First City Monument Bank (FCMB) is deepening its agritech strategy with plans to deploy AI-powered advisory services in major Nigerian languages, including Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo, to help smallholder farmers access timely information, financial services and agricultural support.
The initiative is part of the bank’s broader efforts to improve agricultural productivity, strengthen food security and address the financing challenges facing farmers across Nigeria and Africa.
According to FCMB’s Agritech Alumni Impact Report covering 2018 to 2026, the bank plans to continue supporting the growth and scale-up of innovative AgTech companies developing solutions across the agricultural value chain.
The report highlighted the potential of AI-powered platforms that can provide farmers with real-time agricultural advice and support in languages they understand, particularly Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.
FCMB said the initiative comes amid growing concerns over food security, agricultural productivity and the continued exclusion of smallholder farmers from formal financial systems across Africa.
The bank noted that agriculture contributes about 24 per cent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while only about six per cent of farmers in Africa have access to formal credit.
According to FCMB, the persistent financing gap is driving the development of more inclusive lending models that use relevant AgTech solutions, including weather data, soil intelligence and USSD-enabled technology platforms.
The bank said its agritech programme has evolved from a startup-focused competition into a wider ecosystem connecting innovators, investors and development partners to create practical solutions for the agricultural sector.
Under the planned next phase, FCMB intends to expand support for climate-resilient agricultural financing, bundled insurance and animal healthcare solutions, while helping Nigerian agritech startups expand into other African markets.
The target markets include Uganda, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Kenya, as the bank seeks to strengthen the regional reach of Nigeria’s agricultural technology ecosystem.
FCMB said the strategy represents a shift from traditional lending towards building what it described as “a de-risked, data-driven, and sovereign future for food and agriculture in Africa.”
Over the years, FCMB’s AgTech initiatives have benefited from partnerships with development organisations, including FMO and the United Nations Development Programme, while the bank has also collaborated with the Mastercard Foundation on broader agricultural and youth-focused interventions.
The bank said the continued investment in AI, data and digital agricultural solutions is aimed at making support more accessible to farmers, strengthening the agricultural value chain and creating a more inclusive financing system for Africa’s food sector.
