Agriculture Funding Rises, But Production Still Lags Behind — Report
Nigeria’s agricultural sector has attracted significantly more financing in recent years, but the increase in funding has yet to produce a corresponding expansion in real productive capacity, a report by Regius Capital Limited has found. The report, which reviewed agricultural financing between 2021 and the first half of 2026, examined bank lending, capital-market funding, development finance, private investment and government-backed interventions.
The analysis showed that bank lending to agriculture increased from about N1.46 trillion in 2021 to N3.81 trillion by January 2026, while agricultural-related capital-market issuances recorded about N1.73 trillion between 2020 and June 2026. Despite the growing flow of capital, the report said financing figures alone do not adequately reflect the sector’s performance, particularly amid rising food demand, inflation and exchange-rate pressures.
Nigeria’s agricultural GDP stood at about N103.9 trillion in 2025, while households spent an estimated N82 trillion on food during the year. The country also recorded approximately N5.07 trillion in agricultural exports and N4.76 trillion in imports, indicating that increased financing has not yet eliminated gaps in domestic production. The report warned that higher nominal output and export earnings could partly reflect rising prices rather than a substantial increase in the volume of goods produced.
Regius Capital said a major challenge is the structure and accessibility of agricultural finance, as institutional investors largely favour established businesses with strong financial records, assets and reliable markets. It recommended broader financing models, including credit guarantees, blended funding, longer-term loans and aggregation schemes that can bring smaller farmers and upstream agricultural businesses into formal financing channels. The report concluded that Nigeria’s challenge is no longer simply how much money goes into agriculture, but whether the financing reaches the parts of the value chain capable of increasing production and reducing dependence on imports.
