Citigroup Inc. has entered a partnership with Lagos-based social enterprise Babban Gona to increase lending to local smallholder farmers in a bid to boost agricultural output in Africa’s most populous country.
Babban Gona will administer a $10 million Citigroup Inc. financing to about 41,000 small farmers in the West African nation, it says in an emailed statement. Even though agriculture contributes a third of Nigeria’s economic output, it attracts less than 5% of bank loans.