Agriculture contributes about 24.43% to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), according to data from Intelpoint. It’s one of the largest sectors in the country in terms of employment and economic potential.
Yet, the numbers could be much higher. Nigeria has over 73 million hectares of arable land, but less than half of it is being cultivated.
The challenges are not a mystery. Limited access to funding, poor infrastructure, unreliable supply chains, and a lack of modern tools and knowledge for smallholder farmers. These barriers have kept the sector from reaching its full potential.
But a new generation of agritech startups is stepping up with bold solutions, using data, digital platforms, and smart tools to help farmers grow more, earn more, and waste less.
The state of agritech in Nigeria
Statista puts the total number of agritech startups in Nigeria at 230 as of 2024, a sharp increase since 2022, when it was just 23.
However, when it comes to funding, agritech still lags behind sectors like fintech. In 2024, agritech startups across Africa raised $65 million, and the bulk of that funding went to marketplaces and fintech-focused agritech startups.
In contrast, Nigeria’s fintech sector continues to dominate the investment space, with companies like Moniepoint raising over $100 million and reaching unicorn status in the same year. This imbalance highlights a clear gap between agriculture’s importance to the economy and the level of investment it receives.
While funding is a key problem for agritech startups, there’s also the issue of their ability to penetrate markets. According to a report by Mozilla on African tech startups, agritech companies have a hard time collaborating with farmers, as traditional brokers have built strong relationships with farmers.
Meanwhile, there’s still room for agritech to innovate. These innovations cannot only help farmers earn more but also improve food security across the country. And even in the face of market penetration and funding challenges, some agritech startups are thriving. Here are a few of them.
Thrive Agric
Thrive Agric is one of the well-known Nigerian agritech startups. It is focused on helping farmers access credit, inputs, and guaranteed markets for their produce.
Launched in 2017, the company uses technology to connect smallholder farmers with financing and data-driven advisory services, making it easier for them to grow and scale their operations.
The platform has supported over 500,000 farmers across Nigeria and claims to have facilitated the production of over 1.5 million metric tonnes of grains.
Meanwhile, in 2020, it faced significant challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The lockdowns disrupted logistics and operations, leading to delays in fulfilling payout contracts to investors. The company experienced losses exceeding ₦100 million ($210,000 at the time) due to transportation problems and the inability to access farms and farming markets.
However, it implemented leadership changes, appointing Adia Sowho as interim CEO to manage the crisis, and things took a turn for the better.
In 2022, ThriveAgric raised $56.4 million in debt funding to expand its reach, especially in Northern Nigeria.
Releaf
Releaf is a Nigerian agritech that is mechanising how agricultural produce is processed, and it is starting with oil palm.
Founded in 2017 by Ikenna Nzewi and Uzoma Ayogu, Releaf builds technology that helps smallholder farmers and food factories process crops more efficiently. Its flagship product, Kraken, is a palm nut de-shelling machine that processes oil palm kernels faster and with less waste than traditional methods.
The startup also cuts down logistics costs by deploying its machines directly in farming communities.
In 2021, it raised $4.2 million in seed funding from investors including Samurai Incubate and the Challenge Fund for Youth Employment.
ColdHubs
ColdHubs is a Nigerian agritech startup that provides cold storage for farm produce. Founded in 2015 by Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, the company builds and operates solar-powered cold rooms that allow smallholder farmers and market vendors to preserve perishable food items like fruits and vegetables.
What ColdHubs has done to tackle this is to install its cold storage in major food production and distribution centres, so farmers can rent space on a daily basis.
This model helps extend the shelf life of produce from two days to up to 21, reducing waste and increasing income for food producers.
While there’s no record of ColdHubs receiving funding, it has gotten global recognition for its impact, including a $110,000 grant.
Crop2Cash
Crop2Cash was founded in 2018 to bridge the financial gap for smallholder farmers. The company developed a USSD-based platform that allows farmers to open bank accounts using basic feature phones.
It claims to have enabled over 500,000 farmers across 13 states in Nigeria to access digital payments, credit, and insurance services, fostering financial inclusion in rural areas.
The startup offers products like CashCard, which facilitates digital transactions and helps farmers build financial identities, and Supply Base to digitise supply chain management for agro-processors.
In 2022, it got $450k from Google for Startups Black Founders Fund, and in 2024 secured a $350,000 investment from Village Capital’s Reducing Inequalities Investment Facility.
AgroMall
AgroMall was founded in 2017, and it offers services such as yield prediction and agronomic advisory. The company has developed the AgroMall Digital Agriculture Platform (ADAP), which provides increased transaction transparency to agribusinesses, farmer cooperatives, and government intervention programs.
This platform enables farmers to access digital financial services, including input credits and crop insurance, as well as direct market access for their produce.
The Lagos-headquartered startup uses an approach that integrates agricultural economics and quality control with financial services, turning digital platforms into tools for agents and farmers.
Startups like AgroMall show what’s possible when technology meets intention. By combining digital finance, data-driven insights, and field-level support, AgroMall and others are trying to transform Nigerian agriculture, giving farmers access to the tools, information, and markets they’ve long been excluded from.
But even as agritech gains ground, insecurity remains a major threat to its impact. Many farming communities in northern and central Nigeria continue to face violence from banditry, herder-farmer clashes, and insurgency.
This persistent insecurity not only displaces farmers from their lands but also discourages investment, disrupts harvest cycles, and increases the cost of operating in rural areas. For agritech startups trying to scale, these risks are often beyond what digital innovation alone can fix.
Meanwhile, these innovations still need to be showcased and celebrated, something we’ll see a lot of at the Lagos Startup Expo 2.0 coming up between June 18 and 19, 2025.
You can be a part by clicking here to join as an attendee or exhibitor.
