The continuous redefinition of agribusiness as a venture which can accommodate as many Nigerians as are interested in participating in different parts of the value chain, has seen a boost this week as Farmcrowdy launched a mobile application that allows users invest without having to physically visit a farm.
The App was launched as part of the company’s one year anniversary, and offers a new approach to investing in agriculture. Users are able to follow farms, sponsor them, get updates, and monitor their investments, all through the mobile App which has been released on Android, with iOS and Windows versions to follow soon.
Onyeka Akumah, co-founder and CEO of Farmcrowdy said at the App launch that it is meant to “provide an accessible, real-time platform for people on the go, who do not want to miss out on empowering their own communities. In the past month alone, we have witnessed over 500 farm units of poultry (a total of 25,000 chicks), sell out in a few hours and this provides support for farmers who would have found it difficult accessing loans in the banks.
“People are equally excited about creating impact in the lives of our farmers while earning a decent return. Nigeria is a mobile-first society and we had feedback from our sponsors who said they wanted improved access to our farms. They spoke, we listened, and we have now built a platform that suits Nigerians’ preferred means of doing business. – a mobile app. We expect that with this move, we would continue to stay at the forefront of innovation in Agritech across Nigeria and scale our activities into more states in Nigeria while attracting more farm followers and sponsors to engage our farmers”.
The company says it has so far been able to engage 2,000 farmers out of an estimated 38 million in the country, which implies there is still a lot of ground that can be covered. With more Nigerians investing in agriculture through this business model, it is expected that more farmers will be empowered, while individuals also get to earn substantial returns by supporting real economic growth.
People with money but no time to invest are able to put their funds at Farmcrowdy’s disposal and returns are to be repaid within stipulated contract periods.
Adaku Omidosu, CEO of Midofoods, one of Farmcrowdy’s partners, noted that both companies are currently engaged in a 200 hectare cassava farm project in Akwa Ibom State, and with incremental progress, aim to reach 1,000 hectares.
The presently cultivated land has 1,600 people engaged, and when the 1,000 hectare target is achieved, an increased number of smaller holder farmers will be empowered, while also delivering returns to more investors who make their funds available.
Omidosu also noted that presently, over 300 women have been trained on how to farm cassava properly. Small scale farmers (women in particular) have been empowered to take care of responsibilities they would have been unable to do without Farmcrowdy’s engagement in the agribusiness space.
Okon Archibong, CEO, Archigreenland farms also shared his experience on the partnership with Farmcrowdy. Archibong started poultry farming in 2001 with 2,600 birds and got to know of Farmcrowdy through a mutual acquaintance. The company entrusted him with an investment of 4,000 birds which was successful, and has been increased to 6,000 birds.
“I am hoping it will expand even more since there is still capacity,” said Archibong.
Reservations on the security of investments were also addressed and it was explained that insurance arrangements with leading firms such as Leadway assurance, provide guarantees that investors’ funds are safe.
Akumah noted that a percentage of investments by the different farm sponsors go into insurance. According to him, if there is any form of disaster that couldn’t be controlled, that the farmer did all they could, the contracted insurance companies step in and provide requisite cover.
Since the launch of its website 12 months ago, Farmcrowdy has recorded close to 1,000 unique farm sponsors, aggregated a combined 4,000 acres of farmland in Nigeria for farming purpose and grown over 150,000 organic chickens to date. Having worked with close to 2,000 small scale farmers in Nigeria already, the vast majority of Farmcrowdy sponsors are based in Nigeria, whilst 10% are located in the US and UK.
Farmcrowdy is an agric-tech platform that gives Nigerians the opportunity to participate in agriculture by selecting the kind of farms they want to sponsor. Farmcrowdy uses the sponsor’s funds to secure the land, engage the farmer, plant the seeds, insure the farmers and farm produce, complete the full farming cycle, sell the harvest and then pay the farm sponsor a return on their sponsorship. While this farm process is ongoing, the farm sponsors are able to keep track of the full-cycle by getting updates in text, pictures and videos.
Since its launch Farmcrowdy has been adjudged “Agro-Innovator of the Year 2016/2017” by the Nigerian Agriculture Awards as well as listed as one of the top innovative companies and institutions in Nigeria; cementing their place as game-changers within the agricultural sector.
CALEB OJEWALE
