NIRSAL Plc has disclosed that it approved Credit Risk Guarantees for agricultural loans worth more than N100 billion in 2025, with the value of guaranteed loans already surpassing the previous year’s figure in 2026.

The disclosure was made as the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA), in collaboration with NIRSAL Plc and other partners, commenced a week-long masterclass in Lagos focusing on inclusive finance, climate resilience and Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications in financial and agricultural finance.

The masterclass brought together financial-sector professionals from Nigeria and other African countries, including Uganda, Ghana, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.

Participants include representatives of commercial banks, insurance companies, development finance institutions, microfinance banks and central banks, with four African central banks represented at the programme.

NIRSAL Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sa’ad Hamidu, said the initiative was designed to address some of the major barriers limiting the flow of finance into Africa’s agricultural sector.

Represented at the opening by NIRSAL Executive Director, Operations, Mr. Ewaen Imohe, Hamidu said agricultural finance remained constrained not by a lack of opportunities but by inadequate understanding and management of risks within the sector.

“At NIRSAL, we have always maintained that agriculture, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, is not underfinanced because opportunities do not exist, but because the risks have not been sufficiently understood, measured, appropriately priced, and managed,” he said.

According to him, NIRSAL has responded by developing financing frameworks and systems that provide greater structure to agricultural value chains while improving the ability of financial institutions to identify, measure and mitigate risks.

He said the approach was contributing to increased participation by financial institutions in agricultural lending, with NIRSAL approving Credit Risk Guarantees for loans exceeding N100 billion in 2025.

Hamidu disclosed that the value of loans covered by the guarantees had already exceeded the 2025 figure in the year-to-date period of 2026.

He said the financing was supporting farmers, processors, aggregators, exporters and other businesses across several agricultural value chains.

Of particular significance, he noted, was the growing participation of non-interest financial institutions.

According to Hamidu, non-interest financial institutions accounted for more than 50 per cent of loans guaranteed by NIRSAL in the first half of 2026.

He said the development demonstrated that appropriate risk-sharing structures could create sufficient confidence for different forms of capital to participate in agricultural financing.

The NIRSAL chief also identified climate change as an increasingly urgent challenge for farmers, agribusinesses and their financiers across Africa.

He said climate change was no longer an abstract global concern but a practical reality affecting agricultural production and financial decisions every season.

The AFRACA-NIRSAL masterclass is therefore focusing on practical approaches to climate-risk assessment, adaptation and mitigation financing, climate-rational development, green-project structuring and access to specialised climate-finance mechanisms.

AFRACA Secretary-General, Ms. Ngo Bakang Anny Caroll, said she was pleased that the organisation’s capacity-development programme had returned to Nigeria for the first time since 2017.

She said African financial institutions, as custodians and allocators of capital, had an important role to play in strengthening the continent’s ability to sustainably feed itself while improving its global competitiveness.

The programme also featured a presentation by Dr. Chris Myungu of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, a CGIAR partner, who introduced participants to the Africa Adaptation Atlas and CGIAR climate-rationale outputs.

The tools demonstrate how climate data, research and evidence can be used to identify and design agricultural investments capable of responding to climate risks.

The second major component of the masterclass focuses on Artificial Intelligence for Financial Services and Agricultural Finance.

The masterclass will continue with technical sessions on climate-resilient agricultural finance before participants move into practical engagements on Artificial Intelligence and its application to financial services and agricultural finance. (Daily Trust)