NADF engages agro-processors on strengthening agricultural input supply

The national agricultural development fund (NADF), on Wednesday, engaged stakeholders in the agribusiness value chain on strengthening agricultural input supply and productivity in Nigeria.

Mohammed Ibrahim, executive secretary of the NADF, said the fund remains committed to evidence-based learning and continuous process improvement as it implements the first phase of its intervention.

“As we reflect on the implementation of the first phase of this program, the NADF remains firmly committed to evidence-based learning and continuous process improvement for optimal efficiency in the delivery of our mandate,” Ibrahim said.

Ibrahim, represented by Abiodun Sosanya, head of corporate services at the NADF, said the pilot phase targeted improved input supply and productivity across grower systems.

He acknowledged that the pilot intervention faced challenges that affected planting cycles and expected yields.

“These challenges are real, and they underscore the complexity of implementing agricultural interventions such as the NADF-Farm Inputs Supply program,” Ibrahim said.

The NADF chief reaffirmed the fund’s commitment to partnering with processors to ensure accountability and continuous improvement across its interventions.

He urged processors to engage the fund to deliver practical outcomes that would strengthen input systems, boost productivity, and support national agricultural transformation.

“The NADF remains optimistic that your insights, experiences, and recommendations will play an important role in shaping a more efficient, transparent, and climate-responsive second phase of the program – ensuring better impact and sustainability,” he said.

Femi Ojelade, chief executive officer of Vemac Farms Limited in Oyo state, said processors, smallholder farmers, and the government must work together to improve food security.

 NADF TARGETS FIVE MILLION SMALLHOLDER FARMERS UNDER ITS AGRO 2.0 SCHEME

Ojelade urged the NADF to ensure that processors receive inputs ahead of the farming season.

“We understand it’s the first phase. But the second phase, they have to work assiduously to make sure that most processors actually get their input at least a month before the planting season,” he said.

Aroge Temitope, managing director of Arog Bio Allied Agro Services Limited, said the scheme supports processors by ensuring the free flow of raw materials across the agribusiness value chain.

“So, for us, it’s a good project, and it’s actually very supportive of food security and wealth creation in the rural areas,” Temitope said.

Temitope added that the intervention enabled his company to access inputs for its outgrower base and cultivate cassava for the 2025 and 2026 seasons across Ogun, Ondo, and Ekiti states.

Adebanke Fajana, head of strategy and planning at the NADF, said the fund plans to reach five million smallholder farmers under its Agro 2.0 scheme.

Fajana said the NADF is leveraging processors in the organised private sector to reach smallholder farmers.

She said the fund is working with processors to refine lessons from the pilot phase for a more coordinated and improved rollout.

Fajana said the fund has a robust system of monitoring and evaluation, with regional and state monitors, who have boots on ground “that go into the field to look at what the cultivation level is, what the impute usage is, adoption of good agronomic practices, and a lot of other things to ensure that not only do we just dispense or make provisions for this impute, we also ensure proper impute utilization and good agronomic practices adoption for the end-users”.