A long-running effort to formalise how Nigeria grows one of its most valuable export crops has just widened. WACOT Limited, a member of the TGI Group, has launched its 2026 Sesame Outgrower Programme in Jigawa State, expanding support for more than 10,000 smallholder farmers through a strengthened partnership with the Bank of Agriculture under the Federal Government's Renewed Hope Smallholder Support and Value Chain Programme, according to The Guardian and BusinessDay.
How the Scheme Works
The design is straightforward and aimed at the two things smallholders lack most, affordable credit and a guaranteed buyer. Participating farmers receive input loans and repay them with farm produce after harvest, alongside extension services meant to lift productivity, crop quality and long-term sustainability, according to Leadership. The Bank of Agriculture has framed the arrangement as a new model for agricultural financing that ties together government, a lender and a private off-taker, with farmers accessing single-digit loans rather than the steep informal rates many normally face, according to AgroNigeria. The rollout began with the distribution of inputs to farmers in Medu Village, Gagarawa Local Government Area, as Vanguard reported.
From Pilot to Value Chain
The programme is not new, but its scale is telling. Since its launch in 2018, the WACOT Sesame Outgrower Programme has grown from a pilot into one of Nigeria's leading contract-farming schemes, supporting more than 10,000 farmers across eight local government areas in Jigawa, according to The Sun. WACOT's managing director, Naveen Chaurasia, said the company was committed to maintaining the international quality standards its buyers expect while ensuring that improving farmers' livelihoods strengthens the wider ecosystem, according to THISDAY. The partnership also reaches beyond sesame, covering rice farmers in Kebbi and maize and soybean growers in Katsina, as New Telegraph noted.
Why Sesame, and Why It Matters
Sesame rarely features in Nigerian kitchens, but it is one of the country's most valuable agricultural exports, and Nigeria ranks among the world's leading producers, according to the Federal Ministry of Information and National Orientation. Locking farmers into a scheme that supplies quality seed, finance and a buyer helps stabilise both output and the foreign exchange the crop earns. It also tests a template that could be copied for other value chains, where the absence of guaranteed markets and cheap credit has long kept yields low and incomes thin.
Schemes that steady rural incomes and raise output feed into the wider supply that ultimately sets food prices. FoodPrices Nigeria tracks verified retail prices across Lagos markets and follows the financing and contract-farming models that shape how much food reaches the shopper.
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