The World Bank has approved $50 million to expand solar-powered agricultural solutions in Nigeria and five other African countries, in a move aimed at boosting farm productivity, reducing post-harvest losses and widening access to clean energy.
The funding will support the rollout of solar-powered cold rooms, refrigerators, water pumps and grain mills across Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Implementation will be led by Clasp, a Washington DC-based non-profit focused on energy efficiency and clean energy access, with support from partners including the Rockefeller Foundation, according to Bloomberg.
The initiative has already attracted strong donor backing. The Rockefeller Foundation, which has committed $12 million, says further funding could follow as implementation gains momentum. Its president, Rajiv Shah, noted that solar-powered agricultural infrastructure is increasingly viable for large-scale deployment across Africa’s rural and off-grid communities.
The financing is being channelled through the Productive Use Financing Facility (PUFF) under Mission 300, a joint World Bank–African Development Bank programme targeting electricity access for 300 million Africans by 2030.
Sub-Saharan Africa remains the world’s most energy-poor region, with about 600 million people lacking reliable electricity, an obstacle that continues to limit agricultural productivity and economic growth.
For Nigeria, the expansion is expected to help curb post-harvest losses, improve food storage and processing, and raise farmers’ incomes. Agriculture employs over a third of the country’s workforce, yet inefficiencies linked to poor power supply remain widespread.
By scaling solar-powered solutions, the World Bank and its partners aim to strengthen food security, support rural livelihoods and accelerate Africa’s clean energy transition.
