Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL) and the Credit Agricole Du Maroc (CAM) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that is geared towards the promotion of inclusive growth.
It is also for sustainable development of the agriculture sectors of both countries through the facilitation of finance & investment, trade and support systems across agricultural value chains, with emphasis on smallholder farmers.
This is a follow-up of an initial agreement signed in 2016 by both institutions.
The new agreement expands the scope of their pact to include B2B relationships, capacity building, knowledge transfer, and digital agribusiness risk management solutions.
Among the short and medium-term undertakings outlined by the MOU, NIRSAL Plc and CAM will work towards presenting a common front to the managers of the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund in a bid to attract global finance for sustainable agribusiness investments. CAM’s deep experience in developing solutions for the financial integration of smallholder farmers in Africa would also benefit NIRSAL Plc in opening up more pathways for critical finance to enter the agricultural primary production sub-sector in Nigeria.
While Managing Director/CEO Mr Aliyu Abdulhameed signed on behalf of NIRSAL Plc, the Chairman of the Management Board of Credit Agricole Du Maroc Mr Tariq Sijilmassi, signed for CAM.
Elaborating on the area of need, Abdulhameed said NIRSAL would favour the development of financing products that suit the seasonality of agriculture and other farming contexts, noting difficulties smallholders experience in keeping to the terms of conventional bank financing products.
