Ugo Aliogo
Nigeria’s agritech firm, EZFarming, has been announced as one of the 32 companies in Nigeria selected by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to receive funding and technical assistance in support of the food system in Nigeria.
In a statement, the company said the companies were selected for the funding totaling $4million under the USAID/Nigeria COVID-19 Food Security Challenge.
The statement also noted that this is coming after EZFarming participated in the 500 Startups Accelerator programme in 2019, as the company continues to develop its model to better serve smallholder farmers, input suppliers, off-takers and other actors within the value-chain.
The statement further explained that EZFarming has over the years built a marketplace that enables smallholder farmers to scale their businesses, sources finance through a network of micro-lenders, supplies inputs for the smallholder farmers and connects them to produce buyers.
Founder, EZFarming, Dr. Adewale Oparinde, said the grant from the USAID would accelerate the firm’s effort at scaling its model and also provide opportunities for more youths and women to expand their production capacity.
“We appreciate the support of the American people in bringing hope to many smallholder farmers and youths in the country. This reflects the quality of service and the trust capital that we have built over the past 2 years serving our clients around the globe. The company has expanded its services to bring more value to farmers ranging from microlending, produce marketplace, farm ownerships to EZ Country Homes.”
Continuing, he added: “We have a proof of concept on our farm estate model in Osun State, providing a means of livelihood to youths and women in rural areas. The support and funding from USAID/Nigeria COVID-19 Food Security Challenge will enable us to expand on this model by supporting an additional 200 smallholder farmers to scale their farms and expand their production capacity while providing internship opportunities for several unemployed youths as a strategy to prepare them for the next investment cycle.”
The statement hinted that the focus of the agritech company is to empower smallholder farmers to scale their farm sizes and sustainably increase food production to boost the supply chain ecosystem.
