Economy
FarmCrowdy Expands in Finance, Insurance, Others
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigerian agritech startup, Farmcrowdy, has launched Farmcrowdy 3.0 as part of its expansion into diverse businesses which include FC Tech and Data, FC Structured Finance, FC Insurance, FC Marketing, FC Aggregation, and FC Foods.
This was launched during its 4th-anniversary celebration which also marks the third National Digital Agriculture Day, a celebration initiated by Farmcrowdy back in 2018.
Farmcrowdy 3.0 is essentially an umbrella platform comprising the new six business units which the company is looking to focus on in the next year.
The business units majorly leverage tech to deliver value to farmers and consumers alike. They are an expression of the company’s ambition and how it is looking to deepen its offering to cater to as many needs as it possibly could.
FC Aggregation, for instance, has the ultimate goal of making sure farmers get their work’s worth.
Highlighting that the major problem for farmers is access to market, FC Aggregation business lead, Mr Obi Luya explained that this is a two-pronged problem as farmers can’t reach buyers directly and vice versa. This, coupled with poor storage and transport facilities means N3.42 trillion is lost annually due to post-harvest losses.
To solve this problem, FC aggregation is launching a production and outgrowers project which aims to facilitate trade through a platform called Farmcrowdy Trader. This is a one-stop-shop where buyers and sellers can meet and trade with each other.
“Buyers are able to come to the platform remotely and see farmers who have uploaded their products. They can also make their choices and concerns known and get real-time responses,” he noted.
This unit operates with aggregation centres stationed in rural farming communities. These centres, located within 2 kilometres of affiliated farms, are equipped with digital equipment. Farmers could upload produce after weighing and standardization and it becomes globally available. There are 101 aggregation centres and 182,000 farmers registered on the platform.
Speaking about FC Tech, Farmcrowdy CTO, Mr Christopher Abiodun, noted that the new business units target 30,000 farmers. With 38 million small-scale farmers in Nigeria and 90 per cent of them finding it extremely difficult getting their produce to the markets, these new businesses, all leveraging technology, look to solve the problems in the food value chain.
Farmcrowdy Tech and Data, therefore, looks to provide insights, market and yield predictions, market research points, data analysis and others. He also emphasized the deployment of Technical Field Specialists and a farmers’ app.
For the Structured Finance business unit, its head, Mr Oluwakotanmi Ojo said the unit aims to help farmers access capital and loan facilities. He noted that 50 per cent of the Nigerian population are farmers and 90 per cent of them have no access to loan facilities.
He chalked the financial limitations of farmers to three major challenges: lack of info and access; financial exclusion because only 28.5 per cent of the Nigerian population have any financial relationships with banks; and finally, high-interest loans. He said the unit would focus on equipment financing, third party collaborations and finally making farm produce directly available to end consumers at affordable prices
For FC Insurance, the company’s Chief Risk Officer, Akindele Philips says the unit aims to be the link between farmers and participants in the food value chain. He noted that only 1.9 per cent of adults in Nigeria (about 3.9 million) have any form of insurance. Local farmers make up a majority of adults lacking any form of insurance and this is affecting food production in Nigeria.
To this end, local farmers need digital platforms to easily register and obtain insurance packages. They also require products that are flexible and affordable. FC Insurance’s goal is, therefore, to make insurance affordable and available to farmers.
Insurance products which the business unit aims to provide to farmers include Life insurance, hospice and health, property protection and crop insurance for damage to farms due to pest, adverse weather, fire etc.
For FC marketing, its business lead, Mr Babajide Aroyewun said the unit operates a 360-degree integrated system of marketing in its quest to become a marketing solutions provider. He introduced the business’ marketing platform, Agricsquare which he claimed has over 25,000 active members talking tech and agric.
Agricsquare is a public social community for users to meet and interact with agritech enthusiasts. FC Marketing is expected to spearhead Farmcrowdy’s expansion into Ghana Rwanda, Kenya, the Caribbean etc.
By Adedapo Adesanya
NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange remained in the negative territory after it further depreciated by 0.64 per cent on Friday, July 24, despite recording four price gainers.
The NASD Security Index (NSI) dropped 27.4 points at the close of business to settle at 4,294.75 points versus the previous day’s 4,383.48 points, while the market capitalisation gave up N16.49 billion to end at N2.577 trillion, in contrast to the N2.594 trillion it ended a day earlier.
The bourse was down during the session amid heavy sell-offs, with the volume of transactions skyrocketing by 693.9 per cent to 2.99 million units from Thursday’s 377,635 units.
Equally, the value of trades went up by 71.6 per cent to N69.4 million from N40.4 million, and the number of deals increased by 41.0 per cent to 55 deals from the preceding day’s 39 deals.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 75.6 million units traded for N5.4 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units exchanged for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million.
The market ended the session with four price gainers and two price losers, led by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, which lost N7.44 to trade at N136.19 per share compared with the previous day’s N143.63 per share, and CSCS Plc, which declined by N1.64 to N93.63 per unit from N95.27 per unit.
But MRS Oil gained N13.50 to sell at N148.50 per share versus N135.00 per share, Afriland Properties Plc advanced by 56 Kobo to N17.41 per unit from N16.85 per unit, UBN Property Plc surged by 18 Kobo to N1.93 per share from N1.75 per share, and Food Concepts Plc climbed by 1 Kobo to N2.50 per unit from N2.49 per unit.
By Dipo Olowookere
Nigeria’s stock exchange succumbed to profit-taking on Friday, losing 0.19 per cent when the closing gong was hit at 4 pm.
Shares in the banking and energy sectors influenced the decline suffered by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited during the session, as they respectively closed lower by 0.40 per cent and 0.04 per cent.
The industrial goods index was flat yesterday, while the insurance counter gained 0.68 per cent and the consumer goods space chalked up 0.25 per cent. The gains by these two segments could not keep Customs Street in the green territory at the close of business.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 474.00 points to 247,357.40 points from 247,831.40 points, and the market capitalisation decreased by N306 billion to N159.588 trillion from N159.894 trillion.
Presco dropped 10.00 per cent during the trading day to close at N2,070.00, Thomas Wyatt crumbled by 9.93 per cent to N3.63, Trans-Nationwide Express plunged by 8.44 per cent to N2.82, Royal Exchange slipped by 7.86 per cent to N1.29, and LivingTrust Mortgage Bank shrank by 7.32 per cent to N3.80.
On the flip side, C&I Leasing improved by 9.48 per cent to N6.35, Cornerstone Insurance rose by 9.09 per cent to N6.00, RT Briscoe jumped by 8.61 per cent to N13.25, Honeywell Flour expanded by 7.38 per cent to N17.45, and Africa Prudential increased by 6.98 per cent to N13.80.
Despite the poor performance, the local bourse recorded a positive market breadth index after finishing with 35 price gainers and 25 price losers, representing strong investor sentiment.
It was a relatively quiet market on Friday, as the activity level dropped, with the trading volume down by 27.72 per cent to 565.5 million units from 782.4 million units, and the trading value contracted by 46.89 per cent to N29.9 billion from N56.3 billion, while the number of deals executed by investors soared by 16.03 per cent to 53,688 deals from 46,273 deals.
Access Holdings was the busiest stock for the session, with a turnover of 128.0 million units sold for N3.8 billion, First Holdco transacted 35.4 million units worth N4.3 billion, Chams exchanged 34.8 million units valued at N154.3 million, Zenith Bank traded 30.4 million units for N3.9 billion, and UBA sold 30.4 million units worth N1.5 billion.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Naira marked a whole week of appreciation against the United States Dollar on Friday, July 24, further gaining N5.67 or 0.41 per cent to close at N1,362.09/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX) compared with N1,367.76/$1 it ended on Thursday.
Equally, the local currency appreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official FX market yesterday by N10.83 to trade at N1,813.62/£1 versus the preceding day’s N1,824.45/£1, and improved against the Euro by N7.68 to settle at N1,549.10/€1, in contrast to the N1,556.78/€1 it was exchanged a day earlier.
However, at the parallel market and GTBank forex counter, the Nigerian currency remained unchanged against the greenback during the session at N1,400/$1 and N1,379/$1, respectively.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) buffer has been strengthened with sustained foreign portfolio inflows and robust foreign reserves, which stand above $52 billion.
The apex bank’s policy signals that the Naira will be stronger in the near term, with Nigeria clearing hurdles with FX reforms and settlement of all backlogs.
However, some traders expect that pressure may come due to foreign-currency buying from fuel importers as they make Dollar purchases to build inventories.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC), in the digital currency landscape, trimmed recent gains as it fell by 2.3 per cent to $63,787.73.
The weak action in the AI momentum trade is feeding through to crypto as well.
Further, Cardano (ADA) dropped 3.7 per cent to close at $0.1615, Solana (SOL) dipped by 2.8 per cent to $73.71, Ripple (XRP) crashed by 2.3 per cent to $1.08, Ethereum (ETH) slid by 1.9 per cent to $1,851.58, Dogecoin (DOGE) retreated by 0.8 per cent to $0.0694, Binance Coin (BNB) contracted by 0.7 per cent to $564.18, and TRON (TRX) lost 0.5 per cent to trade at $0.3292, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat at $1.00 each.
