Farmerline nets $1 5m from Oikocredit in second close of Pre-Series A

According to Emmanuel Owusu Addai, co-founder and COO of Farmerline, the partnership embodies the alignment that both bodies have when it comes to solving the challenges in farming in West Africa. In Ghana, Farmerline engaged with over 77,000 farmers last year, directly selling products to them and buying their crops. For instance, PSA signed a joint venture agreement with CMA-CGM in 2016, while Cosco expanded its Singapore joint venture with PSA in 2017. Singapore’s strategic vision for its port has been about ensuring the 3 Cs of Connectivity, Capacity, and Competitiveness.

As a hub port, Singapore is able to offer a high degree of connectivity and competitive shipping rates to an extensive range of players across the logistics supply chain. Superior maritime connectivity supports the manufacturing sector by contributing to the ease and affordability of importing raw goods and exporting manufactured products. Access to the connectivity afforded by our port is a critical consideration in wholesale trade and logistics companies’ decisions to be located in Singapore. Today, we see global shipping and logistics players tapping on Singapore as a base for regional operations. Long-term, strategic port planning must ensure that the port can provide adequate capacity to meet the demands of key shipping lines and their alliance partners in sizeable blocks of volume.

• Access to the connectivity afforded by our port is a critical consideration in wholesale trade and logistics companies’ decisions to be located in Singapore.
• For instance, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore proactively experiments with digitalisation initiatives, adopting a “regulatory sandbox” approach in which trials with new technologies may be observed in controlled environments.
• The Tuas Terminal gateway, which will be the interface between areas inside and outside the port, will be a multi-purpose complex with offices and even a maritime-themed visitors’ gallery.
• Productivity improvements in port operations are also critical to meet demandside requirements (e.g., catering to mega vessels) and address Singapore’s perennial supply-side constraints (i.e., land and labour scarcity).

Agencies are also working together to ensure accessibility for port workers to and from home to work. The twin pillars of Maritime Singapore—our hub port and IMC—account for the lion’s share of Maritime Singapore’s 7% contribution to GDP and employ more than 170,000 people in Singapore. The port, in particular, is a source of good jobs for locals—the percentage of locals employed by the port sector is consistently higher than the national average. The percentage of locals in the port sector holding PMET positions also far outstrips the national average. By offering top-notch productivity and unrivalled connectivity on an unmatched scale, Singapore’s port has become a critical nexus in the global sea-trade system. “In a recent Farmerline survey, we found that more than half of the Ghanaian farmers we spoke to hadn’t applied any fertilizer to their crops just weeks before the end of planting season.

Shipping lines are deploying mega vessels4 (i.e., a vessel with a capacity in excess of 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units, or TEUs) on major trade routes. Underpinning these trends is the industry’s belief that size and scale are prerequisites for survival, and that smaller players will be hardpressed to out-price larger alliances. The increasing use of mega vessels and consolidation of shipping lines into ever larger alliances will accentuate peak volumes and increase the complexity of transhipment operations. An analogy would be a big group of diners showing up at a restaurant at the same time and demanding to be seated together.

Connecting to the World: Singapore as a Hub Port

Addai believes the partnership will make it easy to learn from Oikocredit and access resources in relation to Oikocredit’s experience in asset financing, which can be applied in Farmerline’s input financing services. It is because they’ll not only bring in the funding that is needed, but they are bringing support which is not very easy to find,” Addai tells AFN. Farmerline was started with an $800 grant by Alloysius Attah and Emmanuel Owusu Addai in 2013.

For Singapore to stay ahead of the curve, flexibility and open-mindedness in enacting business-friendly regulations and experimenting with new ideas and technologies are essential. For instance, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore proactively experiments with digitalisation initiatives, adopting a “regulatory sandbox” approach in which trials with new technologies may be observed in controlled environments. This enables regulators to be up-to-speed when introducing new regulations and capturing first mover advantages.

• “Because of the Russia-Ukraine war fertilizer prices have skyrocketed almost three times what it was last year.
• Superior maritime connectivity supports the manufacturing sector by contributing to the ease and affordability of importing raw goods and exporting manufactured products.
• Once shipping groups establish operations in Singapore, there is a stronger impetus to shift their other functions and activities to Singapore too.

PSA and MPA have also established living labs to facilitate the test-bedding of new technologies, with a view to future large scale deployment at Tuas. These initiatives will help promote cutting-edge innovation and build up competencies in port development. “We remain committed to standing by farmers and agribusinesses across Africa during this crucial time. Given the need to ensure navigational safety as Singapore’s vessel traffic grows, Project SAFER is a collaboration between MPA and IBM Research to develop and test-bed new analytics-based technologies to improve maritime and port operations. With this, Singapore has been able to maintain its position as the world’s leading transhipment port. In addition, it has enabled Singapore to anchor global shipping lines such as China’s Cosco and France’s CMA CGM, both of which have joint-venture agreements with PSA to operate berths at Pasir Panjang Terminal.

Key Elements of a Successful Port

Consequently, a transhipment hub’s ability to accommodate larger alliances and their more complex transhipment connections will be critical to its success or survival. Ports that fail to invest in capacity in anticipation of demand will find it challenging to deliver the high service levels that have come to be expected. Our position as a leading transhipment hub and well-connected port anchors the growth of Singapore’s logistics, manufacturing and wholesale trade sectors.

PSA works with key customers to develop protocols for vessel stowage to facilitate optimal container loading and discharging rates. Last but not least, PSA has also been actively working with planners of shipping lines to spread out cargo volumes such that more cranes can be deployed to minimise each vessels’ turnaround time. By the early 1980s, it was apparent that Singapore’s first container terminal, Tanjong Pagar Terminal, would be operating at maximum capacity by the 1990s and would not be able to handle the envisaged growth in trade volumes. City planners were already looking ahead to the relocation of the container port as the next chapter in Singapore’s maritime story. The decision to consolidate the port at Tuas with a planned capacity of up to 65 million TEUs was made with an eye on the future. Having sufficient capacity in a single, contiguous location affords Singapore a critical competitive advantage—it provides greater economies of scale and also eliminates the need for inter-terminal haulage.

At the time, it was delivering timely agronomic voice messages to 800 farmers across Ghana through its technology platform Mergdata. The investment is part of a total funding round worth $14.4 million raised by Farmerline from investors including Dutch development bank FMO and Acumen Resilient Agriculture Fund . The largest mega vessel today is the OOCL Hong Kong with a capacity https://cryptolisting.org/ of over 21,000 TEUs. The 2014 OECD report “The Competitiveness of Global Port-Cities” cited Singapore as the number one port in the world according to its three measures of “centrality” within the global sea-trade network. It claims to have financed around $18 million worth of inputs and crops through franchise shop alliances with agribusinesses and input dealers.

Singapore’s first container terminal at Tanjong Pagar, which opened in 1972, allowed us to catch the wave of containerisation before the rest of the region. Had we waited for containerisation to take off before making the infrastructural investment, we would have lost this first-mover advantage. Singapore’s success as a major global maritime hub is the result of bold vision, national determination, and assiduous planning. “It is always an opportunity to learn from people who have done credit management and asset financing. We believe the synergy is going to be great and the input dealers, aggregators, and farmers are going to benefit from this,” he says.

I’m drowning in new food! Can someone please restructure me out of this mess?

We need to work closely with all partners and stakeholders in the agricultural sector through this critical period to create sustainable food system solutions that benefit African farmers,” he adds. Unlike other ports that are completely out of bounds to the public, Tuas will incorporate elements of community integration. The Tuas Terminal gateway, which will be the interface between areas inside and outside the port, will be a multi-purpose complex with offices and even a maritime-themed visitors’ gallery.

And other digital tools while connecting them to agribusinesses in international markets. The new round of financing will be used to strengthen Farmerline’s supply chain in agribusiness and further develop the startup’s infrastructure. Christl Li is Senior Manager at the Port Policy Division of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore. The SAFER system can automate and increase the accuracy of critical tasks that formerly replied on human observation, reporting, Very High Frequency reporting and data entry. New port cranes will allow for remote monitoring, supervision and control of up to 5 cranes. The decision to expand Pasir Panjang Terminal in 2004 provided the necessary capacity to cater to growth in container throughput.

Aided by technology, advanced planning and optimisation of equipment deployment will facilitate the seamless transfer of containers from vessel to wharf, and then to truck and yard, and vice versa. For instance, instead of prime mover drivers, automated guided vehicles will ferry container boxes around our port at the new Tuas Terminal. PSA continues to harness data and technology to optimise turnaround times and facilitate just-in-time port calls, with a view to sustaining high berth and yard productivity. Today, PSA is already achieving higher and consistent berth productivity through intelligent planning and automation.

“Because of the Russia-Ukraine war fertilizer prices have skyrocketed almost three times what it was last year. We realized as a company we needed to reason with the agribusinesses and the farmers that we work with and do something that will help them acquire the fertilizers,” Addai says. Last month, it launched the Support a Farmer initiative, a public crowdfunding campaign to raise GH¢1 million ($ 100,000) with the aim of providing 250,000 bags of discounted fertilizer to 25,000 farmers across Ghana. Mergdata, the startup’s own globally-licensed platform, was on Time’s list of the top 100 innovations of 2019.

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Farmerline has leased Mergdata to over 60 partners mainly in Africa and others in Asia and Latin America, which facilitates farmer profiling, traceability, messaging and digital payments. As the company deepens its presence in West Africa, it plans to reduce the cost of farming and increase yields for farmers on the continent through the deployment of AI technology and local infrastructure. The decision taken in 1969 to build Singapore’s first container terminal in Tanjong Pagar propelled Singapore from a small port into the global league. Singapore was the first country in Southeast Asia with a container port, which has since grown to become one of the busiest and most connected in the world, with links to more than 600 ports across 120 countries worldwide. It is now looking to evolve the Mergdata platform, making it more AI-powered to deliver intelligence such as crop yield prediction, fertilizer demand forecasting and product traceability needed in the industry.

Today, Singapore is the Maersk Group’s largest business operations centre outside Denmark, with about 650 employees. It performs global and regional functions for 13 business units that span the container, drilling, tanker, towage and salvage, and terminals business segments. Besides the port, the conducive business framework environment in Singapore is a key factor which contributes to its growth. Creating value for key stakeholders2 or bettering our business proposition (e.g., by leveraging technology to deliver more efficient service) is vital to sharpening competitiveness.

Once shipping groups establish operations in Singapore, there is a stronger impetus to shift their other functions and activities to Singapore too. By encouraging greater “stickiness” of shipping groups, the port has helped draw in other international maritime companies providing essential services to support the shipping lines. In turn, this has helped spawn a wider ecosystem of maritime service providers including bunkering, shipbroking, ship finance, martime insurance, as well as maritime law and arbitration, amongst others. The port played a significant role in anchoring the Maersk Group’s shipping and related services in Singapore. Maersk started out using Singapore as its transhipment hub, subsequently expanded the breadth of its operations in Singapore, and eventually established its regional headquarters here.

Farmerline Group, a Ghanaian agribusiness marketplace today announced the second close of a Pre-Series A round with an additional $1.5 million investment from social impact investor Oikocredit. Singapore is committed to sustaining the growth of our port because this is an industry critical to our economy. Farmerline witnessed the real-time impacts of the hike in fertilizer prices resulting from the Russia and Ukraine war.

While Singapore’s geographical location at the crossroads of important trade lines has been favourable, its pre-eminence as a global hub port has not been by chance. Strategic vision and leadership, with the courage to make bold decisions, have been vital in enabling Singapore to stay ready for the future, be a pacesetter, reap first-mover advantages, and thrive in a dynamic global industry. “The harmful impact of rocketing fertiliser costs on smallholder farmers in Africa is clear. With our investment in Farmerline, we are supporting those most affected by the price volatility. Our investments in the agriculture sector are at the core of Oikocredit’s work as a social impact investor, and we have already identified synergies with other portfolio companies. We are thrilled to support Farmerline Group and smallholder communities across Ghana and Ivory Coast,” says Mila Georgieva, equity officer at Oikocredit.

• Last but not least, PSA has also been actively working with planners of shipping lines to spread out cargo volumes such that more cranes can be deployed to minimise each vessels’ turnaround time.
• As the company deepens its presence in West Africa, it plans to reduce the cost of farming and increase yields for farmers on the continent through the deployment of AI technology and local infrastructure.
• The port played a significant role in anchoring the Maersk Group’s shipping and related services in Singapore.
• Singapore was the first country in Southeast Asia with a container port, which has since grown to become one of the busiest and most connected in the world, with links to more than 600 ports across 120 countries worldwide.
• As a hub port, Singapore is able to offer a high degree of connectivity and competitive shipping rates to an extensive range of players across the logistics supply chain.
• Strong linkages and a high degree of complementarity between the port and the IMC mean that the port is the driving force behind Singapore’s vibrant maritime sector and economy at large—it anchors shipping lines in Singapore.

Singapore’s value proposition is that of a “catch-up port” that offers shorter transit times and enables vessels to make up for delays upstream. To this end, Singapore has continually invested in technology and innovation to extract productivity gains and enhance our competitiveness. Connectivity is a measure of the frequency and range of feeder and deep-sea connections. Connectivity is key for shippers, and Singapore offers a high level of connectivity as the primary transhipment hub in the region. We are able to handle increasingly fragmented and dispersed connections across shipping lines and feeders.

Beyond our natural attributes, Singapore’s development into a global hub port within our first 50 years of nationhood is no accident. The unparalleled scale and connectivity that we have assiduously cultivated, underpinned by solid operational capabilities, have enabled us to deliver compelling value to shipping lines. Productivity improvements in port operations are Price Bitcoin Cash also critical to meet demandside requirements (e.g., catering to mega vessels) and address Singapore’s perennial supply-side constraints (i.e., land and labour scarcity). Notably, large-scale deployment of AGVs as well as automated yard and quay cranes at Tuas Terminal, all of which would be remotely operated from a control centre, will improve port productivity.

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Scale, and the availability of space to grow the port, are essential for retaining Singapore’s edge in connectivity and network strength. Shipping lines prefer partnering with ports that can accommodate their long-term growth plans. Adequate port capacity and operational capability to keep pace with shipping lines’ demands provide certainty and distinguish Singapore’s port. Together with Singapore’s competitive advantage in connectivity, assurance of capacity goes a long way in helping PSA to ink new joint ventures1 with leading shipping lines and secure long-term commitments in Singapore. Digital developments are poised to transform the entire global maritime industry, including the port. PSA invests in technology as a multiplier of capacity, to boost productivity and improve port operations.

In addition, the certainty of increased capacity at Tuas provides assurance to shipping lines and alliances that Singapore can accommodate their growth over the long term. Our leading position as an International Maritime Centre is built upon our status as a top transhipment hub. Strong linkages and a high degree of complementarity between the port and the IMC mean that the port is the driving force behind Singapore’s vibrant maritime sector and economy at large—it anchors shipping lines in Singapore.