Innovative Insurance Key to Climate-Smart Farming — NADF

The National Agricultural Development Fund (NADF) is driving a new initiative to boost climate-smart agriculture in Nigeria through index-based insurance solutions and blended finance.

In a statement issued on Friday, NADF said the effort will support the AGRA-backed project titled “Building Farmers’ Resilience through Innovative Insurance Models and Financial Instruments.”

NADF Executive Secretary, Mohammed Ibrahim, explained that the organisation’s partnership with Leadway Assurance and Verdure Climate is designed to equip smallholder farmers with financial tools that safeguard them from climate risks, expand access to credit, and strengthen resilience across major crop value chains.

“As climate change intensifies, bringing unpredictable weather and limiting farmers’ access to finance, innovative solutions like index-based agricultural insurance and blended finance have become indispensable,” Ibrahim said. He added that the rollout of index-based and Pay-at-Harvest insurance products would significantly boost investor confidence.

According to NADF, the collaboration will integrate insurance with agricultural loans, scale credit-linked insurance for rice, soybean, and maize farmers in priority states, and embed climate-smart practices into NADF loan offerings. It also aims to deploy digital climate advisory services and build the capacity of business development service providers.

Leadway Assurance described the partnership as a major step toward strengthening climate preparedness in the agricultural sector. Its Head of Agriculture Risk Solutions, Fatona Paul, commended NADF for providing “the policy anchor that initiatives like ours can build upon.”

The initiative is part of AGRA 3.0, which seeks to expand access to finance, improve market linkages, introduce innovative insurance products, and build resilience for thousands of farmers between 2025 and 2027.