Agrorite is an agritech startup that was founded by Toyosi Ayodele in May 2019. The startup’s goal is to contribute towards ending the food insecurity in Nigeria and help farmers get better rewards for their labour.
Overview
One of the reasons for the high cost of foodstuffs in Nigeria is the low production capacity of most farmers. Increasing the volume of agricultural produce requires financing, something most farmers do not have access to because of low creditworthiness.
Also, in many cases, farm produce is damaged after harvest, thereby reducing the volume of the produce that is available to market even more. While some produce do not get washed away by floods like the N1 billion worth of rice that was destroyed in Kebbi State, they perish from post-harvest losses due to lack of access to premium markets.
Making sure farmers have access to vital capital as well as the necessary markets for their produce will boost the profits made by the farmers as well as ensure that more food is available at a lesser cost.
By creating an avenue for financiers to fund the farmers and receive a percentage of the profits at the end, Agrorite creates a way for these two pivotal needs of the farmers to be met.
What Agrorite does
Agrorite provides a system for people who can fund farmers to put their money to use. The funding is done per unit of each agricultural project. An example is a Maize farm project which is divided into units. Each unit is sold for a fixed amount which is the amount the investor pays.
The price of each unit ranges from N55,000 to N100,000 and the duration of each investment ranges from 4 months to 8 months. To invest, the user has to create an account on Agrorite’s website or download the mobile app which is available for both Android and iOS devices.
Once the account is verified, the user can select from any of the available farms and sponsor any number of units of the farming venture. Payment is made through bank transfers or through the Paystack payment gateways from the user’s dashboard. The returns on the investment as well as the capital are paid after the investment matures according to the timeline given.
The farming process is also improved with tech by Agrorite’s on-farm technology and data management services. By harnessing the data from the farm, the startup helps the farmers make better decisions that increase the yield and makes the venture more sustainable.
After the farm produce is harvested, Agrorite connects the farmers to traders who are able to buy the produce from them at competitive prices.
What users say – Is Agrorite legit?
User reviews on Agrorite’s service found on social media is a bit varied. Most of the reviews recommend Agrorite as a trusted agribusiness platform to be considered for investors interested in the farming and agricultural space.
Agrorite’s Return on Investment ranges between 12% to 16%. However, Ebuka, a social media user who seems interested in the matter, thinks it is very low compared to other platforms that offer as high as 35% returns.
Perhaps the returns are kept within the modest range to avoid instances where the startup could not pay investors when the time was due.
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Another user, Samuel complained about the startup’s app. According to him, Agrorite’s new updated app “is not functioning well. The old was better because I have to use my browser to connect in order to buy your premium sesame farm trade 1.0. Work on the app. It is an amateur app.”
The company’s handle has been restricted by Twitter, and this makes it unreachable to its users on that platform. Technext has reached out to the company with enquiries and will update the post with its response when it comes in.
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So far, there has been no allegation of delayed payment levelled against Agrorite.
In summary, the investment opportunities provided by Agrorite are short term and offer a modest return. They also seem like they will put your money to credible use.
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