Connect with us

Economy

FarmNow Unveils Service to Address Food Loss, Waste

Published

on

FarmNow

By Adedapo Adesanya

FarmNow Nigeria, an agro-allied service poised to connect stakeholders and formulate tech-driven collaborative solutions along the agricultural value chain, has launched a new service called FarmNow Direct.

The new offering is a one-stop farm store that brings the best mix of 100 per cent fresh agro-products, processed and unprocessed, perishable and non-perishable from the farms directly to consumers’ doorstep as freshly and as naturally as possible.

The service, which is available nationwide, promotes sustainability and sufficiency by playing its part to reduce food loss and food waste through smart innovative ways.

According to the company, this can be a more effective and cost-saving strategy for a developing economy like Nigeria at this time.

Speaking at a launch event, the Chief Executive Officer of FarmNow, Mr Samson Odegbami, stated that, “One of the extreme challenges that Africa faces, particularly Nigeria, is that of feeding its growing population amidst other persistent issues.

“Consequently, this makes hunger, undernutrition and food insecurity prevalent across the continent despite government support for agriculture and the food business sector.

“​​The boost in agricultural activities in Nigeria promises a relief to these problems, however, each year the country loses and wastes a substantial portion of its total food production to issues peculiar to food production too.”

Nigeria records an annual loss of $9 billion (about N3.5 trillion) to post-harvest waste in Nigeria as documented by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

According to Mr Odegbami, “This waste is almost a quarter of the country’s annual budget. Some of the grains, vegetables, tubers and fruits being wasted include tomatoes, orange, cashew, onions, beans, wheat, cassava, and even yam.”

With its new service, FarmNow Direct’s smart farm store with online and offline outfits is addressing the prevailing huge loss of food and resources going into its production by adopting state-of-the-art storage technologies, and preservative packaging of perishable and non-perishable foods sourced from a wide network of farmers throughout the agriculture supply chain.

In addition to this, FarmNow Direct has been launched with the introduction of modern shopping culture among a new generation of fancy shoppers and eaters by enhancing the transfer of fresh farm produce such as tomatoes, eggs, garri, chicken, etc, from the farms directly to urban businesses and doorsteps.

These farm produce are available on-demand at affordable rates, and are delivered on scheduled delivery days straight to the comfort of the consumer’s home or can also be picked at any of their strategic pickup points.

Speaking to the new eating culture, the Business Manager of FarmNow, Mrs Evelyn Oloyede said, “Undoubtedly, for as long as life exists, the demand for food will remain on the rise globally due to exponential population growth. No matter how little one’s income is, food will always own a share of it, and even if a time comes where there’s no food to buy, people will grow their food to eat in a bid to survive.

“We have used our innovative investments in agricultural technology, and sustainable interventions along the agricultural supply chain to reduce food insecurity, hunger and malnutrition by creating this smart farm store.”

Since its inception, FarmNow has been driving green impact with over 6000 community members, cultivated over 9,000 acres of farmland, processed over 500,000 broiler birds, processed over 10,000 tonnes of cassava tuber, with over 5,000 smallholders farmers in its network.

It is led by Mr Odegbami and headquartered in Megamound building, Ibara Housing, Abeokuta with other offices in Omole Phase 1 and Abuja.

Adedapo Adesanya is a journalist, polymath, and connoisseur of everything art. When he is not writing, he has his nose buried in one of the many books or articles he has bookmarked or simply listening to good music with a bottle of beer or wine. He supports the greatest club in the world, Manchester United F.C.

Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Economy

NASD OTC Bourse Improves by 0.42%

Published

on

NASD OTC stock exchange

By Adedapo Adesanya

The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange closed higher on Friday, February 7 by 0.42 per cent, with the market capitalisation increasing by N7.54 billion to close at N1.804 trillion compared with the previous day’s N1.796 trillion.

Equally, the NASD Unlisted Security Index (NSI) went up by 13.30 points during the session to close at 3,184.87 points, in contrast to the preceding day’s 3,171.57 points.

The final trading day of the week had four price gainers and two price losers, according to data obtained from the NASD OTC bourse.

Food Concepts Plc appreciated on Friday by 15 Kobo to settle at N1.65 per share compared with Thursday’s closing price of N1.50 per share, Mixta Real Estate Plc expanded by 31 Kobo to finish at N3.42 per unit versus the preceding session’s N3.11 per unit, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc further grew by 60 Kobo to N40.10 per unit from N39.50 per unit, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc gained 22 Kobo to wrap the day at N24.00 per share compared with N23.78 per share.

On the flip side, Afriland Properties Plc went south by 2.9 per cent to N17 per unit from N17.49 per unit and 11 Plc slid by N3 to close at N253 per share, in contrast to the preceding session’s N256 per share.

During the trading day, the volume of securities bought and sold by investors decreased by 98.1 per cent to 226,384 units from 12.0 million units, the value of securities also slid by 31.4 per cent to N9.7 million from N14.2 million, and the number of deals dropped by 25.6 per cent to 32 deals from 43 deals.

Impresit Bakolori Plc ended the session as the most active stock by value (year-to-date) with 519.5 million units worth N504.3 million, followed by FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc with 6.2 million units valued at N245.0 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.3 million units sold for N44.8 million.

Also, Impresit Bakolori Plc remained the most active stock by volume (year-to-date) with 519.5 million units worth N504.3 million, trailed by Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc with 42.4 million units sold for N12.9 million, and Geo-Fluids Plc with 9.3 million units valued at N44.8 million.

Continue Reading

Economy

Naira Remains Stable at N1,500/$1 at Official Market

Published

on

Fake Naira notes banknotes

By Adedapo Adesanya

The Naira closed flat against the United States Dollar at N1,500.65/$1 in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM) on Friday, February 7, after recording losses in four straight sessions in the trading week.

The recent pressure on the market across majorly regulated channels came despite recent policy moves by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) creating more trading transparency and ethical practices.

However, the domestic currency depreciated against the Pound Sterling in the official market yesterday by N8.78 to trade at N1,868.76/£1 compared with the previous day’s rate of N1,859.98/£1 and against the Euro, it weakened by N1.95 to settle at N1,557.13/€1, in contrast to Thursday’s closing price of N1,555.18/€1.

At the parallel market, the Nigerian currency improved its value further against the US Dollar on Friday by N5 to sell for N1,565/$1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,570/$1.

As for the cryptocurrency market, it slumped yesterday after the US Bureau of Labor Statistics said the country’s economy added 143,000 jobs in January, below the forecast 170,000 and down from 256,000 in December.

Ethereum (ETH) declined by 4.5 per cent to sell at $2,615.76, Cardano slumped 4.3 per cent to trade at $0.6949, Litecoin (LTC) depreciated by 1.9 per cent to settle at $103.35, Dogecoin (DOGE) fell by 1.7 per cent to $0.2476, Solana (SOL) recorded a 1.4 per cent loss to close at $193.39, Bitcoin (BTC) depleted by 1.2 per cent to $96,138.53, and Binance Coin (BNB) went down by 1.1 per cent to quote at $578.78.

On the flip side, Ripple (XRP) gained 1.8 per cent to trade at $2.36, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) traded flat $1.00 each.

Continue Reading

Economy

Oil Prices up on Fresh Iran Crude Export Sanctions

Published

on

Crude Oil Prices

By Adedapo Adesanya

Oil prices went up on Friday after new sanctions were imposed on Iran’s crude exports, with Brent crude futures expanding by 37 cents or 0.5 per cent to $74.66 per barrel, and the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures growing by 39 cents or 0.55 per cent to $71.00 a barrel.

However, for the week, prices were down by 2 per cent as investors worried about US President Donald Trump’s renewed trade war with China and threats of tariffs on other countries.

Reports of planned tariffs from the Trump administration reined in gains following the sanctions announced on Thursday.

The American president on Friday said he plans to announce reciprocal tariffs on many countries by Monday or Tuesday of next week.

President Trump did not identify which countries would be hit but suggested it would be a broad effort that could also help solve US budget problems.

However, Mr Trump’s Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick voiced concerns about India’s high tariff rates, while US Trade Representative nominee Jamieson Greer discussed US complaints about Vietnam’s and Brazil’s tariffs and trade barriers.

He had earlier announced a 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports as part of a broad plan to improve the US trade balance, but suspended plans to impose steep tariffs on Mexico and Canada.

But market analysts noted that this could be a major escalation of his offensive to tear up and reshape global trade relationships in the US favour.

On Thursday, it imposed new sanctions on a few individuals and tankers helping to ship millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil per year to China as it intensified war against Iran.

Iran’s President, Mr Masoud Pezeshkian, called on its fellow members in the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to stand united against ‘destabilizing’ US sanctions, meeting with OPEC Secretary General Khaitam al-Ghais as the country assumes the rotating presidency of the organisation.

Continue Reading

Trending