The FarmCrowdy Group (FCG) has officially launched FarmGate Africa, a new subsidiary that seeks to bridge the market access challenges experienced by farmers and major processors. This new technology-driven agro-trading marketplace for agriculture commodities in Africa, was launched in an event attended by investors, sponsors, partners and members of the media at their Lagos Office in Oniru.
Farmgate Africa is focused on providing major processors and international buyers the opportunity to purchase commodities directly from farming clusters through technology while optimizing market access to African farmers and invariably, improving their income. It bridges the gap between farmers, off-takers and processors by eliminating several layers of intermediaries in the supply chain.
Onyeka Akumah, CEO and Founder of FarmCrowdy Group said that this startup was birthed as a result of feedback gotten from farmers and major agro buyers on the need for a well-structured marketplace.
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“Launching FarmGate as one of the subsidiaries in the FarmCrowdy Group gives us huge joy with the expectations placed on us to continue to innovate and build new solutions driven by technology to finance agriculture. As we launch FarmGate Africa today, we have tirelessly worked for the past 6 months with the team to build relationships with blue-chip companies in and outside Nigeria, extend our relationships with thousands of farmer networks across the country and now, we are set to launch to the market with a strong team behind the idea.”
“In the next one month, we are focusing on another subsidiary that focuses on media for agriculture. Every subsidiary would be run by a Managing Director,” Onyeka added.
Farmgate Africa is led by Kenneth Obiajulu, Co-Founder of Farmcrowdy.
“Our business model is one that brings the farmers closer to the processors and off-takers by eliminating several layers of intermediaries. By doing this, Farmgate optimizes market access to African farmers and also improves their income by at least 30%,” said Obiajulu, Co-founder & Managing Director.
As a subsidiary of Farmcrowdy Group, Farmgate leverages on the wealth of experience and operational expertise available to sponsor aggregation of the produce and make sure the farmers receive good returns. It will allow everyday Nigerians fund the process of buying and selling what farmers already harvested. Farmers with high quality produce will now have the opportunity to sell to major buyers on the Farmgate website.
The FarmCrowdy group hopes to have at least 25,000 farmers in their pool by the time it celebrates its third anniversary in November.
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