Stanbic IBTC reaffirms dedication to agriculture by partnership with BATN Foundation at Lagos Farm Honest

Stanbic IBTC Bank reaffirmed its dedication to Nigeria’s agricultural sector on the Lagos Farm Honest 2025, held on 16 October 2025 in Ikeja, Lagos. Organised by the British American Tobacco Nigeria Foundation, in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Agriculture and Meals Programs, the occasion coincided with World Meals Day, uniting farmers, agricultural startups, and stakeholders to champion sustainable farming and improve market entry. This vibrant gathering served as a platform to advertise sustainable meals techniques and collaboration; aligning with the broader purpose of reworking Nigeria’s agricultural panorama.

Stanbic IBTC Bank is addressing Nigeria’s agricultural financing hole by providing tailor-made agribusiness loans for crop manufacturing, livestock, and tools, enabling farmers to scale operations and scale back post-harvest losses. In 2024, the financial institution empowered over 2,000 SMEs by its Enterprise Academy, strengthening the meals provide chain and selling worth addition. By supporting British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) in attaining its enterprise and social impression targets, Stanbic IBTC performs a significant function in enabling initiatives just like the Lagos Farm Honest, fostering agricultural improvement, sustainability, and inclusive development by strategic monetary partnerships.

Wole Adeniyi, Chief Government of Stanbic IBTC Bank, emphasised the financial institution’s dedication, stating, “At Stanbic IBTC, we recognise that agriculture’s potential lies in worth addition and reworking uncooked merchandise into high-quality items. Our engagement with initiatives just like the Lagos Farm Honest 2025 displays our dedication to supporting Nigeria’s agricultural sector. As Nigeria’s development companion, we’re dedicated to enhancing meals manufacturing, minimising post-harvest losses, and selling sustainability to realize nationwide meals safety.” This imaginative and prescient underscores the financial institution’s function in fostering a sturdy agricultural economic system by strategic partnerships and revolutionary financing.

Echoing this sentiment, Barr. Bimbola Salu-Hundeyin, Secretary to the Lagos State Authorities, highlighted the collaborative spirit of the occasion in her opening remarks: “This 12 months’s theme, Hand in Hand for Higher Meals and a Higher Future, emphasises the pressing want for collaboration amongst governments, the non-public sector, improvement organisations, and communities, to remodel agri-food techniques, promote wholesome diets, and safeguard our surroundings. Regardless of its geographical limitations, Lagos State stays dedicated to attaining meals safety by initiatives just like the five-year Agricultural and Meals Programs Roadmap, concentrating on 40 per cent meals self-sufficiency by 2025.” Her phrases replicate the shared resolve to construct a sustainable future for Lagos and past.

The 2025 World Meals Day theme, “Hand in Hand for Higher Meals and a Higher Future”, as outlined by the Meals and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, underscores the significance of collective motion in revolutionising agri-food techniques and selling sustainable diets. The honest introduced this imaginative and prescient to life by exhibitions and shows, creating alternatives for smallholder farmers to attach with markets and embrace honest commerce practices. By facilitating these interactions, the occasion empowered farmers to broaden their attain and strengthen the agricultural worth chain, paving the best way for a extra resilient meals ecosystem.

The Lagos Farm Honest 2025 showcased transformative initiatives just like the Meals Programs Transformation Agenda, which strengthens the meals worth chain and creates jobs by structured off-take agreements. Stanbic IBTC’s monetary options play a pivotal function in supporting such programmes, driving innovation and enhancing market entry for farmers and agribusinesses. By aligning its efforts with platforms just like the honest, the financial institution helps to construct a sustainable agricultural economic system, guaranteeing that Nigeria’s meals techniques should not solely resilient but additionally able to assembly the calls for of a rising inhabitants. By way of these concerted efforts, Stanbic IBTC continues to be a catalyst for progress in Nigeria’s journey towards meals safety and financial prosperity.