With unemployment rising, food prices volatile and farmers squeezed by soaring input costs, the Eden Moringa Group has introduced EDNI Limited, an agriculture-centred platform it says can help stabilise rural incomes while improving access to affordable food, health and farm inputs.
Rather than positioning EDNI as another empowerment scheme, the promoters framed it as a response to a structural problem in Nigeria’s economy: the disconnect between agriculture, health and income generation in rural communities.
At the unveiling in Abuja on Sunday, the founder of the group, Dr. Michael Ashimashiga Akologa, said the country’s economic strain is being felt most acutely by farmers, who face rising fertiliser prices, limited market access and declining purchasing power.
“Many farmers are producing under extremely difficult conditions,” Akologa said. “They are expected to feed the nation, yet they are the least supported. EDNI is meant to change that balance by linking production directly to income.”
Unlike short-lived marketing platforms that rely solely on recruitment, EDNI is anchored on the Eden Moringa Group’s existing farms and processing facilities, which span more than 500 hectares of moringa cultivation across several states.
Moringa, a hardy crop with high nutritional value, was chosen for its dual role as both a food and health resource, as well as a raw material for organic fertilisers and pharmaceutical products.
The platform connects farmers, processors and grassroots marketers, allowing participants to earn from product sales while strengthening local value chains. Products include moringa-based fertilisers, health supplements and household consumables designed to meet everyday needs.
A defining feature of the model is affordability. Entry into the platform costs ₦28,000, a threshold the organisers say reflects the financial reality of rural households and informal workers.
“You cannot talk about empowerment if the starting point is beyond people’s reach,” Akologa said.
The initiative also intersects with Nigeria’s broader agricultural challenge: fertiliser affordability. According to EDNI director and agricultural lead, Dr. Shuaib Ademu, the rising cost of synthetic fertilisers has pushed many farmers to the edge, forcing them to reduce acreage or abandon farming altogether.
“A bag of fertiliser now costs what many farmers earn in weeks,” Ademu said. “Organic alternatives are no longer optional; they are essential for survival.”
He said moringa-based organic fertilisers not only reduce costs but also improve soil quality and water retention, helping farmers maintain yields while protecting long-term productivity.
Ademu added that global markets are increasingly rejecting produce grown with heavy chemical inputs, making organic farming a commercial necessity rather than a niche preference.
“When exporters ask about fertiliser sources, it is about safety, sustainability and price,” he said. “Farmers who cannot answer those questions are locked out of premium markets.”
Beyond farming, EDNI’s promoters argue that linking agriculture to health products addresses another pressure point in household spending: healthcare costs. By integrating nutrition and preventive health into agricultural value chains, they say families can reduce long-term health risks while generating income.
As EDNI rolls out nationwide, the group plans to expand farmer cooperatives, onboard smallholders and scale processing capacity, betting that agriculture—if properly linked to markets and health—can absorb labour and slow rural poverty.
Whether the model succeeds will depend on execution, market discipline and farmer uptake. But at a time when many Nigerians are searching for work, cheaper food and sustainable livelihoods, EDNI enters the space with a simple proposition: make agriculture pay again.