LAGOS — As Nigeria marks International Women’s Day 2026, the BATN Foundation has released a comprehensive impact report showcasing a strategic shift in the country’s agricultural landscape. The data reveals that young women are no longer just “helpers” on the farm; they are becoming the CEOs of high-growth agribusinesses, thanks to targeted intervention programs that prioritize gender-inclusive funding.
By focusing on the intersection of youth and gender, the Foundation is helping to rebrand agriculture as a high-tech, profitable career path for the next generation of Nigerian women.
The Power of 53%: Smashing the Funding Barrier
A persistent challenge in Nigerian agriculture has been the “credit gap,” where women produce a significant portion of the food but receive a fraction of the formal financing. The BATN Foundation’s flagship Farmers for the Future (F4F) Award is actively reversing this trend.
Impact Metrics at a Glance:
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Female Beneficiaries: 53.57% of all F4F awardees are women.
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Grant Allocation: 60.8% of total disbursed funds have gone to female-led startups.
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Total Women Reached: Over 1,500 women empowered across youth and rural community programs.
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Regional Reach: Notable success in Bauchi and Akwa Ibom, where 500 women launched sustainable poultry enterprises.
Success Stories: From Rented Equipment to Global Spices
The 2026 cohort has produced several “category kings” in the food processing space, proving that value addition—not just raw farming—is the key to economic transformation.
| Agripreneur | Enterprise | Impact Milestone |
| Mbah Chinaza Naomi | Nana’s Delight Foodstuff | Moved from rented tools to owning a factory; now exporting indigenous spices. |
| Adebisi Opeyemi | Pemnia Wellness | Processing Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potato into nutrition-focused health products. |
| Owolabi Khadijah | Sweet Ville | Scaling the production of value-added meat snacks like Kilishi and shredded beef. |
| Edeh Felicitas | Nuriswell Foods | Developed ready-to-cook meal combinations for healthy, convenient eating. |
The “GAP” Strategy: Mentorship and Scale
Beyond the F4F awards, the Graduate Agripreneur Programme (GAP) acts as an incubator for university graduates. By providing enterprise training and business mentorship, the program ensures that young women like Olurunmaiye Cynthia (Mojola Farm) have the infrastructure to scale broiler production from a small backyard operation to a commercial-grade poultry business.
“Women, particularly young women, are central to the future of Nigerian agriculture,” says Oludare Odusanya. “When we equip them with the right resources, we aren’t just supporting individuals; we are strengthening the entire food system.”
Aligning with Global Goals
The Foundation’s 2026 initiatives are directly mapped to the UN Sustainable Development Goals:
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SDG 2 (Zero Hunger): Increasing food productivity through modernization.
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SDG 5 (Gender Equality): Closing the $300bn global finance gap for female entrepreneurs.
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SDG 8 (Decent Work): Creating high-value jobs in the agro-allied sector.
