In 2017, when we launched ThriveAgric, one of the first things we did was to set our big goal: “Build an Africa that feeds herself and the world by working with the largest network of profitable smallholder farmers in Africa”.

We were intentional about the words: profitable and smallholder because our focus was going to start with farmers who have less than 5 hectares of land and are traditionally subsistence farmers, but we didn’t want them to remain like that forever. Data from our impact report in 2022 shows that farmers who work with us in four years can 9x their income.

From Suraju, one of our first farmers in Rjiana Kaduna state, our impact has now grown to over 800,000 farmers in almost all the states in Nigeria. We have also expanded to newer markets like Kenya and Uganda.

At the heart of Agriculture sits smallholder farmers in Africa, they are the source of more than 70% of the food consumed in the continent and responsible for 23% of GDP contribution. However, this is set to decline.

In recent years, we have witnessed a devastating climate crisis in a range of ways. For one, as young boys growing up in northern Nigeria, we were conversant with basic statistics such as seasons and weather patterns. We could tell the wet season stats. in April as well as the dry season stats. in November. This has since changed and become impossible to predict accurately; today, the wet season starts in July and dry season in February the next year. Additionally, these dramatic climate changes have led to increased flooding, extensive periods of droughts, and low productivity amongst farmers.

So, we sat down with leaders in the organisation to craft a solution on how to make our farmers more resilient. In the last 2 years: 

It's been 24 months on this journey, and we will keep at it, till our net-zero ambitions within our ecosystem and environs is well adhered to.

While we have made so much progress, we believe it is barely scratching the surface when we look at the challenges ahead and the lofty milestones we need to cross to arrive at our goals.

Partners have always asked us how we get our farmers to adopt changes fast enough and our answer has always been because we show them the results and because we finance them, as the saying goes, he who plays the piper dictates the tune. Statistics show that smallholder farmers are particularly vulnerable to climate change, with 80% of the world's food produced by smallholders, yet they receive only 1.7% of total climate finance (Source). Thus, once we finance a farmer with inputs, we can dictate how they go about their farming practices, and once one farmer in that community sees the results, everyone brings to adopt, nothing speaks volumes like better yields and better income in those rural communities.

A study conducted in East Africa identified access to credit as a key barrier to the adoption of climate-smart agriculture (Source, Source). At Thrive, we believe these constraints can be effectively mitigated, closing the gap in CSA adoption. We have already made significant progress with certain partners we are currently closing and will keep onboarding more in good time.

In you, we believe we have the team and have produced the technology to drive this change....

We will see ourselves questioning things we have always known, questioning models and partnerships. We believe this is the direction to go. Aside from getting African smallholder farmers to fix food supply, we will also get them to fix the world by reducing carbon emissions. 

I know a couple of you might ask, are we now a climate tech company, same way you had asked if we are a fintech company or an agritech company, we are a different kind of company, we are a smallholder farmer-first company - simply farmer-obsessed.

We are grateful for you, our investors, our early partners on this journey like RaboBank and AGRA, and a few other exciting partners which we will unveil in due time. 

We are resilient, and committed to building climate-resilient farmers. Together with our partners, we will empower them to thrive in the face of climate challenges and secure a sustainable future for agriculture.

Thank you for your service to Thrive, our smallholder farmers and to the planet. 

Keep Thriving. 🚀

Co- Founders

Uka Eje and Ayo Arikawe

 1. FAO. 2009. Coping with a changing climate: considerations for adaptation and mitigation in agriculture

2. World Bank, 2015. World Bank: "Agriculture Finance & Agriculture Insurance." 

3. IFPRI, 2020. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI): "Access to Credit and Productivity in Nigeria’s Agricultural Sector."

4. CGIAR, 2018. Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR): "Adoption of Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices: Insights from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security." 

5. IITA, 2017. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA): "Extension Services and Agricultural Productivity in Nigeria."

6. ITC, 2016. International Trade Centre (ITC): "African Agricultural Trade and Market Access: Understanding the Market Dynamics."