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Over 500 global industry executives, investors and policymakers expected at AGRIC 2026.
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Conference targets capital mobilisation, agro-industrial deals and stronger agricultural value chains.
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₦1m youth value-chain pitch, investor deal rooms and international trade pavilion featured.
September 21, (THEWILL) – Global investors, policymakers, development finance institutions and agricultural industry leaders are set to converge on Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, for the 5th Agribusiness Roundtable International Conference, AGRIC 2026, scheduled for October 25 to 28, 2026.
The four-day conference is expected to focus on unlocking investment opportunities across Nigeria’s agricultural value chains, strengthening agro-industrial capacity and connecting producers and businesses with local and international capital.
Speaking to THEWILL ahead of the event, South-South Zonal Coordinator of the Nigeria Agribusiness and Agro-Industry Development Initiative (NAADI) and Chairman of the Central Organising Committee, Dr Howard Usen, said AGRIC 2026 was designed to move beyond policy discussions to concrete investment and commercial transactions.
Usen said the conference would bring together sovereign leaders, foreign trade missions, investors and industrial operators to facilitate partnerships, processing projects, off-take agreements and integration of grassroots commodity producers into wider markets.
The conference, organised by NAADI South-South and the Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN), is being held in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and the Akwa Ibom State Government.
It will be held under the theme, “Accelerating Agribusiness Transformation: Unlocking Value Chains to Achieve Food Security, Nutrition Sustainability, Job Creation, Poverty Alleviation and National Prosperity.”
The organisers said more than 500 high-level industry executives are expected to participate, alongside executive governors, federal ministers, heads of multilateral agencies, foreign ambassadors, financial institutions, agro-processing companies and other stakeholders.
A major component of the conference will be the International Trade Pavilion, designed to provide a marketplace for domestic and international companies to display products and connect with institutional buyers, government procurement officials and potential off-takers.
The event will also feature closed-door investor deal rooms where bankable agricultural projects are expected to be presented to potential financiers, with discussions covering project financing, export contracts and off-take agreements.
For young people, women entrepreneurs, farmers, cooperatives and researchers, the conference will provide masterclasses, research-to-market commercialisation opportunities and a ₦1 million Value Chain Pitch for innovative solutions to challenges across agricultural value chains.
The organisers also plan to commission Phase One of the Centre for Innovative and Sustainable Agriculture (CISA) and hold the Agribusiness Development and Enterprise Award, ADEA 2026, to recognise individuals and organisations contributing to agricultural development.
According to the organisers, another expected outcome is the development of the proposed “Uyo Declaration”, a policy roadmap aimed at improving the ease of doing business in Nigeria’s agribusiness sector and strengthening agricultural industrialisation.
The organisers said AGRIC 2026 would particularly seek to position Akwa Ibom and the South-South region as destinations for agro-industrial investment by showcasing agricultural assets, processing opportunities and infrastructure to investors.
They said the choice of Uyo was informed by the state’s infrastructure and agricultural development initiatives under the ARISE Agenda, citing facilities and projects including Ibom Air and the St. Gabriel Coconut Refinery, among others.
The conference is expected to attract representatives of UNIDO, FAO, IFAD, World Bank, African Development Bank, Afreximbank, JICA, GIZ, Nigerian Export Promotion Council, Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SMEDAN and NITDA, as well as commercial and development finance institutions.
The organisers said the conference is ultimately expected to facilitate investment commitments, technical partnerships, industrial projects, employment opportunities and agreements between international technology partners, development finance institutions and regional agribusinesses.
Usen told THEWILL in an exclusive interaction, that the success of the conference would be measured by the practical opportunities created for producers and investors.
“AGRIC 2026 is designed to create a platform where capital meets verified capacity. We want investors, governments and producers to move beyond discussions and identify bankable opportunities that can lead to processing facilities, off-take agreements, job creation and stronger agricultural value chains”, he stated.
