Africa reaping benefit of harvesting new cash cow
Pioneering app enables eager investors to buy stake in cattle via a mobile phone
CATTLE have long been considered a measure of wealth across Africa but it is not just farmers cashing in.
A pioneering app in South Africa allows investors, eager to benefit from rising global beef demand, to buy shares in a cow via their mobile phone for as little as $41 (R580).
Self-styled “crowd-farming” company Livestock Wealth connects investors with small-scale farmers via its MyFarmbook app, where they can buy their own cow and receive interest rates of between 5 percent and 14 percent depending on where they put their money.
Launched in 2015 with 26 cows, the project now includes more than 2 000 cows and has taken in R50 million, with 10 percent of investors coming from outside South Africa.
Groups of investors can buy a whole cow, while individuals can purchase shares in a pregnant cow or young calf.
A pregnant cow costs R18 730 and takes 12 months before the newborn calf can be sold for a return, while investing in a calf costs R11 529 and takes six months for it to grow enough to be sold.
“We can link small-scale farmers to big markets by introducing private capital into the growing phase,” said Livestock Wealth founder and chief executive Ntuthuko Shezi, 38, who was inspired by his grandparents’ farming success.
“The household bank account was a crop,” added Shezi of his family experience, standing among a herd of cattle at a partner farm in Vryheid in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Livestock contributes about 51 percent to the agricultural economy in South Africa, with global sheep and beef prices rising after droughts in major producing areas.
“Many people live in urban areas and they have interests in participating in farming but they cannot physically be there and this offers them a platform to do that,” said Wandile Sihlobo, economist with South African agribusiness association Agbiz.
Small business consultant Nontokozo Sabela, 34, was once interested in farming but found the app a better alternative.
She bought her first cow in 2016 and earned about R6 000 from it. “This way it’s easier for me, it’s cheaper and it’s convenient,” said Sabela.
As with any investment, however, risks exist. The impact of weather on feed costs and fluctuations in global demand for beef can affect an investment.
Shezi is hoping to expand his business into the produce market after launching a vegetable growing system this month.
People in urban areas have interests in farming but cannot… be there Wandile Sihlobo ECONOMIST