Afghanistan has contracted Nigerian company, Cellulant Nigeria, to undertake the process of establishing a market-based input distribution technology. The undertaking, which is collaborative, is aimed at boosting Afghanistan’s drive for self-sufficiency in wheat production.
Cellulant’s e-wallet technology is expected to boost Afghanistan’s agricultural sector in general.
Having enjoyed success with Liberia and Togo, the deal with Afghanistan will mean that Cellulat Nigeria has expanded its reach to Asia, raising the profile and prospects of its e-wallet system.
Speaking on the partnership with the Afghanistan government, the Co-founder of Cellulant Corporation, Mr. Bolaji Akinboro, stated that the technology, “is the gift of Cellulant to humanity.”
He said, ‘‘Afghanistan is beautiful to us, and we are glad to come all the way from Africa, Nigeria to make life better for the smallholder farmer in Afghanistan.”
“This technology allows the best available seeds and fertiliser get into the hands of hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers to raise crop yields”.
Akinboro thanked the government and people of Afghanistan for giving the company the opportunity to participate in the Afghan economy, and contribute to making life better for smallholder farmers.
He said, ‘‘Cellulant is driven to solve difficult problems on use of payment technology. We will work with the government of Afghanistan to get inputs to one million farmers in the next 90 to 120 days.
“This e-wallet system, which works on a block chain technology, provides a holistic system to link the farmers to agricultural inputs supply chain, finance and markets through integration with mobile network operators, input markets, extensions services, financial service providers, commodity market, and insurance service providers.”
The e-wallet system was conceived in Nigeria. It was first implemented under the administration of the former Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who is now President of the Africa Development Bank.
The technology was said to have enabled Nigeria to increase its food production by an average of 21 million metric tonnes annually between 2012 and 2015.
Source: http://aurora.dawn.com/news/1142117/gearing-up-fintech-for-wider-financial-inclusion