World Environment Day 2026: Union Bank Executive Urges Financial Sector to Treat Agricultural Finance as Climate Finance
LAGOS, Nigeria – As the world commemorates World Environment Day 2026, Executive Director of Business Banking at �, Mannir U. Ringim, has called on Nigeria's financial sector to prioritize agricultural financing as a critical climate action strategy, arguing that investing in farmers is the most direct way to strengthen food security, climate resilience, and economic growth.
In a World Environment Day reflection titled "Nature Has Been Sending Us Signals. Our Farmers Read Them First," Ringim said climate change is increasingly disrupting traditional farming patterns across Nigeria and West Africa, making it imperative for financial institutions to provide accessible and sustainable capital to agricultural producers.
According to him, smallholder farmers have historically relied on environmental indicators such as rainfall patterns, cloud formations, and seasonal changes to guide planting decisions. However, shifting climate conditions have made those signals increasingly unpredictable, exposing farmers to greater risks and threatening food production.
"Nature is still sending its signals; they have become harder and crueller to read," Ringim noted, pointing to delayed rainfall, prolonged dry seasons, recurring floods, advancing desertification, and shrinking water bodies as visible manifestations of climate change affecting rural communities.
He argued that agriculture remains the sector most exposed to climate risks in Nigeria and much of West Africa, yet continues to receive a disproportionately low share of formal lending despite employing millions of people and contributing significantly to economic output.
Ringim described this as a long-standing contradiction within the financial system.
"Agriculture employs more people than any other sector in Nigeria and across much of West Africa, yet it attracts only a fraction of total bank lending," he said, stressing that farmers cannot adapt to changing climatic conditions without access to affordable and appropriately structured financing.
The banking executive emphasized that climate resilience can be strengthened through financial products tailored to agricultural realities, including crop-cycle lending, irrigation financing, mechanization support, storage infrastructure, warehouse receipt systems, weather-index insurance, and value-chain financing models.
According to him, these instruments not only improve agricultural productivity but also help farmers adapt to increasingly volatile weather conditions.
Ringim noted that many of the challenges commonly associated with agricultural lending are no longer insurmountable due to advances in technology, data collection, satellite imagery, digital payments, and improved risk-management tools.
He added that investments in irrigation, drought-resistant seeds, improved storage facilities, soil management, and agroforestry should be viewed as climate adaptation measures rather than optional environmental projects.
Highlighting the broader regional context, Ringim said West Africa remains among the world's most climate-vulnerable regions despite receiving relatively limited climate-finance flows. He argued that climate action must move beyond international commitments and become embedded in local financing decisions that directly impact rural communities.
The Union Bank executive further called for stronger collaboration among governments, development finance institutions, insurers, agritech companies, aggregators, and commercial banks to expand agricultural financing sustainably.
He cited previous interventions such as the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme and the Anchor Borrowers' Programme as examples that demonstrated both the potential and the challenges of public-private agricultural financing initiatives.
Ringim stressed that transparent governance, effective risk-sharing mechanisms, and outcome-based performance measurement would be essential to ensuring future programmes deliver lasting results.
He also highlighted the economic opportunities presented by Nigeria's agricultural sector, particularly for young people and women, noting that access to finance can transform agriculture from a subsistence activity into a viable and profitable enterprise.
Speaking on Union Bank's commitment, Ringim said the institution views agricultural financing as a form of national infrastructure and, increasingly, climate infrastructure.
He maintained that the financial sector must move beyond viewing farmers as high-risk borrowers and instead recognize them as essential partners in building food security and climate resilience.
"The most meaningful climate commitment our financial sector can make this World Environment Day is not a statement; it is a willingness to finance the land that feeds us, intelligently and at scale," he said.
Ringim concluded that for Nigeria and its neighbours, addressing climate change will depend largely on decisions made at home regarding risk pricing, capital allocation, and support for the agricultural sector, which remains at the frontline of climate impacts and adaptation efforts.
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