Crowd-investing of farmers in Africa was pioneered by Nigeria’s Farmcrowdy, but the model has since been used and adapted by a host more startups – Thrive Agric, Seekewa, Complete Farmer, BaySeddo, YouFarm and Livestock Wealth, to name just a few. These platforms, which all in essence allow users to fund an Africa farmers’ purchase of inputs and make returns at the end of a farm cycle, are having quite an impact. Farmcrowdy has generated more than US$14 million for thousands of farmers since its launch. Younger startups are also having an impact. Thrive Agric, for example, has worked with 22,000 farmers, and produced over 127,000 tonnes of grain. Complete Farmer has, in just two years, worked with 1,500 farmers and exported 4,700 tonnes of food raw materials. Seekewa has funded dozens of projects. BaySeddo has seen more than US$400,000 invested through its platform. The list goes on.
SOURCE: DISRUPT AFRICA