Nigerians will now be able to fund small-scale farmers through a new app developed by Farmcrowdy.
The Nigerian agricultural platform has added a new category for funding small-scale farming in Africa where Nigerians can sponsor agriculture.
The funds generated will be used to secure land, plant crops and meet small-scale farmers’ funding needs to boost food production.
“We have launched the Farmcrowdy app to provide an accessible, real-time platform for people on the go who don’t want to miss out on empowering their own communities,” said Onyeka Akumah, co-founder and CEO of Farmcrowdy.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The application sends push notifications through an information feed, allows users to view available farms, follow existing farms, provide communication with farm account officers and allow easy feedback and comments.
Farm sponsors have the option to sponsor maize, cassava, rice, soya beans and poultry. These sponsors can expect 6% to 25% returns after harvest for a period of between 3 to 9 months (depending on type of farm).
Sponsorships start at N96 000 ($270) and Farmcrowdy coordinates pre-arranged buyers to sell their harvest when the cycle is complete.
Farm profits from the harvests are split between sponsors, who get 40% of the harvest profits plus original sponsorship, while farmers receive 40% returns and Farmcrowdy gains 20% profits .
APPLICATION FEATURES
The mobile application will provide a platform for agriculture enthusiasts to experience, learn and appreciate agricultural practices first hand.
Currently, the the application provides regular updates, images and videos from the farmers working on the sponsored farms.
This will give sponsors and farm followers an opportunity to digitally track the journey of their sponsored farms through updates.
USERS GENERATED
Farmcrowdy has recorded roughly 1000 unique sponsors since its launch a year ago, has collected 1 619 ha of farmland in the country and has grown more than 150 000 organic chickens to date.
Most of Farmcrowdy’s sponsors are based in Nigeria, whereas 10% are based in the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
At present, up to 80% of farmers in Nigeria operate on a small-scale level. Farmcrowdy supplies equipment and technical support and has drawn roughly 2 000 small-scale farmers into the financial ecosystem.
The application is available for download on Google Playstore and will soon be available for Apple and Microsoft devices.
Source:
Africa Business Communities
