturing to value-chain financing, from production-led exports to market-led manufacturing and from remoted institutional interventions to stronger partnerships.
Kyari pushes mechanisation, native manufacturing
In his remarks nonetheless, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, mentioned Nigeria couldn’t obtain sustainable meals safety whereas relying predominantly on handbook farming strategies, calling for elevated non-public funding in agricultural mechanisation, tools manufacturing and post-harvest infrastructure.
Represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, whose handle was delivered by the Director, Agribusiness and Market Development, Mr. Ayodele Olawumi, Kyari described the expo as an funding alternative slightly than merely an exhibition of agricultural equipment.
He mentioned Nigeria’s huge arable land, rising inhabitants and rising meals demand introduced vital business alternatives for producers, buyers and suppliers of mechanisation providers.
According to him, mechanisation ought to not be handled merely as an agricultural enter however as a viable funding able to producing business returns whereas addressing meals insecurity.
He disclosed that the federal authorities was pursuing supportive insurance policies, agricultural financing incentives and programmes, together with the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs), to draw funding into the sector.
Kyari advocated a mechanisation-as-a-service mannequin underneath which farmers would entry tractors, harvesters, irrigation tools and different equipment via commercially viable service suppliers slightly than having to buy costly tools individually.
He additionally urged monetary establishments to develop specialised financing merchandise for agricultural equipment, insisting that tools must be considered productive property able to producing revenue and supporting agricultural growth.
The minister additional highlighted the federal government’s plan to draw private-sector participation in group cold-chain enterprises and meals storage ventures to cut back post-harvest losses and create employment.
He mentioned establishing agro-processing services nearer to rural manufacturing centres would scale back transportation prices, minimise spoilage, enhance farmers’ earnings and supply industries with extra dependable provides of uncooked supplies.
Kyari maintained that the success of agricultural industrialisation must be measured by investments mobilised, financing agreements concluded, applied sciences transferred and equipment deployed to farms, slightly than the variety of tools displayed at exhibitions.
Local tractor meeting targets 4,000 models
Meanwhile, Managing Director of Autodex Nigeria Limited and Lead Creator of FARMFATECH, Prince Tony Ifeakandu, mentioned Nigeria should cut back its dependence on imported completed agricultural equipment by creating home meeting and manufacturing capability.
He disclosed that the corporate had established a totally knocked-down (CKD) tractor meeting plant in Nigeria with an annual manufacturing capability of roughly 4,000 four-wheel tractors and eight,000 hand tillers.
Ifeakandu mentioned Autodex was concerned in the native fabrication of flatbed dryers, beehives and significant spare components, alongside electrical tricycles, electrical bikes and solar energy options.
He mentioned the nation’s mechanisation drive would stay constrained with out reasonably priced tools, accessible financing, upkeep services, spare-parts availability and skilled operators.
He referred to as for worldwide partnerships that will transcend importing completed equipment to constructing home engineering capability, creating native suppliers and transferring technical data.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman of Autodex Nigeria Limited, Dr. Nnamdi Ezeani, welcomed authorities representatives, improvement finance establishments, producers, expertise suppliers and different stakeholders to the third version of FARMFATECH.
He mentioned the gathering mirrored a shared dedication to reworking Nigerian agriculture from predominantly small-scale manufacturing right into a technology-driven, commercially viable and industrially aggressive sector.
