Sterling Bank empowers agric sector with industry report

Sterling Alternative Finance has announced the launch of Nigeria's first ethical investment platform, AltInvest.

Sterling Bank Plc, in partnership with StearsData, has released an in-depth report for the agriculture sector in Nigeria. The report titled Agriculture Industry Report 2021 provides the most up-to-date view of the challenges and opportunities in Nigeria’s agriculture sector in a COVID-19 era.

The four-part report critically examines the country’s agriculture value chain state, state of affairs post-COVID-19, the climate change challenge and opportunities for innovations and investments.

Bukola Awosanya, group head of Agric Finance and Solid Mineral at Sterling Bank, said the industry report empowers players in the agriculture sector with a navigation roadmap. And affirms Sterling Bank’s commitment to de-risking and making the domestic agriculture value chain more viable for commercial lending.

“The goal of the report is to help investors and operators understand the challenges facing the sector, consider recommendations by experts, and become aware of relevant opportunities, both now and in the future. It would empower them to support policymakers to craft policies that would create the enabling environment that the sector needs to thrive,” Awosanya informs.

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According to the agric finance expert, the industry report is a continuum of the bank’s annual Agriculture Summit Africa (ASA) held for three consecutive years since 2018. It supports the bank’s goal of creating a pathway for lending to farmers and other value chain players without intervention funds, making it possible for the federal government to free up funds allocated to subsidising the sector to other industries.

She disclosed that the first part of the report provided an overview of the agricultural value chain and analysed some of the conditions that led to the sector’s underdeveloped state.

While the second part reviewed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s agriculture sector, response to the pandemic, and lessons learnt from other countries on the need to build a more resilient agricultural sector.

The third part explored how climate change impacts the sector, highlighting ways stakeholders can overcome the challenge. And the fourth part of the report explored opportunities for innovation and investments and how recent innovation is transforming the industry.

Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.