SABEX de-risks agriculture, prepares farmers for commercial lending
- According to Abubakar, SABEX is an enabler that guarantees the average farmer improved access to finance for agricultural activities, movement of harvested crops to a storage facility without much loss, and the ability to sell and earn immediate value.
SABEX, the world’s first end-to-end blockchain commodities trading and financing platform, was formally unveiled to policy makers, agriculture value chain players, investors, international financiers and development agencies at the 2019 edition of Agriculture Summit Africa, organised by Sterling Bank Plc, at the weekend in Abuja.
Powered by Sterling bank, Binkabi and AFEX Commodities Exchange, the digital commodities trading platform, provides real time credit finance for farmers, secure storage and a ready market for both farmers and buyers to transact thereby reducing post-harvest wastage of farm produce across the country. It is the future of agriculture.
Unveiling SABEX, Abubakar Suleiman, its Chief Executive Officer, said the bank’s partnership with AFEX and Binkabi has created a viable and efficient agricultural blockchain commodities marketplace which will tackle challenges that include post-harvest loss, inadequate finance and poor market linkage, among other challenges facing farmers. SABEX will further de-risk the agriculture sector making farmers more qualified for commercial lending.
According to Abubakar, SABEX is an enabler that guarantees the average farmer improved access to finance for agricultural activities, movement of harvested crops to a storage facility without much loss, and the ability to sell and earn immediate value. The platform will decentralise commodities trading, and reduce inter-mediation in trade, while distributing profit more widely across the value chain.
Quan Le, CEO, Binkabi, noted that the vision was to ensure that the commodities trading network becomes fairer and more profitable through collaborative efforts which leverage blockchain technology. “We understand that if financial markets can fail ordinary people in the developed world then the agricultural markets are failing ordinary farmers in the developing world. The only difference is that these farmers don’t have a voice – it is a silent crisis.
