FG unveils N19.5bn pilot scheme to empower 50,000 farmers with subsidised inputs
The Federal Government, through the National Agriculture Development Fund (NADF), has launched AgGrow, a ₦19.5 billion pilot scheme aimed at directly supplying subsidised, high-quality farm inputs to 50,000 smallholder farmers across Nigeria.
This initiative—unveiled alongside NADF’s newly developed Internal Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Platform in Abuja—seeks to dismantle the long-standing barriers between primary producers and processors, reduce input cost burdens, and ensure input efficiency through real-time digital tracking.
AgGrow’s approach will see NADF fully finance seeds, fertilisers, and agrochemicals through 40 agro-processors managing structured outgrower networks. Inputs will be distributed at 50% subsidy, with repayment to NADF upon harvest, creating a shared-risk model that aligns producer and processor interests.
Key features include:
- Crop focus: rice, maize, cassava, and soybean.
- Inclusive targeting: 40% women, 20% youth.
- Full digitisation: BVN/NIN-linked farmer profiles, geo-tagged farms, biometric ID, and field audit trails.
- Performance-linked repayment: Processors refund input value post-harvest, ensuring accountability.
- Capacity support: farmers to receive advisory on good practices and crop insurance adoption.
The new digital M&E platform will serve as the nerve centre for programme oversight—monitoring every input, farm, and harvest while promoting transparency. NADF’s Executive Secretary, Mohammed Ibrahim, stressed that the initiative was developed from six months of stakeholder engagement with the CBN and commercial banks, aimed at fixing deep flaws in Nigeria’s agricultural finance ecosystem. The pilot, set to run across 12–15 states in all six geopolitical zones, is intended as a scalable model for performance-based input support schemes.
Source- Tribune Online
Expert Review for Agri-Food Stakeholders
The AgGrow pilot represents a forward-thinking intervention in Nigeria’s input delivery and agro-processing supply chains. Here are the expert takeaways:
- Shared-Risk Input Financing: Bridging Production and Market Gaps
The model of channeling inputs through agro-processors linked to outgrower schemes enhances value chain alignment. It ensures input repayment is tied to actual production—reducing default risks and encouraging processors to invest in farmer success.
- A Data-Led Leap for Input Distribution
With biometric registration, GPS-tagged farms, and M&E audits, NADF is pioneering a traceable, digital-first system that can transform Nigeria’s historically opaque input distribution landscape. This level of identity management and traceability is a critical enabler of input efficacy, fraud prevention, and impact measurement.
- Inclusion by Design
By earmarking 60% of beneficiaries for women and youth, AgGrow is aligned with inclusive growth mandates. However, success will depend on the quality of outreach, especially in rural areas where digital literacy and access gaps still exist.
- Processors as Aggregators of Trust and Scale
Using processors as distribution and repayment nodes decentralises the burden of last-mile delivery. It also anchors production to real markets, solving a long-standing challenge where farmers often produce without guaranteed off-take or pricing structures.
- Crop Selection Reflects Nutritional and Industrial Priorities
The focus on rice, maize, cassava, and soybean indicates strategic alignment with both food security (staples) and industrial raw material needs (e.g., feed, starch, oil). This balance is crucial for national resilience and private sector growth.
- Institutional Learning Embedded in Design
By building in continuous learning mechanisms and working closely with independent M&E partners, NADF is institutionalising feedback—a practice rarely seen in previous intervention schemes. This could set a replicable standard for result-driven agri-support policies.
- Pathway to Scalable National Reform
While this is a pilot, the scope (50,000 farmers) and embedded systems suggest NADF is preparing a template for nationwide deployment. Stakeholders should prepare for:
– Policy alignment on state-level.
– Processor-farmer contracting frameworks.
– Input supplier readiness and quality control.
Conclusion
AgGrow is a landmark initiative that blends digital innovation, public-private coordination, and farmer accountability into one cohesive scheme. If properly executed, it can reset Nigeria’s smallholder ecosystem by turning fragmented efforts into structured, market-facing production systems.
Agri-stakeholders—processors, banks, extension agents, and cooperatives—should view this as a window to participate in a digitally enabled agri-finance future, while actively contributing to the next phase of national food system reform.
