Ogadinma Mordi is the Managing Director of Agricorp international, an agricultural processing and exporting company. In a recent interview he spoke about the challenges encountered in exporting agro-products, plans to boost the country’s non-oil profile, and opportunities available in the agribusiness ecosystem.
Nigerian exports have suffered obstacles particularly in terms of quality, what factors have been largely responsible for these quality issues in Nigerian agro exports?
The low output and quality of Nigerian agro-export are attributable to the fact that most of the production is undertaken by smallholder farmers’ with old traditional production techniques. These smallholder farmers have poor agricultural pricing policies, low access to credit, low and uncertain research funding, these affect their ability to meet international standards on food safety and animal and plant health standards.
What significant challenges has Agricorp encountered in the export of commodities and how were these issues managed?
Some core challenges include low quality farm produce, lack of trust in the value chain, outdated agricultural systems, absence of value additions and the involvement of too many middlemen in the agricultural value chain. Another problem is the ability to get the product to our customers quickly, we transport by road and ship out of Lagos or Rivers State, and delays at the port can sometimes last for months. This is also one of the major reasons for our expansion to Southern Africa (Zambia) to help meet the timelines with our customers in the region.
We manage this issue using our proprietary technology, Osisi Farmbase to register, aggregate, and pay farmers for produce sold. This technology also helps us track and give real-time updates on the progress of the goods exported.
How has Agricorp managed agricultural hiccups which affect production volume especially insecurity and infrastructure deficit?
Insecurity has been a very massive issue for most businesses in the agricultural space, most companies have implemented similar security protocols and maintained close relationships with the security infrastructure of the states. In addition, we have de-risked our systems by putting in place the right covers by way of insurance policies (GIT, Plant and Equipment cover, warehouse and inventory, machine breakdown, etc).
Infrastructure deficit is a major bane for most businesses, the roads are horrible and cost of transportation has gone up 300 percent in the last 3-5 months, power is another headache while we try to solve this by providing alternatives, the government needs to do more in providing these necessary amenities to help businesses thrive and also attract more investments.
Source: businessday.ng
