Ecobank Nigeria is opening up multiple partnerships with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Nigeria Incentive-based Risk-Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN), for agriculture projects.
The move would increase the bank’s contributions to the agriculture sector, which is the largest employer of labour, as well as a means to ensure food security for the country.
It would also facilitate the bank’s collaborations with other development institutions in doubling it’s credit profile, particularly in the sector for the next two or three years.
Already, there are plans by the lender to increase its portfolio to agriculture sector to N70 billion in the next two or three years the lender.
By the partnership, some of the loans granted by a financial institutions to farmers and processors would be guaranteed by any of the partnering agencies.
The Head of Agric Business at Ecobank Nigeria, Mojisola Oguntoyinbo, said the bank has continued to explore partnerships globally in efforts to ensure affordable loan facility.
For a start, Ecobank will hold an agribusiness summit next month, tagged: “Unlocking Productivity and Investment Opportunities Across Nigeria’s Agribusiness Value Chain”.
The event will target all the sector’s value-chain players, ranging from input suppliers, crop and livestock producers, processors and commodity exporters.