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.
Economy
BNB Price Reflects Changing Dynamics in the Digital Asset Market
Economy
NASD Unlisted Security Index Crosses 4,000-point Benchmark Again
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange achieved a milestone on Friday, April 24, 2026, after five securities on the platform helped with a 1.85 per cent growth.
Data showed that the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) again crossed the 4,000-point benchmark yesterday.
The index chalked up 73.64 points during the trading day to close at 4,052.59 points compared with the preceding session’s 3,978.95 points, while the market capitalisation added N5.38 billion to finish at N2.424 trillion versus Thursday’s closing value of N2.380 trillion.
The price gainers were led by Okitipupa Plc, which grew by N25.00 to sell at N305.00 per share compared with the previous price of N280.00 per share. Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc gained N6.92 to close at N76.26 per unit versus N69.34 per unit, Afriland Properties Plc appreciated by N1.00 to N17.00 per share from N18.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc improved by 55 Kobo to N99.55 per unit from N99.00 per unit, and Food Concepts Plc increased by 5 Kobo to N2.70 per share from N2.65 per share.
However, there was a price loser, MRS Oil, which dipped by N21.75 to N195.75 per unit from N217.50 per unit.
During the final session of the week, the value of securities jumped 75.2 per cent to N41.3 million from N23.6 million units, and the number of deals expanded by 62.9 per cent to 44 deals from 27 deals, while the volume of securities declined marginally by 0.9 per cent to 447,403 units from 451,522 units.
At the close of trades, Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc was the most traded stock by volume (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, trailed by Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units valued at N415.7 million, and Infrastructure Guarantee Credit Plc with 400 million units traded for N1.2 billion.
GNI was also the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 3.4 billion units sold for N8.4 billion, followed by CSCS Plc with 59.6 million units transacted for N4.0 billion, and Okitipupa Plc with 27.8 million units exchanged for N1.9 billion.
Economy
Naira Slips to N1,358/$1 as FX Reserves, Policy Uncertainty Concerns
By Adedapo Adesanya
It was not a good day for the Nigerian Naira in the currency market on Friday, April 24, as its value depreciated against the major foreign currencies at the close of transactions.
In the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), it lost N4.53 or 0.33 per cent against the United States Dollar yesterday to trade at N1,358.44/$1, in contrast to the N1,353.91/$1 it was exchanged on Thursday.
Equally, the domestic currency slipped against the Pound Sterling in the official market during the session by N8.14 to close at N1,834.02/£1, compared with the previous rate of N1,825.88/£1 and dropped N8.01 against the Euro to sell at N1,590.73/€1 versus N1,582.72/€1.
Also, the Naira depreciated against the US Dollar at the GTBank FX desk on Friday by N4 to quote at N1,370/$1 compared with the previous session’s N1,366/$1, and at the parallel market, it depleted by N5 to settle at N1,380/$1 versus the preceding day’s N1,375/$1.
Data published by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that NFEM interbank turnover surged to N43.562 million across 68 deals, up from N28.117 million the previous day.
Despite the CBN’s reassurance that the recent drop in external reserves is not worrisome, the market remains unsettled by persistent concerns over liquidity constraints, policy transparency, and weakening confidence in Nigeria’s FX market as gross reserves continue to decline to $48.4 billion.
The outlook for the Dollar appears supported by broader macro risks, including elevated oil prices tied to the tanker traffic disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and a continued US-Iran standoff over ceasefire negotiations.
A look at the digital currency market showed that investors are sitting on the edge as the US Dollar rebounded amid geopolitical and inflation risks despite continued inflows into US spot bitcoin Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs).
Solana (SOL) rose by 1.2 per cent to sell $86.45, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 1.1 per cent to $0.2517, Dogecoin (DOGE) grew by 0.9 per cent to $0.0989, Ripple (XRP) improved by 0.3 per cent to $1.43, Ethereum (ETH) soared by 0.2 per cent to $2,316.83, and Binance Coin (BNB) chalked up 0.1 per cent to sell for $637.44.
However, TRON (TRX) depreciated by 1.3 per cent to $0.3235, and Bitcoin (BTC) lost 0.2 per cent to close at $77,562.27, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) closed flat at $1.00 each.
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