Nigeria is working towards mobilising up to $30bn annually in climate adaptation funding for smallholder farmers, as stakeholders push for improved access to finance to protect agricultural production from droughts, flooding and other climate-related risks.
The initiative centres on establishing a national climate finance framework that would help attract international green investment and direct funding to rural communities vulnerable to extreme weather conditions.
Chairman of the Presidential Implementation Committee on Technology Transfer, Dahiru Muhammed, said a clear national taxonomy was necessary to identify activities that qualify for climate adaptation and resilience funding.
Speaking at a Taxonomy Validation Workshop on Adaptation and Resilience Solutions, co-organised with YAPU Solutions, Muhammed said the framework would help Nigeria attract foreign investment by defining eligible climate-related projects.
He explained that while the Federal Ministry of Finance and the United Nations Development Programme were driving the broader national taxonomy, his committee and its technical partners were working to make the framework applicable to rural communities.
Muhammed also called for collaboration among federal, state and local governments to address climate-related challenges, particularly flooding, through improved infrastructure and effective mitigation measures.
Country Representative of WorldFish in Nigeria, Charles Nyangbe, said Nigeria needed targeted financial instruments to make agricultural lending less risky and improve farmers’ access to funding.
He proposed index-based insurance and blended finance arrangements, urging the government to provide dedicated funds to financial institutions and commercial banks to support lending to farmers.
Nyangbe said public funds could serve as credit guarantees, encouraging banks to extend financing to agricultural businesses that might otherwise struggle to secure loans.
He also called for climate finance to cover livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, noting that discussions often focused disproportionately on crop production despite the exposure of other agricultural sectors to extreme weather.
Flooding, he said, could destroy fish ponds and aquaculture facilities, leaving operators with substantial losses.
Nyangbe disclosed that Nigeria had attracted about $2.5bn in climate-related financing, but said the amount remained significantly below the estimated funding required.
Managing Director of YAPU Solutions, Christoph Junghleisch, described climate adaptation as an investment opportunity potentially worth $30bn annually for smallholder farmers.
He said the organisation was working with PICTT to develop a framework linking climate adaptation solutions to appropriate funding sources.
According to Junghleisch, initial plans could include a pilot project valued at between $100m and $200m, with a target of scaling financing to $1bn in the first expansion phase.
He clarified, however, that the figures were targets and did not represent confirmed funding commitments.
Junghleisch identified digital technology as a key component of the proposed framework, saying it would enable stakeholders to track funds reaching smallholder farmers and ensure that transactions were transparent and auditable.
He said YAPU was engaging development finance institutions, including the Bank of Agriculture and the African Development Fund, while seeking to attract private-sector investors.
He added that government support through appropriate policies, legislation and regulation would be essential to mobilising the required capital, as public funding alone could not meet the scale of investment needed.
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