AFEX Decries N2tr Funding Gap in Nigeria’s Agric Sector

AFEX Commodities Exchange Limited has called for strengthened collaborations among stakeholders in the Nigerian commodities market, to address the over N2 trillion funding gap in the agriculture sector.

The Chief Executive Officer of AFEX, Ayodeji Balogun, made the call during the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between AFEX and the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) in Abuja

. According to Balogun, Nigeria’s agriculture sector had remained significantly underfunded leading to poor delivery in expectations and the number of commodities available to the exchange market.

“Agriculture in Nigeria is significantly underfunded, and that is primarily because everywhere in the world, nobody buys commodities. Everybody buys futures, and until we have enough commodities to exchange, we won’t be able to deliver value to the market. “We see a N2 trillion gap in Nigeria’s agricultural financing, and we are positioned to solve this problem. To be able to solve it, this is where the partnership between the commodity sector itself, as well as the capital market and the security exchange, comes in.”

He explained that effort must be made to ensure that investment assets are tied to solving an identified problem in the Nigerian economy, noting that AFEX offered solutions that create a direct interaction with farmers in a bid to meet their needs.

“For us in AFEX, the core of who we are is transitioning from commodities to capital for shared prosperity both for producers, retail investors and the participating investment market. “We ensure that investment assets solve problems along ending hunger, ending poverty, gender equity, responsible consumption and decent jobs, which are the crux of the problem in Nigeria. So, the more we can rally across the capital market to solve these problems, the better for us as Nigerians,”Balogun added.

On his part, President of CIS, Tunde Amolegbe, commended the activities of AFEX in promoting the trading of commodities as an asset, which enables portfolio diversification, while noting that the primary task of the institute was to train and certify securities and investment professionals.

“We commend the solid footing that AFEX has created, as it now enables investors to include commodities as an asset class in the investment portfolio. Before now, the focus has been only on equities. The ability to diversify client portfolio with commodities as an additional asset class provides the needed diversification, reduction of risk and enhance returns,” he said.

source Agro Nigeria