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- Nigeria has launched the AgriConnect Compact, a five-year agricultural transformation initiative targeting nearly 3 million people and 2.56 million jobs by 2031.
- The initiative aims to mobilise an estimated US$5 billion to strengthen agricultural value chains, improve productivity, expand market access and increase private-sector investment.
- Digital agriculture is a key component, with plans for a national farmer registry, digital soil maps and a digital advisory platform delivering weather, agronomy and market information through SMS, WhatsApp, IVR and radio.
- The World Bank-backed plans could also enable Agritech firms, financial institutions and other businesses to connect with verified farmer data for services including digital finance, insurance, traceability and market linkages.
Nigeria has launched the AgriConnect Compact, a five-year agricultural transformation framework targeting nearly three million people, 2.56 million jobs and an estimated US$5 billion in financing, while placing digital solutions among the tools for improving productivity and market access.
The Compact was launched on 28 September 2026 by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the World Bank Group, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and development partners in Ibadan.
According to IFAD, the initiative will focus on priority crop and livestock value chains, with interventions covering farmer organisations, market linkages, access to finance, digital solutions and private-sector participation. It is aligned with Nigeria’s National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Policy (NATIP) and the government’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The programme targets a 30 per cent increase in average yields for rice, maize and wheat and a 35 per cent increase for cassava by 2031.
The US$5 billion target is expected to come from government, development partners and private-sector investment and is intended to strengthen smallholder productivity, policy reforms, credit, insurance and blended finance.
(Read Also: xFarm Acquires Sibium Analytics To Build End-To-End Agricultural Data Platform)
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The technology component is tied to the World Bank’s Nigeria Sustainable Agriculture Value Chains for Growth (AGROW) Project, which includes plans to build a national digital farm and farmer registry, update digital soil maps and strengthen AI-powered weather forecasting through the Nigerian Meteorological Agency.
The project also proposes a national digital advisory platform capable of reaching farmers through SMS, interactive voice response, WhatsApp and radio. The platform is designed to provide weather, agronomy and market information, while allowing Agritech firms, processors, cooperatives and other private-sector actors to integrate their services and deliver advisory, input and market-linkage tools to registered farmers.
The World Bank document further states that verified farmer, soil and weather data could support digital credit, insurance, traceability and off-take arrangements, creating a shared digital infrastructure for agricultural businesses and financial institutions.
For Nigeria’s Agritech ecosystem, the Compact therefore goes beyond financing agricultural production. Its planned digital infrastructure could create new channels for Agritech companies to deliver services to farmers and connect them with finance, inputs and markets, although the impact will ultimately depend on implementation and farmer adoption.
