NIRSAL Crosses ₦80bn Agricultural Finance Milestone in 2025

News in Brief:

-NIRSAL has facilitated more than ₦80 billion in agricultural finance in 2025, primarily through mobile deal rooms engaging directly with cocoa industry players in southern Nigeria.

-After already facilitating ₦70 billion by Q3, the company aims to reach ₦150 billion by year-end and plans to expand its focus to the cashew sector.

The Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) Plc has announced that it facilitated over ₦80 billion for agriculture so far in 2025.

It attributes the milestone to its mobile deal rooms, which have been actively taking deals to cocoa factories and warehouses across southern Nigeria.

"A key pathway to this milestone is the mobile deal rooms; taking agribusiness finance solutions directly to the doorsteps of those who need them—value chain actors," the statement says in part.

Akinola Baiyewu, the head of the company's Regional Business Development, leads this effort, overseeing the tour of cocoa warehouses and factories across southern Nigeria.

Success in Cross River, Ondo, and others

The company explains that the team, comprising several Heads of Agric Desks from partner banks and local branch heads, met CEOs and COOs in factories to present financing scenarios and viable financing pathways for business expansion.  

It helped them seal several contracts in cities such as Ikom and Calabar in Cross River State,  Akure, Modakeke and Ado Ekiti in the southwestern states of Ondo, Osun and Ekiti, respectively.

Expansion Plans

The central bank-established non-bank financial institution recently returned to the limelight with a remarkable rebound in its operations, having facilitated over ₦70 billion in commercial financing for agribusiness by the end of Q3 2025.

This funding is a direct result of the company’s ongoing efforts for sustained capacity-building. Its targeted training sessions for bank staff have deepened their understanding of agricultural financing within its risk-sharing framework, leading to an increase in loan request approvals. 

While expressing sustained confidence in NIRSAL’s goal of facilitating ₦150 billion in finance for agriculture before the end of the year, the regional business development team lead hinted at the company’s plan to enter the cashew sector next. It, therefore, called on stakeholders in the cashew value chain to start contacting the company.