“The Lord replied: Write down the vision and make it plain on tablets so that he may run who reads it.
For the vision awaits its appointed time, it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it may linger, wait for it, it will certainly come and will not delay”.
Habakkuk 2: 2-3
In obedience, I wrote down the vision. I followed the Lord’s direction. Today, I am proud to present what will become the ultimate game changer for Agriculture and Agribusiness in the whole of Africa.
A Journey of Faith, Reflection, and Purpose
Over seven years ago, alone in my hotel room in Enugu, I found myself in deep introspection. My thoughts wandered back to my time at the Nigerian Law School, where the late and inspiring Chief Babatunde Abiodun Ibironke, our then Director General, consistently reminded us that:
“Every lawyer is a Social Engineer and a Change Agent.”
This statement had long echoed in my heart. I began to ask: How can I use my legal knowledge and experience to create meaningful, lasting impact in society?
It was during that moment of soul-searching that I recalled a story I was told by my late uncle and music ICON Nze Dan Orji of the Peacocks international fame and acclaimed composer of “EDDIE QUANSA”– the very melodic and popular theme music for “MASQUERADE”– one of the most successful drama series of Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
According to my uncle, some preachers came to preach to a man in my community in the presence of his household. In the course of the preaching, mention was made about mansions in heaven which the man literarily understood to mean that there was a physical house for him in heaven. When the leader and his team were set to depart, the man glowing with joy and speaking sonorously in impeccable owerri dialect inquired innocently if there will be a possibility of putting tenants in his own mansion and remitting the rent for the economic survival of him and his household right here on earth, that whenever he gets to heaven, he will give quit notice to the tenants.
The baffled preacher realizing that he didn’t do a good job, had to spend additional time in breaking down the message with full deployment of Owerri dialect to the eventual understanding of the man”.
This story which became to me some kind of metaphor for the realities of life and living for most Africans, fired up something in me that night, thus the commencement of the articulation of my thoughts which engendered the beginning of a journey clearly inspired by God.
I have always believed that there is a reason and purpose God Almighty brought us here – if he wanted us first in heaven, he would have sent us there directly. Making us in his own Image and Likeness, presupposes that we should be able to recreate things around us for the betterment of our society.
These and other factors made me more determined to create solutions that will cleverly seek to tackle two of our greatest problems in Africa, which are unemployment and poor wealth distribution.
The Spark of a Disruptive Vision
In searching for the solutions, I looked towards Agriculture and Agribusiness as a potential medium since everybody eats food every day. I promised myself that if I could de-risk the factors that inhibit a lot of people from participating in Agriculture and Agribusiness, then I would have succeeded in laying the foundation for making a positive contribution towards solving the unemployment and wealth distribution within the continent.
Thus, after seven and half years of brainstorming, toiling, trials, failures, frustrations, the unceasing support and prayers of my dear wife, I am proud to say a big welcome to the full implementation stage of THE ULTIMATE GAME CHANGER… THE DISRUPTIVE BIG IDEAS PROGRAMME – HECTARE BY HECTARE.
I believe that under the Programme, we have clearly developed new ideas and processes to disrupt the current practices in Agriculture and Agribusiness and have succeeded in removing the impediments and contradictions that present the biggest challenge to our core mission and core objectives.
CORE MISSION OF THE PROGRAMME
To Promote employment, wealth creation, Financial Inclusion, general public awareness & value re-orientation through Agriculture and Agribusiness.
CORE OBJECTIVES OF THE PROGRAMME
- To Provide Access to Land, Technical Expertise, Finance and Market for Stakeholders interested in farming and food processing.
- To provide de-risked opportunities for all adult Africans to participate and earn money from Agriculture and Agribusiness under 48 well-defined stakeholder categories.
- To provide end to end solutions for all types of Transactions within the Agriculture and Agribusiness Value Chain.
PROGRAMME ENABLERS
- Robust Legal Framework
- Operational policies & guidelines
- 14 key market penetration tools
- 36 fit for purpose agreements
- Critical transaction documents
- 1 (one) promotional book
- 6 purpose built software applications
- Adasomi Logistic Services
PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION
The Programme is designed to be implemented by Adasomi Development Company Limited (ADCL)and other members of Adasomi and Revacom Consortium (in collaboration with Agricultural Experts, Consultants, Technical Experts and Critical Stakeholders) in the whole of Africa through a Franchising Model that entails the appointment of one Franchise Company for each Country, one Sub-Franchise Company for each State/Region within the country and one Franchise Cooperative Society for each Community within any given State or Region.
INSURANCE SUPPORT FOR THE PROGRAMME
Our partnership with Nigeria Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC) and other Insurance Partners across Africa, ensures that every transaction under the programme is derisked and secured with the right insurance policy or policies.
LOGISTICS SUPPORT FOR THE PROGRAMME
Being an enterprise of significant proportion, the Programme requires unique logistic systems, hence Adasomi Logistics was created to manage all the logistic services of the Programme. The framework of Adasomi Logistics is a scalable asset-light structure with its technology platform supporting; Transport & distribution, Warehousing, Supply Chain Management, and Customer Relations Management. The use of Sub-consolidators and electric Tri-cycles for last-mile deliveries within each established cluster achieves remarkable reduction in cost of logistics.
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE PROGRAMME
The Programme is made up of 5 (five) Schemes namely; Adasomi Farm Estate Scheme, Adasomi Out growers Scheme, Adasomi & Revacom Food Court Scheme, Adasomi Premium Discount Scheme and Hectare by Hectare Volunteering Scheme
- Key Features of Adasomi Farm Estate Scheme
- Through this scheme, Hectare by Hectare Farm Estates are developed in Rural communities on behalf of Proxy Farmers for the cultivation of Food and Agricultural Raw Materials on any required large scale based on Off-take contracts from Food Processors and Large Scale Commodity Dealers.
- The HBH land aggregation and partnership model developed under this scheme, grants Proxy Farmers easy access to any size of land anywhere within Africa.
- The HBH unique and derisked funding model, enables us to raise funds required for any large scale farming anywhere within Africa.
- Under the scheme, Sustainable revenue is provided for Landowners, participating communities, Local Government Councils and State Governments in addition to extra revenue created for all through the voluntary carbon market.
- Key Features of Adasomi Out growers Scheme
- Through this scheme, existing Rural Farmers and Out-Growers are incorporated into the programme and given access to technical support, finance, market, and fair pricing for their produce.
- The HBH community warehousing initiative guarantees fair pricing and produce off-take for Outgrowers in rural communities.
- Hectare by Hectare Farming Clusters are developed on behalf of Proxy Farmers, Value Partners and critical stakeholders within rural communities.
- Prequalified individuals are trained as Resident Farmers or Food processors and allocated spaces within the Farming Clusters and given access to technical support, finance and market.
- Farms are developed in schools thereby providing more food, extra income to staff, revenue to the participating schools and practical learning experience for the students.
- Key Features of Adasomi & Revacom Food Court Scheme
- Through this scheme, several REVACOM Food Courts are developed in Urban areas to stimulate and create more opportunities for organized off-take of food and agricultural raw materials farmed and processed within the Hectare by Hectare value chain.
- A standard Revacom Food Court is made up of an Eatery, a Bakery, an Ice Cream and Pastries Shop, a Farm to Home Store (for sale of fresh farm produce), a Business Centre, a Pharmacy and Mini Mart.
- Through the use of Adasomi Food Court Management Software, all sales and transactions are adequately tracked and captured real time.
- All money collection services are provided by Micro Finance Banks appointed by partnering Escrow Banks.
- REVACOM Food Courts are also established in Tertiary Institutions across Africa, thereby enabling the supply of affordable food to students and providing opportunities of extra income for staff of the institutions. In this regard, existing refectories are also refurbished and converted to REVACOM food Courts.
- Opportunities are created for all adult Africans to invest as Value Partners to own fractional interest in REVACOM Food Courts. In addition to capital appreciation on the properties, they earn daily income from every item sold at the Food Courts.
- Small and Medium Income Food Vendors with proven good cooking skills are without payment of rent allocated fully equipped kitchens to operate in REVACOM Food Courts. All other vendors are equally allocated spaces without payment.
- REVACOM Food Courts are also established in Tertiary Institutions across Africa, thereby enabling the supply of affordable food to students and providing opportunities of extra income for staff of the institutions. In this regard, existing refectories are also refurbished and converted to REVACOM food Courts.
- Opportunities are created for all adult Africans to invest as Value Partners to own fractional interest in REVACOM Food Courts. In addition to capital appreciation on the properties, they earn daily income from every item sold at the Food Courts.
- Small and Medium Income Food Vendors with proven good cooking skills are without payment of rent allocated fully equipped kitchens to operate in REVACOM Food Courts. All other vendors are equally allocated spaces without payment of rent.
- Key Features of Adasomi Premium Discount Scheme
- Through this scheme, food is supplied directly from farmers, Out-growers and Food Processors through local Sub-Consolidators at below market price to Primary Off-takers (individual consumers, food vendors operating at Revacom Food Courts, Hotels, Restaurants, Consumer Cooperative Societies) within Africa.
- Hectare by Hectare Food Credit Initiative enables any willing Primary Off-taker to enjoy a credit period of 40-180 days on payment for supplies.
- Massive inflow of foreign exchange is achieved through direct supply of farm produce and processed food to Africans living in the diaspora through Diaspora Sub-consolidators.
- In pursuance of the HBH wealth distribution mandate, Farm To Home Agents (mostly unemployed youths) are continuously empowered through the award of Premium Discount Supply & Forward Contracts created under the entire Programme for supply and off-take of inputs, machineries, farm produce and processed food.
- Inspired by an ape long traditional practice in most African Societies (Esusu/Ajo), the Hectare by Hectare Cooperative system presents a unique cooperative model for aggregation of resources towards investment in Agriculture and Agribusiness.
- The Hectare by Hectare Cooperatives Management App which also seamlessly incorporates existing cooperative societies into the Programme, is a comprehensive digital platform designed to simplify and modernize the management of Cooperative Societies in Africa.
- It empowers Cooperative administrators with powerful tools for financial tracking, member management and operational transparency, while providing the members realtime financial insights and up to date view of their investment status and Cooperatives financial health.
- The App also enables the Cooperators receive real time information on investment opportunities under the Hectare by Hectare programme.
- The Hectare by Hectare Food Banking Initiative developed under this Scheme provides food donors a de-risked platform that enable their food donations to actually reach intended beneficiaries thereby turning their compassion into real and traceable community impact.
- Key Features of Hectare by Hectare Volunteering Scheme
- As compensation for access to economic empowerment granted to them, Farm To Home Agents through the Hectare by Hectare Volunteering Scheme managed by Adasomi Foundation (ADF) are required to provide Volunteering services in their respective communities.
- The number of contract lots secured by each Farm To Home Cooperative is determined by the level of voluntary community services rendered by the cooperative society within its immediate community.
- Every community service is recorded and uploaded to the Hectare by Hectare Cooperative App which has a point scoring feature. The number of points scored by each cooperative determines how many contract lots it can secure.
“Every great endeavour owes its prominence to a great idea. If the idea matures and gains stature, it can change many things, including the lives of people”.
When fully operational in a territory (State/Region), it is projected that the programme through its 5(five) Schemes will engage a minimum of 200,000 persons as participants under the 48 well defined Stakeholder categories.
My heartfelt gratitude goes to the 46 visionary shareholders of ADCL, who believed in this vision, invested their resources, and have patiently waited for its full implementation. Congratulations to each of you—for being part of what is poised to become Africa’s most impactful agricultural and community development program.
In conclusion, let me leave you with the great and timeless words of Clive Staples Lewis, the British writer, literary scholar and Anglican Lay Theologian “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending”.
CHIJIOKE ORJI ESQ, IS A NIGERIAN-BASED LAWYER, NOTARY PUBLIC, WRITER, PUBLISHER AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEUR.
