The Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) has entered strategic partnership with the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc.) to strengthen risk management and expand support for the FarmerMoni initiative.
According to GEEP, the partnership also aims to reinforce the FarmerMoni ecosystem and advance the broader objectives of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).
National Programme Manager of GEEP, Mr Ibrahim Baba, disclosed this during a courtesy visit to NIRSAL’s Managing Director/CEO, Mr Saad Hamidu, in Abuja.
What the Programme Manager is saying
Baba explained that the meeting focused on enhancing sustainability and risk-management mechanisms for GEEP beneficiaries while creating stronger inter-agency synergies to support smallholder farmers and enterprise empowerment nationwide.
He outlined priority areas agreed upon by both parties:
- Credit risk guarantees and co-financing: leveraging NIRSAL’s instruments to de-risk lending to FarmerMoni beneficiaries.
- Data sharing and enumeration: aligning beneficiary data, improving registration processes, and strengthening digital records.
- Capacity building and technical assistance: joint training programmes to boost productivity, financial literacy, and creditworthiness.
- Input supply and market access: facilitating linkages between beneficiaries, input suppliers, off-takers, and market channels.
- Monitoring, evaluation, and digital platforms: integrating frameworks and tools to improve oversight, transparency, and impact measurement.
“There is also policy advocacy and regulatory alignment, driving coordinated engagement with stakeholders to ensure enabling environments for interventions.”
Delivering comprehensive support nationwide
Baba noted that the collaboration could combine NIRSAL’s insurance and risk management solutions with FarmerMoni’s grassroots distribution network to deliver a comprehensive package of credit, inputs, training, and risk mitigation across Nigeria.
Responding, Hamidu reaffirmed NIRSAL’s commitment to the partnership, stating:
“We are committed to combining risk-sharing products, technical expertise and market linkages to strengthen the FarmerMoni value chain and expand sustainable access to finance for smallholder farmers.”
Both parties agreed to establish a joint technical working group to define pilot activities, timelines, and an implementation plan, which will culminate in a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
NIRSAL’s role in agricultural transformation
NIRSAL, a non-bank financial institution owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is designed to transform Nigerian agriculture by making it less risky and more attractive for commercial investment and lending.
The institution de-risks the agricultural value chain by offering risk-sharing, insurance, and technical assistance to banks and agribusinesses, rather than directly lending to farmers. Its goal is to boost food security and drive economic growth.
What you should know
Last year, NIRSAL said bank lending to Nigeria’s agricultural sector edged up to 5.33% of total credit as of May 2025, reversing a multi-year decline and signaling a cautious return of financial institutions to agribusiness.
The uptick follows a period of stagnation, where agriculture’s share of lending fell from 6.18% in 2022 to 4.82% in 2024, amid slowing sectoral growth and rising risk aversion.
