Havenhill launches Farm Fuse to foster Agricultural Development in Last-mile Communities

Innovating around the business of increasing energy access to last-mile communities in Nigeria, Havenhill Synergy Limited “Havenhill” launches Farm Fuse, an initiative that will reduce food insecurity in Nigeria by revamping local agricultural value chains for approximately 10,000 smallholder farmers across these communities. The pilot phase begins at one of the mini-grid sites in Abuja, Nigeria.

Due to the neglect of domestic production in the agricultural sector, the pandemic, high prices of staple food, inadequate land availability, infertility of the soil, lack of access to credit facilities, storage and processing problems amongst other factors, over 9 million people in Nigeria face food insecurity. More than 80% of farmers in Nigeria are smallholder farmers residing in last-mile communities and produce more than 90% of the food consumed in Nigeria. Yet, only 16% of these farmers have access to motorized equipment and 7% have access to credit.

Smallholder farmers are the backbone of the Nigerian agriculture sector and deserve every support to produce more food, grow more raw materials for the agro-industrial sector and contribute to ending a food supply deficit that costs the country US$5 billion in food import annually.

With access to at least 10,000 smallholder farmers across the rural communities served by Havenhill’s mini-grids, Farm Fuse will identify and proffer solutions to the weak links in the agricultural value chain in these communities in order to increase local agricultural productivity. This would be through the provision of access to quality inputs (seeds, fertilizers), mechanization, technical assistance (advisory sessions on best practices and financial education), and markets to smallholder farmers. 

“We have always considered electricity to be a means to an end. In this case, the ‘end’ is boosting smallholder farmers’ productivity and rural economies by developing sustainable agricultural value chains and business models that address their specific needs. The team is constantly working on innovating to also increase the purchasing power of our customers.” – says Olusegun Odunaiya, CEO, Havenhill Synergy Limited

About Havenhill Synergy Limited

Havenhill Synergy Limited is a clean-tech utility company committed to improving energy access in rural and urban Nigeria using clean energy sources. In rural areas, Havenhill deploys smart solar mini-grid to commercially viable off-grid rural communities. In urban areas, Havenhill helps businesses (like factories, large farms etc) reduce their energy cost and provide them with more reliable energy access through our Commercial & Industrial (C&I) solar offering.