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By Adesina Wahab

Experts have called for the creation of convergence of the public with farmers to boost their confidence as a way of surmounting the insecurity threatening the sector and the attendant despondence it has brought on some of the farmers.

They expressed the view during a webinar that was part of the activities marking the fifth anniversary of Farmcrowdy, an agric-tech outfit.

The webinar was themed: “The Green Dream: Above and Beyond.”

Speaking on the occasion, the Co-Founder/CEO of Farmcrowdy, Mr Akindele Phillips, said, “Since its inception in 2016, Farmcrowdy has been on a mission to solve the inefficiencies in the food value chain using technology. Farmcrowdy also strives to contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger.

“Within its first two years, Farmcrowdy successfully raised a combined $2.4m in grants and equity investments from venture capitalists and Angel investors in Nigeria and the United States. Farmcrowdy has also been able to amass a network of over 400,000 farmers, cultivated over 17,000 acres of farmland, reared three million organic chickens, and deployed funds for farming projects across 36 States in Nigeria.

“Moving away from crowdfunding in August 2019 as a source of funding for farmers, Farmcrowdy now connects smallholder farmers to DFIs provided by government agencies, access to market and processed food. A few months ago, Farmcrowdy reviewed its business structure to evolve into two strategic business lines called FC Foods and FC Shops. FC Foods serves as a digital marketplace for trading raw agro-products, inputs and commodities.

“Consumers can conveniently purchase fresh foods products and groceries. FC Shops, on the other hand, is a tech-enabled B2B retail platform that helps small retailers source their inventory by facilitating access to the widest assortment of FMCG goods at wholesale prices.”

Speakers at the event such as Dr Andrew Kwasari, SSA to the President on Agriculture, Dr Angel Adelaja-Kuye, SSA to the Ogun State Governor on Agriculture, Mr Ibrahim Maigari, also emphasised the need for the convergence of fiscal and monetary policies for the sector to grow.

They noted that there was an urgent need to find a solution to the food crisis globally.

“To revolutionise the agric sector, everybody has a role to play. Areas such as road development, statistics, finance, healthcare are some key areas to the development of the industry,” Adelaja noted.

The event which was also a platform to reveal Farmcrowdy’s expansion project in East Africa had its Country Manager in Rwanda, Fiona Umulisa, discussing  Farmcrowdy’s impact in her region.

“Almost all our underwriters from the past operations are partakers in the food value chain. As of now, we are doing more collaborations beyond Nigeria. We have a footprint in Rwanda,” Akindele added.