…we’ve cultivated over 10 thousand hectares of farmland across Nigeria

By Benjamin Omoike, Lagos

Nigeria’s digital agriculture startup, Farmcenta, is celebrating her second year of, according to the CEO, consistent impact across six states of the country.

According to Akinyemi Ademola, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Farmcenta, it has been “a journey laden with challenges, as well as providing interesting opportunities.” 

“Our platform provides Nigerians the opportunity to subscribe to farms of choice with decent returns, this is a huge occasion for us as we continue to establish ourselves as a most popular investment platform in Nigeria. 

“The last two years have been challenging, as well as providing for us, interesting opportunities. The Nigerian workspace could be highly unpredictable. This, in itself, is a challenge, but it could also in the same vein, throw up a lot of opportunities for investors, at the same time. So, really, it depends on which way you want to look at it.

“In terms of diversifying the economy, agriculture has been identified as a veritable alternative to oil and gas, as in the case of Nigeria. So, we believe that we are on the right path, especially with the inclusion of technology in terms of “digital agriculture”. We see this as the way to go as regards exploring the agricultural landscape even further and taking it to the next level,” he said.

Akinyemi states that Farmcenta has worked with over 5,000 farmers and has received more than 19,000 farm subscriptions from Nigerians across the country, the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Europe and UAE and completed over 12 farm investment cycles.

“We are strategically positioning our business through long term partnership with credible organisations and communities to enable us drive growth and diversification. Our vision remains to be a unique and impact driven agri-business with sustainability within the agric value chain.”

He stressed that the past two years of consistent impact have been a great experience for the Farmcenta team, and that they are committed to constant improvement, innovations, dynamism and creativity to remain in business for years to come. 

“Our contributions to the national food security and global zero hunger have been tremendous, and we sincerely appreciate the receptive gestures of our stakeholders both at home and in the Diaspora, for giving us platforms to grow.  

“Since the launch in 2018, Farmcenta has cultivated over 10,000 acres of farmland across six states in Nigeria. We have established private Cattle Ranch on over 50 hectares in Oyo State and fattened 6,000 bulls for premium meat processing companies. We have also established dairy farm in partnership with one of the world’s largest milk production and distribution company, with 3,500 litres of raw milk production capacity daily. 

“Farmcenta also got inducted into the France-Nigeria tech Exchange in 2019, an initiative by the French Government in collaboration with the Nigerian Embassy in France. We were recognised and awarded the Most Innovative Agriculture Investment Platform by the Africa Brands in August 2020. 

“We are driven by impact and joy of our stakeholders as we jointly contribute to the food value chain,” Akinyemi said.