Farmcrowdy Nigeria acquires meat processor Best Foods

Farmcrowdy, Nigeria’s digital agriculture platform is officially exploring the business of selling meat after it acquired a majority stake in Best Foods, an agro company.

The Nigerian agrotech firm has been crowdfunding farmers, but with the latest investment, it will expand its footprint in Nigeria’s Agric business.

Since 2016, they have been empowering rural farmers by providing them with improved seeds, farm inputs, training on modern farming techniques and market for the sale of their farm produce.

Farmcrowdy has been reviewing its business operation, trying to diversify its portfolio.

The deal will expose the company to the clientele and existing contracts of Best Foods in the meat market.

This will fast track its presence in the market, as the agrotech firm will serve beef and poultry meat to 50 meat markets across the south-west region of Nigeria, including 100 customer endpoints.

Also, with the capacity to process 120 – 200 bulls every day, Best Foods is one of the largest meat processors in Lagos and Nigeria.

So, considering the market demand for meat supply in Nigeria, the acquisition is leverage for Farmcrowdy to tap into the two million consumers in Lagos and the 1.2 billion poultry meat demand in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Best Foods’ assets and staff expertise will be readily available for Farmcrowdy when the latter finally launches its Farmcrowdy Meat Hubs in the second quarter of 2020.

Speaking on the acquisition, the Founder of Best Foods, Emmanuel Ijewere, said, “This deal with Farmcrowdy is a welcome development for us. It provides a major growth opportunity for both businesses. We are excited about the many possibilities.”

Part of the deal will see Ijewere join Farmcrowdy as a member of the advisory board.

The Managing Director of Farmcrowdy, Kenneth Obiajulu, said, “Best Foods offers an exciting opportunity for Farmcrowdy to strengthen and expand its service offering in livestock production, processing, and supply.”

He added that “With a range of high-profile clients, the acquisition supports Farmcrowdy’s strategy to lead the market and meet the requirements necessary to process approximately 45 cattle every day for meat consumption in Lagos.”