More than 1.47 million smallholder farmers in Nigeria are now covered under agricultural insurance schemes, according to the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM).
Commissioner for Insurance and Chief Executive Officer of NAICOM, Olusegun Omosehin, disclosed the figures at the 2025 Stakeholders’ Retreat of the House Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters held in Maiduguri.
Omosehin said the coverage was made possible through the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), which targets 3.6 million farmers by 2026. “In the second quarter of 2025 alone, 250,000 farmers were insured across eight states under various federal agricultural insurance schemes,” he said.
He highlighted the role of insurance in boosting productivity. In North Central Nigeria, insured rice farmers recorded an eleven percent increase in yields compared with uninsured peers. Ginger farmers in Kaduna State who lost over ninety percent of their crops also received payouts under the NAGS-AP scheme, while livestock insurance in Sokoto, Bauchi, Adamawa, and Plateau has helped reduce farmer-herder conflicts.
Omosehin urged lawmakers and regulators to ensure strict enforcement of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act (NIIRA) 2025, which consolidates existing laws and strengthens consumer protection. “The law has been passed, but the real work has just begun,” he said.
Signed into law by President Bola Tinubu in August 2025, NIIRA introduces sweeping reforms including higher capital requirements, compulsory insurance compliance, and digitisation mandates, positioning insurance as a driver of Nigeria’s $1 trillion economy ambition.
