Nigerian Agric market promoters woo Kenyan smallholder farmers
NEWS DIGEST – The Cellulant Nigeria Limited, promoters of AgriKore, an agriculture marketplace that connects farmers with buyers, has sent its top Agric partners to Kenya to explore ways of replicating the model to suit the Kenyan agriculture system.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Agrikore deputy operations manager, Babangida Shittu, disclosed that the 7-day trip would enable Cellulant Nigeria Agric Aggregators interact and engage in meaningful dialogue with its staff in Kenya with a view to replicating the successes recorded in Nigeria.
Mr Shittu said: “I believe this trip will open their minds to expand their business, as they not only educate the team on how their business works in Nigeria but also get to experience how the Agric ecosystem in Kenya works.’’
According to him, the trip would equally enable the Agric Aggregators to study the Agric ecosystem in Kenya and share knowledge and best practices for every stage of the business with Cellulant Kenya potential aggregators.
“They will guide in the setup of operations for the Cellulant Agric marketplace in Kenya, helping their Kenya counterparts to familiarise themselves with the business.
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“The final phase will be the sharing of business tools developed by Cellulant Nigeria with their counterparts in Kenya as they grow and continue to help smallholder farmers in Kenya.
“In essence, Cellulant Nigeria’s top performing aggregators will assist in building and replicating the Marketplace currently existing in Nigeria in Kenya,” Mr Shittu said.
The deputy operations manager added that, “with the expansion of our Agric ecosystem to Kenya and the connections built from the study tour, we are building a bridge that will connect our Agric partners across the continent and set ourselves to be the most integrated Agric platform in the continent indeed.
“Our Agric partners are excited and thrilled to see themselves contributing not only to the startup of Agrikore in Kenya through their field experience but also being a part of this big dream of connecting the continent.”
One of the Cellulant’s aggregators from Nigeria, Abubakar Kabir, who expressed his excitement at the prospect of integrating the Kenyan Agric produce market into Agrikore, said: “I will open and operate more sites in Nigeria because Cellulant has opened my eyes to the business opportunities available here.’’
Another aggregator from Nigeria, Abdulkadir Bawa, said he believed in the model and had already started exploring opportunities of opening more sites and bringing onboard more produce to aggregate.
“This shows Cellulant is on the right path to making Africa an agricultural hub for agribusiness,” he added.
