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Ayodeji Balogun, country manager, AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited, has said that the application of technology and easy access to finance will boost agricultural production in the country.
Balogun who disclosed this at a one-day workshop themed, “#CodeCashCrop” organised by Afex Commodities Exchange Limited, said the non-application of technology in Nigeria’s agriculture has been a major hurdle in the sector.
“The future is the connection of agric with the new financial ecosystem and technology is the Technology is the enabler to bring that marriage between finance and agriculture to fruition,” he said.
He stated that to ensure the connection between the agricultural and financial ecosystem, AFEX has created an asset class for investors to enable them invest in agriculture as well as reaching more smallholder farmers while improving their livelihoods and sustaining their production.
“We are creating that connection between the agricultural ecosystem and the financial ecosystem. There are investors that currently need exposure to multi asset classes but currently do not have a robust portfolio because the market is only around the money and the equity market.
“We have invested heavily into technology, having an exchange trading platform running live now, where traders, buyers and financiers can connect remotely from wherever they are and then transact,” he further said.
He hinted that the organisation had been able to organise rural farmers into bankable groups, provide finance for farmers and construct storage facilities as well as invested in technology through the provision of a trading platform for farmers to sell off their goods at reasonable prices.
Also speaking at the workshop, a Partner at Choiseul Africa, Adeline Fabre said agriculture was the next big thing in Nigeria and Africa, not because of fall in oil prices but because of the potentials in the sector.
She explained that the application of technology in agriculture could enable the value chains to work efficiently. She said that with more data on the sector, the value chain could work as transparency and trust would be engendered, thereby linking farmers to investors.
According to her, agriculture could not be sustainable without subsidies.
Meanwhile, a tech blogger, Bankole Oluwafemi called for improvements in infrastructure like transportation in Nigeria and West Africa in order to make application of technology have the needed impact in the agricultural sector.
He noted that agriculture must be made attractive to encourage youths to embrace it to replace the ageing farmer population in the country.
Josephine Okojie
