To many of Nigeria’s over 38 million small-holder farmers poor access to farm inputs and markets, limited financing, and a lack of warehouses is a daily struggle. The arrival of AFEX Commodities Exchange, Nigeria’s first licensed private commodities exchange, ten years ago instantly improved access to loans for buying seeds, pesticides, and fertilizers, and warehouse storage. The Abuja-based agriculture exchange takes farmers out of isolation and subsistence and includes them in an integrated agricultural system, buying their produce at market prices. To date, AFEX has reached over 500,000 farmers in countries including Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda, and facilitated over 1 million metric tonnes in trades matching producers with buyers on its digital platform, ComX. AFEX is now one of the continent’s fastest-growing startups, raising $26.5 million in funding last year.
