Sterling bank rallies resources for Africa’s food security on World Food Day 2025

To commemorate 2025 World Food Day, Sterling Bank has reaffirmed its commitment to building a resilient, inclusive and food-secure Africa.

This year’s World Food Day, themed ‘Hand in Hand for Better Food and a Better Future,’ highlights the need for collective effort to ensure access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food for all, while promoting sustainable livelihoods and protecting the planet.

“The 2025 World Food Day theme captures exactly what Africa needs right now: collaboration. No single institution or government can fix food insecurity alone. We must work hand in hand with financial institutions, technology providers, farmers, development partners, and other key stakeholders to create a future where hunger is history,” said Olushola Obikanye, group head, Agriculture at Sterling Bank.

“At Sterling Bank, we’ve seen what’s possible when partnerships align with purpose. Our commitment goes beyond financing as we are helping to build an ecosystem where farmers have access to credit, markets, and the knowledge they need to thrive,” he added.

He emphasised the urgency of partnership-driven solutions to transform Africa’s food systems.

“Food security must move from being a national aspiration to a continental priority. We are sitting on 60 percent of the world’s uncultivated arable land, yet Africa still imports billions of dollars’ worth of food annually. This paradox can only change through action, investment, innovation, and inclusion.”

For Sterling Bank, the theme underscores a truth that has guided its work in agriculture: Africa’s food destiny depends on shared responsibility between farmers, financiers, policymakers, and communities.

Over the past decade, Sterling Bank has emerged as one of Nigeria’s foremost financiers of agricultural development, channeling funding and expertise into projects that strengthen food systems, enhance productivity, and empower communities.

The bank has disbursed over N500 billion in loans to commercial farmers and more than $300 million to support agricultural value chain actors across the country.

In 2022, it launched SWAY AgFin, a digital platform that has since enabled over 25,500 youth and women farmers to access financing and market opportunities.

Through partnerships with GIZ and USAID, it has implemented capacity-building programmes that have reached over 10,000 agribusinesses, enhancing competitiveness and sustainability, while also supporting over 100,000 rice, maize, and soybean farmers under the Central Bank of Nigeria Anchor Borrowers’ Programme and SWAY AgFin.

Obikanye noted that these achievements are a product of Sterling Bank’s deliberate focus on long-term agricultural transformation.

“Our strategy is built on three pillars: empowerment, innovation, and sustainability. We are empowering farmers through finance, innovating through technology, and promoting sustainability through climate-smart agriculture. The result is not just better yields, it’s better livelihoods and stronger communities,” he said.

Sterling Bank’s leadership in agricultural advocacy and investment will again take centre stage at the upcoming Agriculture Summit Africa (ASA) 2025, scheduled for November 6–7, 2025, where thought leaders and innovators will convene under the theme ‘Survival of the Greenest: Reclaiming Africa’s Food Destiny.’

The summit, convened annually by Sterling Bank, has become one of Africa’s foremost platforms for driving sustainable agricultural policy and investment.

ASA 2025 will bring together policymakers, financiers, agribusiness leaders, and farmers to co-create practical solutions for achieving a resilient, food-secure continent.

“World Food Day and ASA 2025 are connected by a single truth,” Obikanye said. “Africa’s food future will be secured only when we combine innovation, capital, and compassion to build systems that feed our people and protect our planet.”

Through its H.E.A.R.T. strategy, focusing on health, education, agriculture, renewable energy, and transportation, the bank continues to drive investments that promote sustainable development, inclusive growth, and shared prosperity across Africa.