In celebration of World Food Day 2025, Sterling Bank Limited, one of Nigeria’s foremost financial institutions, has reaffirmed its commitment to driving a resilient, inclusive, and food-secure Africa by calling for collective action to ensure access to safe, nutritious, and affordable food while protecting the planet.
This year’s celebration, themed “Hand in Hand for Better Food and a Better Future,” highlights Sterling Bank’s long-standing belief that Africa’s agricultural future depends on shared responsibility among farmers, financiers, policymakers, and communities.
Speaking on the occasion, Sterling Bank’s Group Head of Agriculture, Olushola Obikanye, emphasised that only partnership-driven solutions can effectively transform Africa’s food systems.
“No single institution or government can tackle food insecurity alone,” he said.
“We must work hand in hand with financial institutions, technology providers, farmers, and development partners to create a future where hunger is history.”
Obikanye stressed that Sterling Bank’s agricultural interventions go beyond financing, focusing instead on building an ecosystem that gives farmers access to credit, markets, and knowledge.
“That is how we can produce better food, improve nutrition, and secure a better future for generations to come,” he added.
He further noted that Africa, despite having 60% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, still spends billions annually on food imports, a paradox that can only be reversed through investment, innovation, and inclusion.
Over the last decade, Sterling Bank has positioned itself as one of Nigeria’s foremost financiers of agricultural development, providing funding and expertise to strengthen food systems and rural livelihoods.
The bank has disbursed over ₦500 billion in loans to commercial farmers and more than $300 million to support value chain actors nationwide.
Through its digital platform, SWAY AgFin, launched in 2022, more than 25,500 youth and women farmers have accessed financing and market opportunities.
Sterling Bank has also partnered with GIZ and USAID on capacity-building programmes that have reached over 10,000 agribusinesses and supported more than 100,000 rice, maize, and soybean farmers through the CBN Anchor Borrowers’ Programme and SWAY AgFin.
“Our strategy is built on three pillars: empowerment, innovation, and sustainability,” Obikanye said.
“We are empowering farmers through finance, innovating with technology, and promoting sustainability through climate-smart agriculture. The result is not just better yields, it’s stronger communities.”
Sterling Bank’s leadership in agricultural advocacy will again take centre stage at the upcoming Agriculture Summit Africa (ASA) 2025, which will be held from November 6 to 7, 2025.
Themed “Survival of the Greenest: Reclaiming Africa’s Food Destiny,” the event will gather policymakers, financiers, agribusiness leaders, and farmers to co-create practical solutions for a resilient, food-secure continent.
“World Food Day and ASA 2025 are connected by a single truth,” Obikanye concluded.
“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.”
Sterling Bank’s broader development focus is anchored on its H.E.A.R.T. strategy, which stands for Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy, and Transportation.
This strategy continues to drive investments promoting sustainable growth, inclusion, and shared prosperity across Africa.
Source: This Day Live
