City business boss is sowing the seeds for success in Nigeria
poverty by creating and teaching sustainable greenhouse and open field farming processes.
Utilising affordable greenhouse farming methodology, the firm has already started producing crops in all seasons to maximise output, instead of the traditional farming methods in the country which were limited to certain seasons.
Lessaid:“Ourmottois‘creating a self sufficient Africa’.
"Nigeria, has some of the most fertile lands in the world for farming, however, it imports the vast majority of its staple foods such as rice and vegetables, which can easily be grown in Nigeria.
"It also has the manpower – Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa.
“My philosophy in business has always been to make a positive impact in our local community and it’s something I’ve always practised with my UK Sunderlandbased businesses: we must look out for people in the community, support and give back in one way or another.
"With FarmAfrik I’m proud to say as a social enterprise training, creating and retaining jobs in a sustainable manner, we will be supporting and giving back to multiple communities across multiple states within Nigeria and soon multiple countries across Africa.”
Although Nigeria is more known on the world stage for its oil and gas production, Les says its farming potential is grossly underrated.
"Nigeria’s biggest and most underrated blessing is its arable land,” he explained.
"Farming is the way forward, we should supply the world with food, as much as we do oil and gas.”
The Nigerian Federal Government has also recognised the importance of sustainable farming and has recently earmarked seven billion US dollars to assist in the revolutionisation of the Nigerian farming system.
FarmAfrik CEO and cofounder, Ali Yagan, said: “We are very proud of what we have achieved to date.
"However, in a nation of well over 200 million people, we have barely scratched the surface of the issue of food security in Nigeria.”