Agvest Limited, a player in the agricultural value chain in Nigeria, has been screened by the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange for the listing of its N5bn cashew nut contract by diversified financial instruments.
Under the proposed listing, financial instruments worth N1.5bn with cashew nut as the underline assets would be offered to investing public through commercial papers and short-term exchange-traded notes.
The Managing Director, Agvest, Mr. Olabode Abikoye, while addressing journalists on Tuesday, explained that proceeds of the offer would enable the company to get both its plantation and factory up and running in West Africa at the first instance.
According to him, Agvest will commence with cashew aggregation on the spot market, issue exchange-traded notes in the medium term and add value.
He said, “Our decision to list cashew nut contracts on the Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange is to enable private investors to enjoy the benefits of quotation. We shall by this approach support the government’s drive to generate foreign exchange. We have 210 hectares of land as a plantation in Iwo, Oyo State and we are working closely with Oyo State Investment and Public Partnership Agency to activate our plan.
“As a listed product, our cashew shall always meet international standard as prescribed by the International Standard Organization, which requires good temperature, moisture level and grade. Many stakeholders in the commodities value chain in Nigeria operate in silos. One of our company’s functions is to integrate the stakeholders in the value chain.”
The Managing Director, Lagos Commodities and Futures Exchange, Mr. Akin Akeredolu-Ale, said Nigeria could earn robust income from cashew nut.
He said, “Nigerian cashew sector is dominated by smallholder farmers. numbered at about 25,000 and some commercial plantations, with an average cultivated area of 325,000 hectares, the local processing industry is growing gradually while there is a significant rise in export due to increased awareness of the export potential and processing opportunities. Other actors in the ecosystems include local buying agents, processors, exporters, and service providers.
“The challenges around the production and processing of cashew in Nigeria mainly center around the primary production of cashew from aged trees. Thanks to scientific research, there has been a substantial improvement in seed varieties that have introduced improved varieties which present primary production efforts need to take advantage of the meet the improved quality requirements of the international market.”
