The World Bank is expected to approve a new $500 million loan to Nigeria on March 30, 2026, aimed at enhancing agricultural productivity and strengthening key value chains across participating states.
The facility, fully financed by the World Bank’s concessional lending arm—the International Development Association (IDA)—will be provided as a credit facility valued at $500 million.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria will be the borrower, while implementation will be led by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in collaboration with state governments.
According to project documents, the loan is structured to tackle some of Nigeria’s most pressing development challenges, including food insecurity, low agricultural productivity, and limited employment opportunities. The initiative targets smallholder farmers, integrating them into competitive value chains, modernising production systems, strengthening policy frameworks to attract private investment, and ensuring effective project coordination and monitoring.
The project will be delivered across four main components:
Integrating smallholder farmers into commercial and competitive value chains.
Modernising smallholder production systems to improve yields and efficiency.
Strengthening policies and the enabling environment to attract private sector investment in input markets.
Ensuring robust project oversight, coordination, and performance monitoring.
The planned loan comes amid Nigeria’s growing external debt profile. Funding from the IDA alone increased by $1.9 billion over the past year, reaching $18.7 billion by December 31, 2025. The Debt Management Office reported that Nigeria’s total external debt stood at $46.98 billion as of June 30, 2025, with the World Bank Group accounting for $19.39 billion of the total.
The initiative signals the government’s ongoing efforts to boost agricultural output, create better jobs for smallholders, and strengthen food and nutrition security across the country.
