Olexfarms Limited

I am applying to The Elevate Prize to increase the quality production and processing of improved cassava species using automated processing machines and ensure affordability for the low and middle-income class.

Over the years, cassava has always been a source of livelihood and food for millions of Nigerians. However, the quantity of local production has significantly dropped -due to lack of funding, the increasing citizen population, and the impact of the COVID19 pandemic. Sadly, most of the farmers especially women lack information on adequate production and processing of cassava; they depend solely on manual processes using their children as laborers. Thus, resulting in poor yield and unhygienic means of processing.

We believe that the Elevate Prize will support our vision for healthy and affordable food for both low and middle-income households. One of the keys to this solution is our partnership with the rural communities and providing technical support for their farmers’ network to intensify cultivation. Cassava processing is more efficient using the technologically advanced automated processing machines, to meet the increasing market demand for cassava products.

Becoming part of the Prize network will strengthen our organizational capacity to be more efficient in our service delivery.

Olexfarms is situated at Awka, Anambra state southeast Nigeria. We are very passionate about promoting food security in Nigeria leveraging technological advancements in the agricultural value chain for improved agricultural eco-system.

Our farm commenced activities since 2019 with my co-founder – Chiamara Excellence, a young woman passionate about agricultural development. We started with acquisition of farmlands in partnerships with rural farmers and community leaders, having our initial focus on cultivation of cassava and vegetables for sales.

However, considering the impact of the pandemic and the high risk of food insecurity ravaging the country, we gradually refined our operational scope and expanded operations to include mechanized processing of cassava into “Garri” (cassava granules).

In five years, Olexfarms is projected to become one of the leading cassava producers in Nigeria, We would have advanced to processing cassava flour and other by-products for household and industrial use. These products include but not limited to starch, animal feeds, chips, etc., having a strong network of distributors and at least 300,000 rural farmers and beyond, across the five southeast states of Nigeria. This process eliminates the unhygienic protocols of locally processing Garri.

We are fighting food insecurity by increasing cassava production and processing to ensure affordability for every household in Nigeria. Our country is known for its reliance on food imports, chronic food shortages, poor quality foods, and high food costs. The COVID-19 global pandemic, disrupted the already fragile cassava value chains across the country, including farmers' ability to produce, process, and distribute cassava products. The insurgency in the country has displaced people without access to food; leaving over 5.1 million Nigerians malnourished. This can only be alleviated with a steady supply of adequate food.

Our priority is expanding our network of farmers across the communities with arable land for cultivation in southeast Nigeria starting from Anambra state. Through our engagement meetings with Traditional rulers and farmers' networks, we are increasing the cultivation of improved cassava species.

Currently, we are working with the ADP office in Anambra state to access cultivators and harvesters for farmers and reduce the cost of production. With the aid of the Garri processing machines, we will ensure adequate processing of the cassava granules and package for distribution, thus ensuring a hygienic production process. Overall, the absence of cassava in our food systems would lead to catastrophe.

Cassava plays an increased role in Nigeria’s struggle to attain food and nutrition security through increased production and utilization. Our business model supports production processes that reduce human pressure. We adopted the usage of improved cassava varieties, innovative farming techniques, processing technologies covering peeling and washing, grating, dewatering, pulverizing, drying, and milling, including the hygienic packaging of products. This increases the added value of cassava and promotes the healthy life and well-being of consumers; especially where most students depend on soaked garri as temporary foods in critical situations.

Our strategy is to increase cassava farmers' network through community partnerships and consequently increase the area of farmland and cassava productivity. Our focus is to train women on the reproduction of the improved cassava varieties for distribution to other farmers. These multiplication steps will help farmers to increase yield by 120% compared to what has been observed with the local variety. 

Consequently, these skills which they learned will be transferred to their peers to improve their knowledge and sustainability of cassava farming across the region. This process will diversify their sources of income and provide employment opportunities for thousands of farmers with less time and Energy initially spent on local farming.

Olexfarms is forming alliances with farmers to support their income, and also encourage other people to enter into cassava production. This network of farmers enables them to share ideas and help young farmers prevent loss.

We are also providing farmers with innovative ideas and training required to lessen the time and energy which they invest into production, and convert it into profits. Through our engagement meetings with communities, we are bringing together farmers and households with farmlands ownerships, to harmonize their resources and form bigger collective hectares of farmland. We support the funding of tractors to plow the farm, the farmers take care of the cultivation of the cassava stems. During harvest, we buy off the roots while some of them also work with us in the processing. Using this procedure, we are gradually we are meeting the high market demand for raw cassava.

The Agricultural Development Plan (ADP) gives us access to some of the machines needed at a lower cost compared to privately owned tractors. This helps to lower our production cost. And make products affordable for everyone. We prioritize mechanization and we encourage our farmers to always leverage the opportunity.