5 ways to spot agricultural investment scams in Nigeria
The agricultural sector has an influx of individuals with fraudulent schemes. Such fraudsters prey on genuine investors seeking to invest in the sector.
Below are ways of identifying agricultural investment scams in Nigeria;
1) Find out the location of the farm and pay a visit
When investing in any agricultural platform, it’s important to know the physical location of the farm, pay a visit to the farm or company as written on the website.
Based on experience, some fraudulent agricultural platforms use location addresses that don’t exist. Inquiring and visiting their stated locations will do you much good and identify scams.
2) Verify accreditations and partnerships claims
Conduct an accreditations exercise with the Corporate Affairs Commission. Every genuine business should be duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission including accreditations from the Security & Exchange Commission and NAFDAC which is a plus. You can verify partnerships with extension service providers (agencies that provide advice and information to improve production), suppliers for raw materials, and off-takers (people who buy off harvests or farm produce). If any or all of these are missing, you should abandon it.
3) Unrealistic Return On Investment (ROI)
When an agricultural investment platform offers unrealistic and outrageous rates with the intention to lure clients into investing in their platform, it is important to inquire about this outrageous ROI and how it is calculated. Is it paid per product cycle or per annum?
The easiest thing to do is after receiving an unrealistic ROI, consult the services of an investment professional before proceeding.
4) Verify if the platform is insured
Some agricultural produce are perishable and the farming process could experience unavoidable challenges due to pest invasion, weather and other conditions.
It’s necessary to ensure the platform is insured, understand the insurance scheme and contact the insurance provider to get more information like; Does the insurance cover equipment, farm produce, livestock and any other things?
5) Credibility of the Team
A platform is managed and handled by an individual or by a team. It’s important to conduct a background check on the team and directors of the company to determine their credibility. If you don’t see anything about the platform’s team, that’s a wrong route you need to end immediately.