By Simeon Shodimu
Population growth and the increasing demand for food is an essential basics of livelihood, calls for the need to adopt effective technology-driven model and an accurate database to boost Nigeria’s agriculture as well as improve farmers’ chances of acquiring funding from development finance institutions (DFIs).
At the BusinessDay Foundation Trade and Investment Series, themed ‘Innovative Capital Architecture for Resilient Agricultural Value Chain’ on Friday, industry players highlighted that without a sustainable technology model and accurate databases, more farmers will struggle to secure funding from venture capital and financial institutions such as the Bank of Agriculture.
Sean De Cleene, à senior global advisor, shared with policymakers, agribusiness players, and financial institutions present at the convening how Malawi’s adoption of technology boosted its agricultural value chain significantly.
De Cleene, a global food systems expert, made it known that while it might be considered radical to fully adopt a technology-driven model to ensure that farmers across borders have access to traceable funding, it is a viable solution to de-risk the value chain.
“I moved to Malawi in 2003 and it was this that kicked me into agriculture financing and de-risking agriculture. At the time, Malawi was coming off its third famine in six years,” he stated.
However, his team identified a need to invest in agriculture, and technology played a significant role. “Through electronic transfer, we deployed fingerprint technology out of South Africa so that every farmer was able to use fingerprint technology, which at the time was seen as incredibly radical… but it worked.”
Due to the fragmentation of smallholder farmers in the agricultural value chain, he said digital data utilisation is important in helping investors understand where to locate farmers and the kind of investment they require.
In his words, Adeyemi Aduwo, chief finance officer of Sunbeth Global Concepts Limited, also stressed that an effective database makes it easier for investors to locate farmers, especially given Nigeria’s fragmented smallholder farmers’ associations.
“Aggregators are the bridge between smallholder farmers and investors. They play a significant part in sourcing finance for farmers,” he said.
According to research, Nigeria’s roughly 38 million smallholder farmers, who produce 80 per cent of the nation’s food, are heavily fragmented, operating on small, scattered, and often subsistence-level plots.
This fragmentation limits mechanisation, reduces economies of scale, causes 30–50 per cent post-harvest losses, and hinders access to credit, markets, and modern technology.
According to Jette Bierrum, Consul General Head of Trade & Economic Diplomacy, Denmark, Africa’s most populous nation is important in Denmark’s agricultural framework strategy.
She disclosed that Denmark has an Africa Century Strategy that was formally launched by the Danish government in 2024, with Nigeria standing out as one of the selected countries.
Nigeria is defined as one of four regional hubs on the African continent in that strategy. It goes across politics, economic diplomacy, development, finance, and all the trade collaborations we do across the sectors.”
