2SCALE Raises €110 Million to Stimulate Agribusiness in Nigeria,

•Connects 166,000 small holder farmers to market

Oluchi Chibuzor

Towards Sustainable Clusters for Agribusiness Learning and Entrepreneurship (2SCALE) says it has raised €110 million worth of investment in Nigeria’s agribusiness sector.

Equally they acknowledged they have connected 166,000 small holder farmers to market access through the two phases of its incubation and accelerator programmes for agribusiness in Nigeria in the last 13 years,

This was disclosed at the 2SCALE and Dutch Consulate Media Engagement Forum, themed ‘Inclusive Agribusiness in Nigeria: A Public-Private Dialogue’, held in Lagos recently.

Giving her opening remarks, 2SCALE’s Program Director, Ms. Marina Diboma, said the 13-year journey of the initiative has enabled inclusive agribusiness models across Nigeria and nine other African countries.

According to her, “Our goal has never been just about increasing yields. It’s about empowering local entrepreneurs, strengthening market linkages, and embedding inclusive approaches within public and private sector systems. Each farmer, each SME we’ve worked with is a story of innovation and resilience.”

The event also doubled as the premier of 2SCALE’s documentary ‘Food Soldiers: promoting food security in Africa’ and the unveiling of an interactive digital magazine spotlighting.

On his part, 2SCALE’s Country Director, Mr. Olisa Maxwell, stated that as its programmes come to an end this year, the agency is working to transfer the lessons learnt from their work in Nigeria to agribusiness stakeholders to ensure continuity of its strategies and sustainable progress to enhance food security in the country.

By connecting small holder farmers with ready markets, Maxwell explained that 2SCALE’s strategies aims to de-risk the sector by drastically reducing postharvest losses, improve earnings for small holder farmers, and strengthen the agribusiness value chain in Nigeria.

Giving a scorecard of 2SCALE’s interventions in the last 13 years, he said: “Over the last 13 years, we have co-created agribusiness strategies with the indigenous agribusiness actors who were carefully selected across the four food sectors: dairy and animal proteins, staple crops, oil, seed and horticulture.

“With those strategies, we’ve been able to direct the interventions and the funds from the donor organization, especially coming from the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of the Netherlands through their department called DGIS.

“We have invested about €110 million within the course of the 13 years. This €110 million is split in two with €65 million coming directly from our donor and the same amount matched by our partners ensuring effective public-private partnership. More than 166,000 small holder farmers have been supported with access to the market 50 per cent of whom are women and 40 per cent youth,” he said.

According to him, the funds were channeled towards implementing strategies to make agribusiness value chains more inclusive, onboard more farmers into their system, connect markets to farmers, and ensure that there is fair and transparent business transaction. The funds were also deployed in sub-grants, he said.

However, Diboma called for collaboration across all critical sectors to achieve food security in Nigeria highlighting five handover priorities, “strengthening local ownership, institutionalising the 2SCALE approach, expanding private-sector engagement, boosting knowledge exchange, and supporting multi-stakeholder platforms such as Inclusive Agribusiness Clubs.”