Agriculture: Let’s talk business
The Business of Agriculture 💼
For the longest time, commercialized agriculture has been preserved for those with large tracts of lands and access to capital; often on credit and grants or through pilot projects with NGOs. And while startups are playing an important role in leveling this playing field by creating direct connections to the market and key players (commonly referred to as brokers), there is still much work to be done.
The supply value chain has always locked out smallholder farmers, the under-dogs of this chain, always leading to their exploitation when it comes to market aggregation, quality and affordable inputs or technical support. The majority of farming practices in Kenya and Nigeria are conducted primarily and largely by smallholder farmers, who we believe hold the key to alleviate Africa from poverty, mitigate climate change effects and improve the general well being of the continent if proper steps are made to empower the smallholder farmer.
To accelerate the growth of agriculture in Africa, there needs to be a clearer understanding of the sector’s opportunities. We need a shift in how people view agriculture today, a common view being that it is not a lush city job with benefits, and another being that farming is a side hustle that supplements primary income. There is a real need to optimize the value of the agriculture supply chain by creating structure and increasing efficiency.
Boosting agriculture as an economic activity requires players in the private and public sectors to work together to ensure success.
Agriculture in Kenya, for example, is a key contributor to economic growth representing over half of exports and therefore creates a wide reach for the nation to be a strategic sourcing partner for every key player in the value chain. Despite these opportunities, the average smallholder farmer (a key player of the sector) is affected by unregulated pricing of harvested farm produce in the fragmented agricultural supply chain that often exploits them.
At Farmz2U, we understand the pain points that smallholder farmers experience in their daily activities and the reach they can have to help achieve food security in the region and wealth creation for themselves and their families. Smallholder farmers account for about 75% of farmers across Nigeria and Kenya according to a World Bank report. Our model builds upon this opportunity. The major issue we seek to address is how unorganized most of these farmers are, especially in aggregating their activities.
With smallholder farmers contributing to at least a third of the world’s food production according to FAO, we estimate that if properly organized and aggregated, we can use our model to help set industry standards on planting practices, propel them into organic farming to produce quality nutritious food and help get the best prices for their produce. By getting them the right aggregators or links to these aggregators, we increase profits for them and also assist in lowering costs of production to maximize on profits.
We have our work cut out for us here at Farmz2U in fulfilling this ambition and we believe there is opportunity to scale if we invest properly in these farmers and in this sector. Because it will bring a vey high ROI for everyone in the chain if all these activities are synced up and organized well. Our vision at Farmz2U is to help create wealth and food sustainability for farmers in Sub Saharan Africa starting with Kenya and Nigeria.
At Farmz2u, we are building the operational engine for growers, suppliers and buyers. We believe in the power of technology accelerating value creation in the agricultural sector thus ensuring food security on the African continent.
