By Zablon Oyugi
African Agriculture Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq:AAGR), a global food security company operating a commercial-scale alfalfa farm, has provided an operational update following its recent merger to become a publicly listed company.
Alan Kessler, Chairman and CEO of African Agriculture, commented, “We intend to accelerate our operational activities following our recent merger and listing on Nasdaq, resulting in African Agriculture becoming the first pure-play African agricultural company listed in the U.S.”
Previously, said Kessler, the company began alfalfa production on approximately 300 hectares out of a total of 25,000 hectares of dedicated farmland secured in Senegal.
“We recently placed orders for additional seeds and crop irrigation equipment, which we believe will allow us to expand land utilization by more than three-fold to approximately 1,000 hectares and significantly enhance production in 2024.”
Expanding alfalfa production in Senegal
African Agriculture initially secured 25,000 hectares of farmland, or approximately 62,000 acres, in Senegal, one of the most stable countries in Africa.
Consequently, considerable effort has been expended on preparing the land for commercial operations, including ensuring the integrity of the water channels and other water assets, as well as conducting soil analysis and feasibility studies.
“We then began preparing the soil, land, pivots, irrigation, and infrastructure to begin our alfalfa program, which was successfully launched in early 2022 across 750 acres. As a result, we believe we have developed a highly efficient and scalable operation, poised to capture a meaningful share of the global alfalfa market, as we increase production on our existing farmland over the next 2-3 years,” said Kessler.
“In addition, we look forward to extending our operations into other agricultural goods, as well as expanding our geographic footprint on the African continent. Most importantly, we are committed to supporting the local community through sustainable land development, employment, health programs, infrastructure development, educational support, and much more.”
Africa as the new world’s breadbasket
Importantly, said the chairman, according to World Bank data approximately 60% of the world’s remaining arable land is located in Africa, and the company believes Africa is poised to become the new breadbasket of the world.
“Our mission is to help unlock Africa’s potential through investments in infrastructure, irrigation and new technologies,” he said.
“Looking ahead, our strategy not only involves increasing alfalfa production on our 25,000 hectares of fertile farmland, but also broadening our product offering and expanding our geographic footprint. We could not be more excited about the outlook for the business and look forward to empowering local communities, through sustainable impact investments, to help address the global need for food security.”
Sustainable farming for food security and income generation
In terms of responsibility, as a primary farming company dedicated to food security and precision agriculture on the African continent, Kessler says, “We intend to grow with sustainable water, power, and inputs, creating jobs and development, alongside our communities, while maintaining the highest governance principles, as a private sector company focused on shareholder value.”
Also, in terms of opportunity, Africa is home to 8 of the world’s top 10 fastest growing cities, with the population of the continent expected to jump to 2.5 billion people by 2050, he added.
Global alfalfa hay market
African Agriculture is set to capitalize on growing global demand for alfalfa and other key agricultural goods that can be cost effectively produced in Africa.
According to MarketWatch, the global alfalfa hay market alone was valued at USD $30 billion in 2022 and African Agriculture brings an exceptional management team with over 200 years of experience on the African continent, in all spheres of agronomy, financing, management, auditing and systems management, farming management, farming operations, agriculture, aquaculture, commercial operations, export and diplomacy, making the team well suited to execute on the firm’s combined vision of establishing the company as a leading player in the African and global agricultural markets.
