The agreement—signed during the National Dialogue on Innovative Agric Insurance and Climate Finance in Abuja—forms a core component of AGRA’s Building Farmers’ Resilience through Innovative Insurance Models and Financial Instruments, an initiative designed to improve farmers’ capacity to withstand climate shocks and unlock sustainable financing for the agricultural sector.
At the event, NADF Executive Secretary Mohammed Ibrahim, represented by the General Manager for Partnerships and Investor Relations, Nasir Ingawa, emphasised that the collaboration aligns squarely with the Fund’s mandate to broaden agricultural financing and support smallholder farmers. He said the growing challenges of climate change, erratic weather and limited access to finance make new models of risk-mitigation essential.
“As we face increasing challenges due to climate change, unpredictable weather patterns, and limited access to finance, the role of innovative financial solutions such as index-based agricultural insurance and blended finance has never been more critical,” Ibrahim noted. He added that rolling out index-based and pay-at-harvest insurance products would significantly boost investor confidence in the agriculture sector.
Under the partnership, the three organisations will co-develop finance-insurance bundles that link insurance to agricultural loans, expand credit-linked insurance for key value chains—including rice, soybeans and maize—in priority states, and embed climate-smart agriculture within NADF’s loan frameworks. The initiative also plans to deploy digital climate advisory tools and build the capacity of business development service providers supporting smallholder farmers.
Leadway Assurance hailed the MoU as an important milestone in strengthening climate preparedness across Nigeria’s agricultural landscape. Its Head of Agriculture Risk Solutions, Mr. Fatona Ayoola Paul, commended NADF’s leadership, describing the Fund as “the policy anchor that initiatives like ours can build upon.”
The national dialogue convened a broad coalition of stakeholders—financial institutions, insurers, government agencies, agribusiness anchors and farmer groups—to explore how index insurance can be better integrated into agricultural lending and used to crowd in higher levels of private-sector investment for rural producers.
The project forms part of the AGRA 3.0 agenda (2025–2027), which seeks to expand financial inclusion, strengthen market linkages, broaden access to innovative insurance products, and enhance climate resilience for thousands of Nigerian farmers.
If you want, I can also prepare a shorter newswire version, an op-ed angle, or a feature-style deep dive on the implications of the MoU.