Agritech Startups and Ecosystem in the Western Region of Nigeria

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The Western Region of Nigeria, which consists primarily of Lagos, Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Kwara and Ekiti, is emerging as one of the country’s busiest regions and ecosystems for agritech innovation and startups. Startups using technology to varying degrees are transforming the food system by addressing major challenges in the value chain. This ranges from innovative digital-based market platforms to addressing financial flows through the integration of fintech, to greenhouse technology and hubs. Other innovation include the integration of smart and renewable energy-powered irrigation, youth-training accelerators, and many more. The region reflects a growing ecosystem that links tech, advisory services, financial services, inputs, supply chain management, precision farming, post-harvest loss mitigation and market access for both smallholder and commercial farmers. This article maps some of the startups, indicating who is doing what, where the clusters are forming, and the opportunities and challenges that shape agritech growth in Western Nigeria.

The Regional Landscape: Clusters and Actors

Two major patterns stand out in Western Nigeria. First, Lagos remains the commercial and investor gateway that charts the pathway to many nationally scaled agritech firms.  Startups leverage the city’s investor networks and logistics infrastructure. Second, secondary cities within the region like Ibadan (Oyo State) and Abeokuta (Ogun State) are developing specialised hubs and agritech companies closer to many production sites in other states within the region like Osun, Kwara, Ondo and Ekiti States. Ibadan is becoming an acceleration and agri-research node, while Abeokuta hosts hands-on greenhouse and youth training programmes. Ondo and Ekiti states are hosting startups aligning with farmers and providing knowledge-based innovation of technology into farming operations. The startups often work with farmer clusters, providing the needed interventions as actors within Nigeria’s agritech scene.

What Types of Agritech Innovations are Present

Agritech activity in the West spans several agritech innovations. Some of them include:

1. Marketplaces and Aggregation Platforms: These are digital marketplaces that help reduce post-harvest losses by connecting producers to buyers, pre-finance off-take, and organise collection and transport. These platforms often scale from Lagos as the market destination due to demand density and logistics networks. 
2. Precision Farming: This is the integration of precision farming tools and technology. Startups are utilising drone technology, smart sensors and precision farming to enhance and optimise farming operations. 
3. Agri-Fintech and Input Credit: startups are combining credit scoring and input financing to agricultural value chains, enabling farmers to access seeds, fertilisers, and mechanisation on credit and repay post-harvest. Such models are central to closing the financing gap for smallholders and promoting productivity and sustainability. 
4. Greenhouse and Soilless Farming: The technology and innovation of soilless farming utilises precision-controlled production (hydroponics/greenhouses) for high-value vegetables and seedlings. These are often based in peri-urban areas where land and training centres exist. The innovation also promotes greenhouse technology. 
5. Agri-Data and Advisory Services: Provision of crop advisory via SMS/software applications, remote sensing and farm management using software as a service for input optimisation and early warning systems. These services are frequently bundled with finance or marketplace offerings.
6. Knowledge Transfer and Market Linkages: Knowledge sharing using digital extension service for smallholder farmers with the integration of technology to provide sustainable agricultural practices. The knowledge transfer mechanism translates into higher productivity and market linkage of harvested produce.

Some Western Nigeria Initiatives and Agritech Startups

While Nigeria hosts many national agritech companies, Western Nigeria has home-grown and locally-focused startups worth noting.

1. Crop2Cash (Ibadan, Oyo State): Crop2Cash is an example of regionally-rooted innovation. The enterprise operates a platform to bridge smallholder farmers with financing and market linkages, with a particular focus on formalising farmer finance in Oyo State. The company’s growth highlights Ibadan’s rising role as an agri-innovation centre. 
2. Soilless Farm Lab (Awowo, Ogun State): Also known as Eupepsia Place Limited. In partnership with MasterCard Foundation, they are training 1000 youths in the space of 3 months. They have trained over 45,000 youths in the last 3 years.  This is achieved through the Enterprise for Youth in Agriculture (EYiA) programme. The startup boasts of greenhouses on over 100 acres of production area. They are based in Awowo, Ogun State, and operate a model for scaling soilless production and urban/peri-urban vegetable supply. Their work underscores the value of hands-on hubs in technology transfer and youth employment. 
3. AgriCatalyst (Ibadan, Oyo State):  The organisation’s innovation is an accelerator and agribusiness support platform. They run agri-foodtech programs, accelerators and women-in-agritech initiatives, making Ibadan a knowledge and capacity-building node for the region. The organisation has impacted over 32 startups, over 6 projects and programs, with over 115 people benefited.
4. Winich Farms (Lagos State): Winich Farms beams the vision to build Africa’s most efficient and largest supply chain platform and improve the livelihoods of food producers and other stakeholders in the identified value chains. It is headquartered in Lagos and uses technology to order agricultural commodities and track delivery to its market destination, saving time and money.
5. Integrated Aerial Precision (Lagos State): The organisation provides solutions through the use of drone technology and data analysis to cut costs, reduce waste, and scale sustainability. They provide services like precision spraying, crop monitoring and scouting, aerial filming, farm mapping and survey. They also provide training and capacity-building services to youths through their academy.

Beyond these region-specific examples, there are more actors and players in Western Nigeria that provides innovations to solve the frictions within the agricultural ecosystem, including financing, market access, inputs, precision farming, etc.

How Local Policy and Partnerships are Shaping Growth

The state governments and international partners are increasingly active in partnering at various levels to boost the agricultural ecosystem. Oyo State, for example, is partnering with international agritech centres and initiatives that aim to catalyse technology adoption. Their partnership promises to boost livestock and crop productivity, and build agro-industrial hubs. The Lagos State government is also partnering with food producers to establish food hubs, train youth in agripreneurship and boost agritech. The government is shaping growth through its programmes and projects like: Produce for Lagos Programme, Central Food Logistics Hub, Lagos Agripreneurship Programme, etc. Ekiti, Ogun, Kwara and Osun states are also providing incentives for inputs and mechanisation to food producers at various scales, establishing innovation and tech hubs. Establishing these interventions and hubs are building platforms for agritech innovations within the ecosystem to develop and thrive.

Strengths Driving Agritech Innovations in the West

1. Market Proximity and Logistics: Lagos State and its metropolitan reach provide immediate urban demand for perishable vegetables and processed foods; proximity to markets reduces post-harvest loss and shortens the supply chain for urban-oriented ventures. 
2. Talent, Universities and Agricultural Research Institutes: Metropolitan cities like Ibadan host universities and research institutes that can feed agritech startups with talent, research partnerships and pilot farms. Some of the renowned agricultural institutes are the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, University of Ibadan, and the National Horticultural Research Institute.
3. Training Hubs and Hands-on models: Greenhouse and hydroponics hubs in Ogun and Oyo allow rapid demonstration and farmer on-boarding. These innovations are crucial for behaviour change in agronomy practices that promote the participation of youths and the integration of agritech innovations.

Challenges That Persist for Agritech Startups

1. Finance and Working Capital: Despite growing interest, many startups still face constrained liquidity for scaling their innovations and technologies. Many of the startups operate and rely on phased pilots rather than countrywide rollouts. 
2. Fragmented Smallholder Networks: Connecting and reaching many small plots of farmland across fragmented landscapes raises acquisition costs for startups that need producer scale to be profitable.
3. Infrastructure Gaps: There are major infrastructural gaps like unreliable power, poor rural roads and limited cold chain capacity, which increase operating costs and complicate just-in-time supply models. 

Opportunities and the Road Ahead

Several strategic opportunities can deepen the West’s agritech ecosystem. Some of the opportunities include:

1. Localised Incubation with Corporate Procurement: There is increased incubation of food producers and startups in Oyo, Ogun,Osun,Ondo, Ekiti and Kwara States connected with corporate offtake agreements in markets and investor companies in Lagos and other cities. This arrangement help to reduce the risk of farmer contracts, promote production volumes and strengthen the startup ecosystem.
2. Blended Finance Vehicles: Impact investors, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and local banks can structure blended funds to underwrite input credit and working capital for aggregators, which reduces reliance on founder capital. 
3. Supply Chain and Market Linkages: Premium markets, urban retailers and export buyers are increasingly demanding traceability solutions that combine farm-level data with marketplace access. 

Conclusion

Agritech startups in Western Nigeria reveal a dynamic, multiple hub ecosystem across the various states, where each state provides their comparative advantage for a thriving agritech system.

Lagos, for example, provides market and investor gravity; Ibadan contributes acceleration, research and talent; Abeokuta, Osogbo, Akure, Ado-Ekiti, Ilorin and other peri-urban centres host hands-on production, digital market linkages and platforms, youth-training hubs, and operations of precision agriculture. The region is well-placed to pilot integrated solutions that merge finance, digital advisory, controlled-environment farming, precision agriculture and market linkages. Scaling agritech innovations will depend on bridging finance gaps, improving infrastructure and strengthening offtake partnerships. Continued collaboration between state governments, accelerators, impact investors and corporates will determine whether Western Nigeria’s agritech experiments become the templates for wider national transformation.