Stakeholders: Nigeria Risks Export Market Losses, Billions in Green Finance Over Agriculture, Climate Inaction

• Abubakar Kyari canvasses private investment in mechanisation, local manufacturing, cold-chain infrastructure •Afreximbank urges financing of entire agricultural value chain, cautions against production without market access •Atai Akpan says sustainability compliance can shut Nigerian farmers out of European markets and green financing •Autodex targets 4,000 tractors, 8,000 hand tillers annually through local assembly Stakeholders in the agricultural sector, yesterday warned that the country risks forfeiting billions of dollars in export earnings and emerging green-financing opportunities unless it urgently shifts from raw commodity production to technology-driven, industrial-scale agriculture anchored on value addition and environmental sustainability. They also challenged the government, financial institutions, manufacturers and farmers to translate years of agricultural reform commitments into measurable investments, internationally competitive products and export-ready value chains. Their admonition came at the opening of the 3rd edition of the Farm, Food and Allied Technologies Expo (FARMFATECH 2026) with the themed, “Driving Agricultural Industrialisation: Local Manufacturing, Technology Transfer and Export for Africa’s Prosperity” in Abuja. In his keynote adddress, Head of Sustainability and SDG Alignment, World Agriculture Forum Nigeria Council, Mr. Atai Akpan, was particularly critical of the country’s slow progress, insisting that Nigeria could no longer afford to substitute speeches and policy pronouncements for concrete action. He stressed that Nigerian agricultural producers could increasingly find themselves excluded from international markets and financing opportunities as sustainability, traceability and environmental compliance become critical conditions for trade. Akpan said Nigeria was still lagging behind in meeting emerging global requirements, despite the enormous economic opportunities available in sustainable agriculture and carbon markets. “We need to move beyond speeches,” he stressed, adding that little progress had been made in value addition and the country’s preparedness for international sustainability obligations. He explained that the European Union’s Deforestation Regulation, which takes effect from December 30, 2026, for large and medium-sized operators and June 2027 for smaller operators, would impose additional requirements on exporters of commodities including cocoa, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood. Under the regulation, exporters must be able to establish the geographical origin of their products and demonstrate that the land on which they were produced had not been deforested or degraded after 2020. Akpan said farmers and cooperatives unable to provide the required information could jeopardise their exporters’ access to European markets, potentially leaving them dependent on less demanding domestic outlets. He said sustainability compliance was also becoming a condition for accessing finance, with banks increasingly required to account for climate-related risks associated with their lending portfolios. Under Nigeria’s roadmap for adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) sustainability standards, banks and other public interest entities are expected to commence reporting climate-related information from January 2028. Consequently, agribusinesses without credible operational, energy, emissions and supply-chain records could face difficulties securing financing as lenders strengthen their risk assessments. Akpan also drew attention to the country’s limited participation in the global carbon-credit market, which he estimated at over $300 billion, lamenting that the country had attracted less than two per cent of the available opportunities. He said Nigeria was missing out on a significant source of investment and revenue because of inadequate preparation, weak sustainability infrastructure and failure to translate environmental commitments into verifiable projects. The economic implications, he maintained, extend beyond environmental considerations to export earnings, industrial competitiveness, employment and access to international capital. He urged agricultural businesses to begin mapping their supply chains, measuring fuel and electricity consumption, documenting emissions and establishing credible sustainability records. Afreximbank demands value-chain financing Similarly, the Manager, Clients Relations, Anglophone West Africa, African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), Mr. Otitodilichukwu Onuegbu, emphaised that Africa’s continued dependence on exporting unprocessed agricultural commodities was undermining its capacity to create wealth, industrialise and compete effectively in international markets. He noted that the continent’s agricultural challenge was not simply inadequate production or access to credit, but its inability to transform abundant raw materials into processed, packaged and branded products capable of commanding higher prices. Onuegbu said Africa must move away from its traditional position at the lower end of global value chains and prioritise domestic processing, industrial manufacturing and value addition. He noted that producing more agricultural commodities without building the capacity to process, aggregate, transport and market them would perpetuate the continent’s economic disadvantages. According to him, the critical financing gap is the failure to fund the entire agricultural ecosystem rather than concentrating lending on individual farmers. He explained that financing production without aggregation creates bottlenecks, just as funding processing facilities without adequate working capital could leave factories underutilised. Similarly, financing exporters without reliable supplies, established markets and payment arrangements exposes the entire value chain to commercial risks. Onuegbu said Afreximbank was promoting an integrated financing model covering production, aggregation, processing, logistics and market access. He identified instruments including equipment financing, working capital, warehouse and inventory financing, receivables financing, guarantees and risk-sharing arrangements as necessary to unlock agricultural industrialisation. The bank, he said, was also deploying initiatives such as its Export Trading Company programme to aggregate produce from farmers and cooperatives, facilitate processing, provide market intelligence and connect African producers to regional and international buyers. He further highlighted the Africa Trade Exchange, a digital business-to-business and business-to-government marketplace designed to connect African commodity producers, processors and buyers. Onuegbu stressed that African countries must begin to see the continent itself as a major market rather than concentrating disproportionately on Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He also identified quality assurance as a major impediment to agricultural exports, explaining that international buyers demand traceability, laboratory testing, certification and compliance with destination-market standards. He cited instances where agricultural consignments failed to meet export specifications because of deficiencies in quality and handling, resulting in substantial commercial losses. Afreximbank, he said, had established Africa Quality Assurance Centres to provide testing, inspection, certification and other services required to bring African products in line with international standards. He urged stakeholders to move from commodity production to value-chain financing, from production-led exports to market-led production and from isolated institutional interventions to stronger partnerships. Kyari pushes mechanisation, local manufacturing In his remarks however, Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari, said Nigeria could not achieve sustainable food security while relying predominantly on manual farming methods, calling for increased private investment in agricultural mechanisation, equipment manufacturing and post-harvest infrastructure. Represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Marcus Ogunbiyi, whose address was delivered by the Director, Agribusiness and Market Development, Mr. Ayodele Olawumi, Kyari described the expo as an investment opportunity rather than merely an exhibition of agricultural machinery. He said Nigeria’s vast arable land, growing population and rising food demand presented significant commercial opportunities for manufacturers, investors and providers of mechanisation services. According to him, mechanisation should no longer be treated simply as an agricultural input but as a viable investment capable of generating commercial returns while addressing food insecurity. He disclosed that the federal government was pursuing supportive policies, agricultural financing incentives and programmes, including the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZs), to attract investment into the sector. Kyari advocated a mechanisation-as-a-service model under which farmers would access tractors, harvesters, irrigation equipment and other machinery through commercially viable service providers rather than having to purchase expensive equipment individually. He also urged financial institutions to develop specialised financing products for agricultural machinery, insisting that equipment should be regarded as productive assets capable of generating income and supporting agricultural expansion. The minister further highlighted the government’s plan to attract private-sector participation in community cold-chain enterprises and food storage ventures to reduce post-harvest losses and create employment. He said establishing agro-processing facilities closer to rural production centres would reduce transportation costs, minimise spoilage, improve farmers’ earnings and provide industries with more reliable supplies of raw materials. Kyari maintained that the success of agricultural industrialisation should be measured by investments mobilised, financing agreements concluded, technologies transferred and machinery deployed to farms, rather than the number of equipment displayed at exhibitions. Local tractor assembly targets 4,000 units Meanwhile, Managing Director of Autodex Nigeria Limited and Lead Creator of FARMFATECH, Prince Tony Ifeakandu, said Nigeria must reduce its dependence on imported finished agricultural machinery by developing domestic assembly and manufacturing capacity. He disclosed that the company had established a completely knocked-down (CKD) tractor assembly plant in Nigeria with an annual production capacity of approximately 4,000 four-wheel tractors and 8,000 hand tillers. Ifeakandu said Autodex was involved in the local fabrication of flatbed dryers, beehives and critical spare parts, alongside electric tricycles, electric bikes and solar power solutions. He said the country’s mechanisation drive would remain constrained without affordable equipment, accessible financing, maintenance facilities, spare-parts availability and trained operators. He called for international partnerships that would go beyond importing finished machinery to building domestic engineering capacity, developing local suppliers and transferring technical knowledge. In his opening remarks, the Chairman of Autodex Nigeria Limited, Dr. Nnamdi Ezeani, welcomed government representatives, development finance institutions, manufacturers, technology providers and other stakeholders to the third edition of FARMFATECH. He said the gathering reflected a shared commitment to transforming Nigerian agriculture from predominantly small-scale production into a technology-driven, commercially viable and industrially competitive sector.