Nigeria secures $3m investment in climate-smart agriculture at COP31

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Nigeria has secured a $3m investment for a climate-smart greenhouse farming project in Kano State at the ongoing COP31 climate summit in Türkiye. Read More:…

Nigeria has secured a $3m investment agreement for a climate-smart greenhouse farming project in Kano State as part of efforts to attract private-sector investment, strengthen food security and promote sustainable agricultural production.

At the ongoing COP31 climate summit in Türkiye on Wednesday, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding for a pilot greenhouse project under the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones programme.

The $3m Kano project will bring together the Bank of Agriculture, the SAPZ programme and Turkish firm, Direkci Group, to deploy about 1,000 climate-adapted greenhouses for tomato production.

Under the arrangement, the Bank of Agriculture will provide $1.5m to establish a structured financing mechanism for participating farmers, while Direkci Group will contribute another $1.5m in private-sector financing, alongside greenhouse technology, engineering, installation and technical support.

Kyari described the agreement as more than a memorandum of understanding, saying it was a practical step towards modernising agricultural production and attracting private capital into the sector.

He said, “Our ambition must go beyond producing more food. The President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, has given us that marching order and has demanded since he declared an emergency on food, that we must build an agricultural sector that is modern, productive, commercially viable, and capable of creating wealth for our people.”

The minister said the project demonstrated how public institutions and private investors could work together to move agriculture away from traditional production methods towards technology-driven and market-oriented agribusiness.

He added that the initiative would prioritise women and smallholder farmers by providing access to productive assets, financing, technical mentorship and market linkages.

Kyari said the partners had also made provision for a joint performance review…

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