AfDB Pushes Plant Breeding, Agro-Industrialisation, Private Investment to Transform Nigeria’s Agriculture

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has called for stronger integration of plant breeding, efficient seed delivery systems, agro-industrialisation and private-sector investment to accelerate Nigeria’s agricultural transformation and strengthen food security.

The Bank’s Officer-in-Charge, Vice-President, Agriculture, Human and Social Development Complex, Dr Martin Fregene, made the call on Wednesday at the 4th International Conference of the Nigerian Plant Breeders Association (NPBA) in Abuja.

Fregene, who delivered the keynote address titled “Agro-Industrialization and Agribusiness Investments in Nigeria: Opportunities for Plant Breeding, Seed Delivery Systems and Sustainable Partnerships,” said improved seeds and agricultural technologies would have limited impact without functional markets, infrastructure, finance, insurance, logistics and processing industries.

He said plant breeding innovations could only contribute meaningfully to food security and improved rural livelihoods when supported by strong seed systems, adequately funded production and efficient agro-industrial and logistics networks.

According to him, Nigeria’s agricultural transformation must be approached as an integrated value chain covering production, aggregation, processing, marketing and supporting infrastructure.

Fregene, a former plant geneticist and breeder, cited improved wheat, cassava and maize varieties as examples of how plant breeding has contributed to higher productivity and food security.

He noted that Nigeria’s cassava production had increased significantly over the years, with improved varieties developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI) contributing to increased yields and the emergence of value-added cassava industries.

He also highlighted improved maize varieties, including Striga-tolerant and disease-resistant varieties, which he said had contributed to the expansion of maize production in northern Nigeria.

AfDB Wants Nigeria to Move Beyond Raw Commodity Exports

Fregene urged Nigeria and other African countries to move beyond the production and export of raw agricultural commodities by investing more in processing and manufacturing.

Using the cotton value chain as an example, he said West Africa produces about 1.1 million tonnes of raw cotton lint annually but exports about 90 per cent of it, while importing billions of dollars worth of fabrics.

He compared the situation with Bangladesh, noting that the Asian country has developed considerably greater ginning, spinning and textile-processing capacity.

According to Fregene, closing the gap between agricultural production and processing could unlock billions of dollars in additional economic value while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs across the region.

He said similar opportunities existed across rice, wheat, soybean, poultry and other agricultural value chains.

“The paucity of ginning, spinning and weaving capacity, which is a failure of our agro-industrialization policy, is costly,” he said, stressing that West Africa could generate substantially greater economic returns from cotton if more of the cotton-to-garment value chain were developed within the region.

AfDB Identifies Bankable Projects as Key to Unlocking Capital

Fregene said one of the major barriers to agricultural transformation was not necessarily a shortage of capital but a lack of bankable projects and investment mechanisms capable of reducing risks.

He said Africa had an estimated $4 trillion in pension funds, insurance companies, banks and equity funds seeking investment opportunities, but stressed that more structured and commercially viable agricultural projects were needed to attract such capital.

He called for longer-term, affordable financing, de-risking instruments, technical assistance and stronger collaboration among governments, investors and agribusinesses.

The AfDB official also emphasised the importance of regional integration, saying larger regional markets could improve the competitiveness of African agricultural value chains.

He cited the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) as an important step towards creating larger markets and strengthening intra-African agricultural trade.

AfDB Unveils New Approach to Agricultural Transformation

Fregene said the AfDB was also changing its approach to agricultural development through the proposed Africa Food System Transformation Platform (AFSTP).

According to him, the platform will bring together governments, private-sector players, technical and development partners, and civil society organisations to address financing, infrastructure, logistics, market access, regulatory and production challenges across agricultural value chains.

He said the platform would operate through six stages: diagnose, prepare, de-risk, mobilise, deliver and replicate.

The approach, he explained, is designed to go beyond simply financing agricultural projects by making agricultural transformation more attractive and investable for private capital.

Fregene added that the AfDB was working with partners, including the African Agricultural Technology Foundation (AATF), to advance the initiative.

Plant Breeders Urged to Link Innovation to Market Demand

Fregene urged Nigerian plant breeders to strengthen collaboration with processors, millers, brewers, exporters, seed companies and other market players to ensure that breeding programmes respond directly to market demand.

He proposed the development of an electronic catalogue containing information on crop varieties, their areas of adaptation and potential uses.

He said the AfDB, through its Technologies for African Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) programme and other initiatives, was prepared to support demand-led breeding and seed systems for priority crops, including cassava, rice, maize, soybean, sorghum, cowpea, tomato and horticultural crops.

He described seed delivery as a business ecosystem requiring stronger financing across early-generation seed production, private seed companies, agro-dealer networks, digital advisory services and last-mile distribution.

“A variety that does not reach a farmer’s field is at best a journal article and, at worst, wasted resources, not a solution,” Fregene said.

He therefore called on Nigerian banks and investors to recognise seed companies as critical infrastructure for food security and provide them with affordable financing and appropriate risk coverage.

AfDB Calls for Stronger Private-Sector Partnerships

Fregene urged members of the NPBA to package their innovations into commercially viable and investable propositions, embrace private seed companies as delivery partners and deliberately mentor the next generation of agricultural scientists.

He assured that the AfDB would continue to support Nigeria’s agricultural sector by helping to de-risk investments, finance critical agricultural systems and promote policies that connect improved seeds with industries and markets.

According to him, Nigeria possesses the scientific capacity, market size and entrepreneurial energy required to demonstrate agricultural transformation at scale.

“Ultimately, Africa’s agricultural transformation will be determined not by how many technologies we develop, but by how many farmers use them productively, how many businesses build upon them, how much investment they unlock, and how much food and economic opportunity they create,” Fregene said.