Poverty and Agritech

Poverty as has been previously established is a major issue that Nigeria is currently facing. Poverty can have significant effects on the lives of people in Nigeria and the future of the country as a whole. The quickest and most efficient way to tackle this problem is by focusing on the largest economic center in Nigeria: farming (Britannica). Small scale farmers are facing a lot of problems that involve the “use of mechanization, poor agricultural extension systems, poor road networks, inadequate market information” (Unah, 2018). The only way to begin addressing the topic of poverty is to begin to focus on how to solve such inefficiencies and ameliorate the problem through technology (Unah, 2018). The technology that we believe can have the greatest impact is agricultural technology. Many startup companies in Nigeria are addressing these problems and are now able to make a real impact. 

 

Examples of Startup Companies Making an Impact through Agritech. 

An example is that of Soil Less farming from a company called PS Neutraceuticals. It employs a strategy known as aeroponics and “involves suspending the roots of crops in air and applying mists” (Falodun, 2019). This type of farming occurs in a controlled environment and has numerous benefits like minimal labor and use of recourse like water and electricity (Falodun). Soilless farming also allows for greater efficiency and productivity. It is a technology that is scalable to all of Nigeria and can help enable more access to food. It also has the benefit of food not being seasonal and can be produced at any time. This is a luxury that developed nations with strong trade networks and technology take for granted (Falodun, 2019). 

 

Companies are not just focusing on farming and its productivity, but are also tackling the waste that it produces. Farmforte is a Lagos based firm that focuses on reducing waste and also buying up produce from small farmers and maintaining equality in the trading economy of crops in Nigeria. They are attempting to solve “the challenges of storage, logistics and market access for smallholder farmers” (Falodun, 2019). Farmaforte goes even as far as providing subsidized “temperature-controlled shipping containers tackle the common problem of food wastage” (Falodun). Farmaforte is radically changing the small farmer’s position in Nigeria. The small farmer is now able to be able to have a say in their prices and are able to get fair prices for their crops. Farmaforte is helping to bring the arguing power of these farmers back to the table. Farmaforte is also able to give these farmers the technology needed to transport and sell their crops. 

 

Digital technology has also given birth to an entirely new field of farming known as precision farming. This type of farming is best exemplified in the mission of the Zenvus startup. Zenvus is focusing on empowering the knowledge with data and information about the soil and farming practices like never before. Zenvus allows farmers to “analyze soil data like temperature, nutrients, and vegetative health” that allows farmers to determine the best fertilizer and increase the yield on their farms (Ekekwe, 2017). It empowers them with knowledge of their farm never known before. The farmers are able to interact with the Zenvus app in real time and use its data analytics and AI to make yield predictions and soil health (Zenvus). 

Budget Analysis

Implementing these ideas take significant capital and backing from governments, companies, and the people. Startups and new technologies rely heavily on initial investment and need money for us to begin to see change affected in society. To tackle this problem, Nigeria has recently approved in 2020, 268 million dollars in soft loans “in funding to support agricultural entrepreneurs and young technology innovators” (Owolabi, 2020). This is a big change as before “85 percent of businesses could not have access to external financing within 2013 and 2017” (Owolabi, 2020). Nigerian government is attempting to help facilitate the use of technology in agriculture and help improve the state economy. These new loans and investment are able to sustain these startups and are empowering these entrepreneurs to change the face of agriculture in Nigeria. Step by step with the help of investment and financial backing, these agritech companies could play a role in eliminating poverty in Nigeria.

Previous Agricultural Status

Nigeria's economy is rooted in agriculture, which has been stagnant or has had minimal advancements. Agriculture in Nigeria is mainly based on imported technology that is largely unavailable to local farmers, thus allowing them to be exploited and keeping them in a cycle of poverty (Garba, 2019).  The most recent agricultural innovation was introduced during the Green Revolution Policy in the 1980s which encouraged the use of farm tools like tractors to replace human labor (Garba, 2019). Also, the recent introduction of supplies like fertilizers, seeds and insecticides are useful in improving farm yields and output. However, due to the cheap foreing exchange rates, weak internal infrastructure and unstable agricultural policy, it might be many years before these new developments are widely implemented. Thus, a focus on developing the private sector rice production of Nigeria is a good starting place for tackling poverty. 

Rice Production Policy 

Rice is the staple crop of Nigeria and thus a great starting point to implement a strong private sector initiative to develop or adopt a digital agricultural system. When the new government came to power in 2015, the economic recession inspired a ban on imported rice to improve food security (Garba, 2019). While this had negative immediate consequences, it provided the necessary push for the private sector to develop. The immediate impact of this ban on imported rice was the inflated price of food items. For instance, the price for imported rice from neighboring countries went up by 50% in 2018 (Garba, 2019). This encouraged the government to focus on internal rice production by issuing loans to local farmers. This served as an incentive to these farmers who then provided record high yields (Garba, 2019). This incident demonstrated the benefit of supporting local farmers, investing in private sectors and providing them with new agricultural technologies that will further support their yields, making them more self-sufficient. This increase in self-sufficiency and straying away from reliance on foreign trade will bolster the economy and enable Nigeria to eventually outgrow its status as a developing country and eventually transition into a developing country. 

Recommendations 

This rice ban was an accidental step in the right direction, for it had more positive impacts in terms of inspiring the revolutionizing of Nigeria’s private sector. Thus, it is glaringly obvious that investments in local agricultural technology are key to breaking the vicious cycle of poverty in Nigeria. Incentives to support research and innovation in digital technologies for tracking processes could be implemented by the government; loans to farmers to boost productivity should be expanded to entrepreneurs like Prime Wave in order to enhance the quality and aesthetics of their goods (Garba, 2019). In order to enable them to compete more successfully in the domestic and foreign markets, at least within the African region, local producers of tools and equipment should be able to meet global standards. These recommendations are a good starting point, and other transformations to educational and research centers should be pursued further in order to cure the plague of poverty that has been holding Nigeria down

 

References 

Economy. https://www.britannica.com/place/Nigeria/Economy. 

Ekekwe, N. (2017, May 18). How Digital Technology Is Changing Farming in Africa. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2017/05/how-digital-technology-is-changing-farming-in-africa. 

Falodun, K. (2019, October 29). How affordable agricultural technology is solving food insecurity in Nigeria. The Next Web. https://thenextweb.com/syndication/2019/10/28/how-affordable-agricultural-technology-is-solving-food-insecurity-in-nigeria/. 

Insights/Pro. Zenvus. https://www.zenvus.com/insights/. 

Owolabi, P. (2020, February 26). FG approves $268 million in Soft Loans to Entrepreneurs and Innovators. International Centre for Investigative Reporting. https://www.icirnigeria.org/federal-government-approves-268-million-in-soft-loans-to-entrepreneurs-and-innovators/. 

Unah, L. (2018, May 4). Agritech startups aim to lift Nigerian smallholder farmers out of poverty. Devex. https://www.devex.com/news/agritech-startups-aim-to-lift-nigerian-smallholder-farmers-out-of-poverty-92646. 

Garba, A. M. (2019). Agri-tech Opportunities at the Bottom of the Pyramid: How Big Is the Opportunity and How Little Has Been Exploited? Some Selected Cases in Nigeria. Palgrave Studies of Entrepreneurship in Africa Digital Entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa, 199-220. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-04924-9_9

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