Economy
AgriTech Start-up Peatuce Offers to Assist Local Farmers
For more than decades, numerous challenges have consistently plagued the operations of smallholder farmers on the African continent; from poor financing to stringent policies, haphazard regulation, climatic changes and obsolete technology, these challenges often create a stifled environment for the functionality of local farmers playing in the Agricultural value chain.
As such, farm productivity, efficiency, and profitability has been grossly irregular, most times, at a decline.
The aftermath of this irregularity is already negative, and could grow worse if it isn’t remedied timely, especially considering that the African population, which is expected to grow spontaneously by 2050 will have more mouths to feed, when in contrast, local food production is yet to circulate the present population.
All of these sum up to what propelled Charles Ogbaoku, alongside his formidable team; Kingley Ebere (COO), Patrick Emezieonyeije (Business Operations) and the rest of the team, to champion the course of remedying the situation via Peatuce.
Founded on February 1, 2018, Peatuce is set to improve the local food trade within and across Africa by increasing efficiency, service quality and enhancing profitability for farmers, suppliers and buyers.
Peatuce was created out of three major concerns; the ageing profile of local farmers, poor financial livelihood of smallholder farmers, and the continuous increase in global population. The latter is a stronger motivational factor for the team because, according to the United Nations, the world’s population will grow from today’s 7.5 billion to nearly 10 billion in 2050. As such, the demand for local food produce will be on the increase, and Africa would have to worry about feeding 1.5 billion people by 2030 and 2 billion by 2050, when in contrast, the continent currently depends largely on external aids and imports to cater for its 1.2 billion inhabitants. But here’s Peatuce, building a possible solution.
“We believe in a future where local farmers play a large role in feeding our communities, and we are working to making that a reality. We are focusing on emerging markets with a target of over 20,000 local farmers on our platform in 2018.”
Operating out of Nigeria, Peatuce has had remarkable milestones since inception — with more in the pipeline. Despite being a recent bird in the agricultural value chain, the platform has gone from launching the business operation, to sourcing and distributing for buyers, suppliers, local farmers, and creating presence in two Nigerian states. Peatuce now has over 500 local farmers, who are relying on it to facilitate their farming operations, expedite distribution and supply chain, as well as help enhance productivity of farm produce.
To further facilitate efficiency in its operations, Peatuce intends to leverage modern technology in no time.
“The problem is, the local produce trade has remained under-served by technology, we intend changing that narrative,” Kingsley, the COO says.
According to the team, Peatuce will tokenise its operation by implementing blockchain, a decentralised sourcing platform, accessible on the mobile app and web, later this year.
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Nigeria’s First Lady, Mrs Oluremi Tinubu, has given Nigerians business advice that may not involve a lot of money to start.
Speaking with newsmen recently, the wife of President Bola Tinubu said businesses like akara (fried bean cake), kulikuli (a crunchy snack from roasted peanuts or groundnuts) and roasted corn can be set up without breaking the bank.
She disclosed that to support her husband’s Renewed Hope agenda, she has provided funding packages to traders and others to the tune of N3.5 billion.
“To start akara business doesn’t take a lot of money. To start roasting corn and kuli-kuli doesn’t take much. We didn’t give them a loan; we gave it to them as a grant,” she stated.
She further said, “We’ve encouraged Nigerians as best as we could, what is within our hands, I have given, and I keep giving. Those are the things we’ve done.”
“I remember giving for TB (tuberculosis) when I heard of many TB cases; I gave N2 billion, to breast cancer, I gave N1 billion, and to [tackle] malnutrition, I gave N500 million.
“These are the things we’ve been doing to assist the government. So, we’ve had impact in agriculture, social investment, education (as scholarship and ICT training) and others. We are still open to doing more,” she disclosed.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange rallied by 1.70 per cent on Thursday, June 25, after three price gainers overpowered the two price losers recorded at the close of business.
Consequently, the market capitalisation of the trading platform increased by N43.79 billion to N2.618 trillion from N2.574 trillion, and the NASD Security Index (NSI) improved by 72.96 points to close at 4,362.32 points, in contrast to Wednesday’s 4,289.36 points.
Yesterday, the price advancers were led by Nipco Plc, which chalked up N31.79 to close at N349.76 per unit versus the preceding day’s N317.97 per unit. Okitipupa Plc gained N18.00 to end at N298.00 per share versus the previous session’s N280.00 per share, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc went up by N7.11 to N86.79 per unit from N79.68 per unit.
On the flip side, Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc crumbled by 32 Kobo to close at N21.09 per share compared with the N21.41 per share it closed at midweek, and Food Concepts Plc depreciated by 25 Kobo to N2.51 per unit from N2.76 per unit.
During the session, the value of securities traded by investors went down by 86.7 per cent to N10.9 million from the preceding session’s N82.9 million, and the volume of securities dropped 84.9 per cent to 10.9 million units from the previous 82.9 million, while the number of deals grew by 84.2 per cent to 35 deals from 19 deals.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units valued at N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 68.4 million units exchanged for N4.7 billion.
GNI Plc was also the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units traded for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further suffered a 0.64 per cent decline on Thursday as the bears tightened their grip on the bourse.
For the second straight session, all the key sectors of Customs Street pointed south, with the energy counter down by 5.22 per cent. The insurance index slumped by 2.59 per cent, the banking space depreciated by 0.28 per cent, and the consumer goods segment moderated by 0.06 per cent, while the industrial goods sector was flat, though with a marginal fall.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) contracted by 1,493.71 points to 233,580.83 points from 235,074.54 points, and the market capitalisation retreated by N959 billion to N149.888 trillion from N150.847 trillion.
Investor sentiment remained weak after a negative market breadth index, as there were 21 price gainers and 34 price losers.
Aradel and Deap Capital went down by 10.00 per cent each to N1,575.00 and N4.05, respectively. Trans-Nationwide Express fell by 9.90 per cent to N3.64, Regency Alliance slipped by 9.57 per cent to N85 Kobo, and C&I Leasing dipped by 9.48 per cent to N28.12.
Conversely, Red Star Express grew by 9.60 per cent to N24.55, Legend Internet expanded by 9.09 per cent to N6.00, Neimeth appreciated by 7.10 per cent to N8.30, Abbey Mortgage Bank rose by 5.45 per cent to N8.70, and Ellah Lakes improved by 4.65 per cent to N9.00.
Yesterday, market participants traded 393.7 million equities valued at N19.2 billion in 45,813 deals compared with the 488.1 million equities worth N20.9 billion transacted in 46,239 deals recorded a day earlier, implying a shortfall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 19.34 per cent, 8.13 per cent, and 0.92 per cent, respectively.
The most active stock for the session was Access Holdings with a turnover of 39.1 million units worth N896.2 million, Chams traded 24.5 million units valued at N96.5 million, Fidelity Bank sold 24.1 million units for N436.9 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 23.8 million units valued at N182.2 million, and Zenith Bank transacted 18.9 million units worth N2.1 billion.
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