How we are using digital innovation to help farmers —Farmcrowdy boss

Onyeka Akumah is the chairman and chief executive officer of Farmcrowdy, a digital agricultural marketing company. He shares with NURUDEEN ALIMI how the company uses digital approach to help Nigerian farmers develop agriculture in the country.

CAN you share with us what Farmcrowdy is all about?

Farmcrowdy is a digital agricultural platform which connects small scale farmers and investors. In the last two years and nine months, we have been able to work with about 25,000 farmers connecting them with sponsorship opportunities close to $15 million over that period. Currently, our tentacle is spread across 14 states. Just recently, we moved from not just sponsoring farms but also getting people to sponsor other sectors of the economy through our platform called Crowdyvest. We are happy about where we found ourselves and it has been an exciting journey so far.

How does the relationship between Farmcrowdy and farmers translate to something profitable?

An average farmer struggles with access to funding, inputs, technical knowledge and market to sell what he produces. So, what we do at Farmcrowdy is to let these farmers get access to those things that would allow them to thrive, expand on their farms, help them to sell what they produce; and at the end of the day, we are able to then share profits. An average farmer gets up to, at least, 80 per cent return thereafter.

Can you shed more light on the $5 million partnership with the Oyo State government to develop agriculture in the state?

We were able to have a conversation with the state government on how we can contribute to the development of agriculture in the state. This partnership will see us investing not less than $5 million within the period of three years. And we are going to connect up to 50,000 small scale farmers across the state with the sole aim of proffering solutions to various challenges facing them.

• ‘I have always wanted to use technology to impact three key sectors of the economy’

What is your main objective as far as this partnership is concerned?

In the next two to three years, we intend to connect 50,000 farmers. We’ll also provide them with the right inputs, the right technical partners and the right market to sell what they produce. We are also going to be creating aggregation points for these farmers to bring their farm produce, so that they can sell and make reasonable profit.

How do those interested in investing in Farmcrowdy go about the process?

We first open up opportunity on our platforms so that they can see for example, a maize farm in Oyo State that is about to start. When you sponsor that particular farm, what happens thereafter is that before the end of the cycle, you will be getting updates in form of videos, pictures and text. And at the end of the cycle, you will be able to get your return after harvest.

Presently, you are operating in 14 states. What are your plans to extend the scope of operations?

We intend to be active in 17 states before the end of the year. Actually, it is not the number of states we have presence that matters but the number of farmers we are able to reach, because that is even more important. If we are able to reach like 100,000 farmers, that will go a long way as they will be excited to increase their revenue as a result of working with Farmcrowdy.