Mr Onyeka Akumah, CEO Farmcrowdy; Mr Ahmadu Ibrahim, CEO Livestock247 and Managing Director, Farmgate Africa, Mr Kenneth Obiajulu

An Agro-commodity aggregator platform, Farmgate Africa, on Tuesday partnered with an online livestock market, Livestock247.com, to bring under one roof, buyers, traders, and ranchers/feedlot operators, among others.

Farmgate Africa, a subsidiary of Farmcrowdy Group, said that the partnership would enhance food sufficiency, security and growth of Africa’s agriculture.

The Managing Director and Co-Founder, Mr Kenneth Obiajulu, gave the assurance in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

He said that the partnership would deepen offerings in the agricultural space in terms of proper organisation and profitable deployment of funds to key areas of production and trading.

According to him, Farmcrowdy Group had partnered the online firm in piloting its first cattle feedlot in Adamawa.

He added that the first phase was successful with businesses scaling production to over 24,000 bulls and 1,200 cluster feedlots.

“Our goal has always been to collaborate with relevant partners in the agribusiness space to deliver value for both smallholder farmers and major processors and buyers.

“With our livestock portfolio, we have received substantial orders from notable key accounts that require bulls which meet with specific criteria.

“Our vision is a shared one with Livestock247.com, and this sees us developing the market together both from a production and marketing points; that is, growing the market-access for farmers and buyers around the continent,’’ he said.

He quoted Mr Ahmadu Ibrahim, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Livestock247, as saying at the event that Lagos State slaughtered 6,000 cows daily, making the state the largest consuming livestock market in Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to Obiajulu, Ibrahim said that the target was to produce in excess of 24,000 bulls through 1,200 feedlot clusters in the next one year.

“Livestock247.com provides a platform for buyers of livestock to purchase traceable and fit-for-slaughter livestock from anywhere, and at any time, without inconveniences.

“The platform also gives veterinary professionals access to livestock owners for disease surveillance and epidemiology, and provides financial service providers with an opportunity to fund investors in the livestock sector,’’ he quoted Ibrahim ad saying.

He added that Ibrahim said that the platform was to mitigate the spread of animal-to-human disease transmission by ensuring that only traceable and fit-to-slaughter livestock would be traded.

Obiajulu also quoted Mr Onyeka Akumah, the Chief Executive Officer of Farmcrowdy Group, as saying at the event that Farmgate was taking huge strides in the cattle business.

“We cannot build an entire ecosystem for agriculture in Nigeria alone. We have our strength when we are building solutions with technology through partnerships with stakeholders who are experts in their domain,” he quoted Akumah as saying.

On April 2, the Farmcrowdy Group unveiled the Farmgate Africa Agro-Commodity Aggregator platform to bridge the gap and offer solutions to the challenges faced by farmers and access to markets.