BII backs African agri commodities platform
British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution, today announced a $26.5 million commitment to AFEX, an African commodities platform which currently operates over 200 warehouses in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda and serves over 450,000 farmers.
BII’s investment will be used to build 20 modern warehouses in strategic locations in Nigeria, Kenya, and Uganda. Its capital will also scale warehouse technology and next-generation software that captures post-harvest pricing. Smart storage solutions have the potential to preserve the lifespan of harvested crops, and so increasing the volume of food available.
The additional warehouses will provide 230,000 MT of storage capacity, enabling up to 200,000 more farmers to access low-cost storage and maximise sales from crop harvests, potentially helping increase farmer incomes by more than 200%.
BII’s capital will also be used to develop a soya bean processing plant in Ibadan, the third-largest city by population in Nigeria, and a drying facility in Uganda.