The month of June is coming to an end, but just before it does, Nairametrics is bringing you Agritech deals you should consider investing in. Ordinarily, this is not the best time for AgriTech investments, as the rains have started and most farmers are done planting.

However, there are still some late planting to be done, so this means there are some late deals you can take advantage of. From the details of these deals, you will discover those meant for funds you intend to keep long-term and those for the short-term.

These options were picked from firms known to insure their farms and farm produce. There are some AgriTech firms that should also be in this list, but this list only captured those which had deals open for sponsors and investors as at the time of writing.

Thrive Agric is quite popular in the Agritech space but as at the time of writing it, there was no farm deal open for sponsorship.

Wealth.ng also has a couple of agricultural investment options, but they have been completely subscribed by the start of June. Only real estate investments and stock options are open.

READ MORE: The Different Dimensions of Investing in Agro-Tech

Farmcrowdy usually offers a variety of investment options, from maize farms to rice, potatoes, fish, cassava, poultry, cattle, but most of these options have been sold out and closed, after full subscription. Its farms located in Kaduna, Oyo, Ogun, Niger and Lagos states are all insured by Leadway Assurance.

Only one option is still available from Farmcrowdy as at the time of writing.

The Farmcrowdy food gives 10% Return on Investment (ROI) per annum with the minimum holding period of 7 months. The minimum investment is N20,000 being for the sponsorship of one farming unit.

At this rate, an investment of N100,000 would yield another N10,000 by the end of 7 months.

This investment funds covers the cost of production of several farm produce like potatoes, vegetables, and staple foods, and the farms are located in Lagos state.

Another deal you could consider is the Fish farm investment with Groupfarma. This investment gives 27% ROI. A unit of the fish farm investment can be sponsored at N52,000, and the Oyo based farm runs a nine-month farming cycle. The farm is insured with the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC).

Farmkart also offers a fish farm option but with different terms. You need N100,000 to purchase a unit of this option, with 15% ROI over a period of a 6-month farm cycle. The investment funds cover the farm inputs, the pond rents, organic supplements, payment for the farm workers, insurance and the farm is located in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun state.

With the Groupfarma option, every N100,000 invested in the fish farm will yield N27,000 at the end of the 9-month cycle, while the same investment with Farmkart will give you a yield of N15,000 in 6 months.

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The choice of investment here would be determined by how long you want the funds to be held.

The Federal Government had complained of the millions spent on importation of fish into the country. Worse still, Nigeria has been tagged the largest importer of fish and fishery products in Africa and the world’s fourth largest in volume terms (5.4% of global imports) after China, Japan and the US.

What these figures tell you is that any investment towards improving the aquaculture industry and fish production, has a profitable value chain. So, you might want to consider it among your options.

Payfarmer also offers a Catfish Farms investment where investors can sponsor a unit with N50,000 and expect 20% ROI after the farm cycle of 7 months. This means that N100,000 investment will grow to become N120,000 in 7 months.  The farm is located in Epe, Lagos state.

Payfarmer has a couple other investment options still open as well.

The Payfarmer Pepper Farm investments opens at a unit entry of N25,000 investments and you get 12% returns with a minimum holding duration of 5 months. An investment of N100,000 here would give you additional N12,000, and if you are looking for an investment that frees up your funds just before the yuletide, then this would be a good option to consider. The pepper farm is located in Epe, Lagos.

Payfarmer also has several Pig farm options. The first requires a minimum investment of N5 million naira for a unit and gives you 34% returns with a minimum holding period of 10 months. This means one-unit investment here will yield of N1.7 million at the end of 10 months.

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There is also another Pig farm option which allows an entry investment of N250,000 for a unit, giving you 28% ROI in 10 months. Every N1 million invested in this farm will earn a profit of N280,000 at the end of the cycle.

The third Pig farm option has a unit investment of N500,000 with a 30% return and a 10 months farm cycle. An investment of N1 million here earns N300,000 at the end of 10 months.

The fourth Pig Farm option allows a minimum of N1 million for a unit and gives you 32% returns in 10 months.

All of these pig farms are located in Epe Lagos. Again, it comes down to the investor’s choice and availability of funds.

Farmfunded is another popular name in the space and even though most of its plans are sold out, there is one still open.

The integrated rice mill financing offers impressive returns but, it is strictly for investors who have funds to hold in the long-term. Because the company is trying to increase rice production capacity in Nigeria all investments have to be held for a minimum period of 24 months at the end of which the investors get 80% returns.

To make things easier, the investor may or may not cash out his 10% returns every quarter (3 months) but will not have access to the capital until after 24 months. This ensures that the farms have a stable capital base to grow and expand over the next 2 years. The thousands of acres of land to be used for these are located in Kano State Nigeria.

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If you have N100,000 to purchase a unit, and you decide to wait till the end of the 24 months period, you would be receiving a profit of N80,000 and a total of N180,000.  The profit is not compound, so even if you don’t take your profit, it does not form a part of your investment.

The farm is located in Kano state and allows investors to provide funds which will be committed into the procurement of milling machine, and processing of paddy rice to premium parboiled rice. Considering the gap between local production and actual demand for rice, this looks like a solid investment plan.

The company has also sought to protect its base by ensuring that investors may cash out their profits, but not the base investment, so that it can be ploughed in again for the next cycle.

Note, however, that whatever your choice of investment, you should consider the holding period as against when you would need to liquidate your investments. The crux of the deals offered is to engage your idle funds and help them grow while you continue your hustle.

On SEC: Last May, The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a new set of rules that will regulate crowdfunding businesses and deepen the capital market in Nigeria. This includes AgriTech firms like those listed above. The commission plans to regulate the crowdfunding business in Nigeria in order to reduce the risks associated with it for investors and financiers.

Disclaimer: This is not an investment advice or guide as Nairametrics is not affiliated to and cannot vouch for any of the AgriTech firms listed above. Kindly do your due diligence before investing.

Let us talk this week about the Time Value of Money (TVM). This is principle everyone one, not just finance or accounting folks should know about and apply. Yes, it involves math’s

TVM simply means cash in hand today is worth more than cash tomorrow, why? Because cash in the future will come under the influence of factors like inflation which will affect its purchasing power. TVM allows the investors to compare two separate cash streams, employing quantitative methods, and select the best option.

For instance, you live in a flat in Lagos, your rent is N1,000,000 per annum, paid two years in advance. your landlord, informs you he needs cash and is willing to accept rent payment in advance for N900,000 for two years per annum if you paid now. You have two choices, pay N2m in full next year, or Pay N1.8m now. Which option will you choose?

A good way to solve this question is to ask how much in interest would an investor earn if the N2m is invested in a bank, that rate becomes our discount rate. Then compare this to the cash offer made by the landlord. So, we have our tenor of 2 years, we assume an interest payment of 5% per annum if money is put in the bank, we know our Future Sum is N2m. we want to determine how must that N2m paid in the future will be worth today.

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This we determine with a Present Value calculation. Present Value (PV) is simply the current value of a future sum of money, at a predetermined rate of return. PV in our example is calculated as

Present Value =FV (1+R) ^n

FV is Future Value or N2m

R is the Discount rate or 5%

N is a period of 2

Thus, the PV of N2m invested for 2 years at 5% is N1,814,058.96. Now compare to N1,800,000 the landlord requested, we should not accept the landlords offer because the Present Value of N2m paid in two years is worth more than the value of N1.8m paid today.

Keep in mind we have no way of knowing what the interest rate in two years will be. Thus, it’s always a good idea to have a sensitivity analysis where we can project out scenarios on interest rates, thus we can project with 6% or 4%. The higher the discount value the lower the PV of the cash flow

PV can also be used for just planning when making any comparison of cashflows. For instance, if you had a daughter aged 5 who wished to go to Harvard when she is 18, and the cost of Harvard tuition is $50,000. How much should you save as a one-time payment to a bank today, to have $50k in your bank account in 13 years?

Present Value =FV (1+R) ^n

FV is Future Value or $50

R is the Discount rate or 2%

N is the period of 13

You will have to save in bulk today $38,651. What happens is the discount rate doubles to 4%, then your bulk payment today falls to $30028.70.

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In our earlier example, we used a single lump sum and calculated the Present Value, what if the payments in future were not a lump sum but instead were spread out into the future, in a stream of equal payments called an Annuity. The principle will still be the same, but we change the formula and use the Present Value of an Annuity to calculate Present Value

You earn N500,000 a year, should you request a loan of N5,000,000 today at a 5% interest rate, or simply save N500,000 every year to get N5m and spend.

Again to answer this we have to compare 5m less 5%  in cash today to the present value of an N500,000 paid every month. Again, our equation

PV is Future Value or N500,000

PMT is each stream of payment of N500,000

R is the Discount rate or 5%

N is the period of 10

The PV is N386,000. This means you are better off borrowing N475,000 today (500K less 5% interest cost), as it has a higher value than N386,000.

Today, you can calculate PV on your phone, simply plug in the numbers. You don’t have to be a math’s guru, however, you must understand the working of TVM and its application in taking business decisions.

Michael Phelps won 22 Olympic medals (18 gold), how did he do it? Well, he trained and trained and trained, then he ate and ate and ate every day. He was also blessed with natural attributes i.e., he was tall.

So, wait, if I am tall and eat, and train, I can also win 18 gold medals? No! but stay with me.

Warren Buffet likes to invest. He reads research reports, likes numbers and is always looking a discount deal on great stocks. Ok. So, if I am good with numbers, research buy great stocks I will become as rich as Warren Buffet? Well, maybe not as rich but you will earn more from your investments. The distinctiveness among Phelps, Bolt, Buffet, Musk, Dangote, and Ovia, is not what they do, but how they do it and how often they do it.

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Let’s look at an Olympic swimmer like Michael Phelps. When Michael was eight, he wrote out his goals; he wrote, “I would like to make the Olympics,” then listed his time goals for the various races i.e. breaststroke, freestyle etc. At the age of eight, this future Olympian had visualized his goals, written them down, and put a date for accomplishing them.

When seeking to create a financial plan, it is impossible to achieve success without visualizing out a goal on paper. Imagine creating an investment plan without any idea of a retirement date or income or rates of return. It’s impossible without a clear road map to determine how much to save and invest for five years. During his teenage years, he trained “every single day, 365 days a year, Sundays, Christmas and Thanksgiving days included… and twice on his birthdays,” says his coach, Bob Bowman.

If an investor saved N1.00 every day for 5 years at 0%, that saver would have N1,826.00 What if those savings increased to N5.00 and were invested at just 5% annually? Then the savings pot will become N10,373.04. Yes, inflation will erode the value after 5 years, but applying a 13% inflation rate, the saver still has a real saving of N5,170.14.

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So, the second lesson we take from Olympic champions is to start early, save, and then invest constantly. Micheal Phelps is a swimmer, a sport for endurance and speed. What do endurance athletes like swimmers and marathon runners eat? Food rich in carbohydrates; they need the carbs to fuel the massive amount of energy they expend during their sports. Phelps, for instance, for breakfast eats as many as 12,000 calories prior to his races. His breakfast consists of “three fried-egg sandwiches, three chocolate chip pancakes, a five-egg omelette, three sugar-coated slices of French toast, and a bowl of grits.”

What does a sprinter like Bolt eat? Not calories but lean protein, eggs, meat, fish, dairy. Protein allows muscles to recover and develop after sprinting, which causes minute damages to muscle fibres that can be easily converted to energy. So, two different Olympic champions, each multiple gold medal winners, but because of their different sports, they eat very differently to achieve a different objective.

Similarly, in investing, each investor is different, bond investors have instruments that have 30-year durations as opposed to stock traders who may be looking to buy and flip a stock in hours. What is key is to invest according to a stated objective and risk profile.

Where the investor has a longer endurance factor to risk, meaning the investor can accommodate volatility in his earning, that investor will be comfortable investing on equities. Equities are higher-risk investments and can lose all invested capital but can also gain 100%.

However, where the investor has a lower risk endurance, then the investor will fill his plate with lean risk asset classes like sovereign bonds which offer lower volatility to stock and deliver a fixed return, but suffer if interest rates rise.

Thus, our third lesson from the Olympians, the food each investor eats, is a function of his individual sport. Where the investors have lower risk, his asset allocation diet is different. Each investor must tailor his asset allocation to his objectives and investment goals.