The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group has pledged to provide advisory services to Diamond Bank Plc in helping Nigeria  increase agricultural funding to $33 million in the next two years.

Under the arrangement, IFC will provide Diamond Bank with advisory services on strategy, product development and risk management, and help develop a financing model to lend to small and medium agri-businesses.

A statement from IFC said the move would also help strengthen the country’s vital but severely under-financed agric sector.

IFC’s Financial Markets Manager in sub-Saharan Africa, Ian Weetman, opined that the Diamond Bank’s funding would help propel employment and agricultural growth, as they were “critical objectives for the IFC”.

According to the Group MD/CEO, Diamond Bank, Mr. Alex Otti, said with the venture, “more growth opportunities” would be created for Africa’s most populous nation.

Currently, Nigeria’s agricultural sector receives only 1.4 percent from lenders in the country.

Rather low in a country where the sector accounts for 40 percent of total GDP.

However, with increased financing, the agric sector could develop to become a major engine of economic growth and employment, stamping out starvation and reducing poverty.