A Cooperative Owned By The Farmers Who Grow It
VersCoop unites smallholder tomato and pepper farmers across Osun State and South-West Nigeria into one farmer-owned cooperative society — with guaranteed market access, a real share of the surplus, and a vote in how it's run.
Farming Well Shouldn't Mean Earning Little
Across Osun State and South-West Nigeria, smallholder tomato and pepper farmers grow crops that feed cities — yet capture only a fraction of what those crops are worth. Fragmented markets, unreliable buyers, and post-harvest losses that run as high as 45–50% regionally quietly erode income long before it reaches the farm gate.
VersCoop exists to change that — not by inserting another middleman, but by giving farmers collective ownership of the infrastructure and relationships built to serve them. Members pool their harvest, their bargaining power, and their voice into one organisation: shared collection points, shared cold storage, and shared market access that no single smallholder could build alone. As a cooperative society, VersCoop is owned and governed entirely by its farmer-members.
"To organize smallholder tomato and pepper farmers into a self-governing, professionally managed cooperative that captures more value at the farm gate — and returns it to members."
Tomatoes
Peppers
Farmer Ownership
Every member holds an equal vote, regardless of farm size.
Transparency
Open books and clear, regular reporting to every member.
Shared Prosperity
Surplus is returned to members, not extracted by outside shareholders.
Professional Management
Experienced operators handle logistics, so farmers can focus on farming.
What You Get As a Member
Six concrete things membership means for a founding farmer — not vague promises, but the actual mechanics of the cooperative.
Guaranteed Buyer
Your produce has a confirmed destination. VersCoop collects directly from your farm gate and connects it with verified buyers — no more waiting on middlemen.
Cold Storage Access
Solar-powered cold rooms hold your tomatoes and peppers fresh for up to 21 days — you choose when to sell, not when spoilage forces you.
Better Pricing
Graded, packaged, and cold-stored produce commands 30–50% more than typical open-market farm-gate prices.
Farmer Field School Training
Hands-on agronomy and post-harvest training delivered through VersGrow, using the proven Farmer Field School method.
Annual Profit Share & a Real Vote
60% of surplus is paid back to members every year. One member, one vote — leadership answers to members, not outside investors.
Works On Any Phone
VersTrace, our digital record-keeping tool, runs over 2G and plain SMS — no smartphone, no data plan, and no farmer left out.
Farmer-Owned. Farmer-Run.
VersCoop is owned and governed entirely by its farmer-members. Founding members elect a governing Board from among themselves at the first General Assembly. The Board sets direction and oversees a small cooperative operations team that runs the shared day-to-day work members can't easily do alone: running collection points, coordinating grading and cold storage, and negotiating with buyers on the whole cooperative's behalf.
The governing Board is yet to be elected. It will be chosen by and from founding members once the founding intake is complete, and its composition will be announced here as soon as it is confirmed.
Farmer-Members
Founding cohort of 50, growing from there
Governing Board
Chosen by and from the members — announced soon
Aggregation & Market Access
Collection points, grading, and buyer relationships run for the whole cooperative
Market Buyers
Lagos, Ibadan, Osogbo and beyond
Every Naira of Surplus Has a Job to Do
Built and Run by the Cooperative, for Its Members
Alongside guaranteed market access, VersCoop runs two member programmes that tackle the two other things holding smallholders back: a lack of training, and a lack of any record of their own work.
Training Programme
VersGrow
The problem
Most tomato and pepper farmers in Osun State have never received formal training in good agronomic practice, pest control, harvest timing, or quality grading. Knowledge that could cut losses and unlock better prices rarely reaches the farmers who need it most — leaving good farmers unable to meet the standard a serious buyer expects.
What VersGrow does
Hands-on Farmer Field School training in good agricultural practice, post-harvest handling, pest management, and packaging — delivered in Yoruba and English by qualified agronomists, farmer to farmer, season after season.
Digital Platform
VersTrace
The problem
Without any record of what was planted, how it was grown, or where it went, a member has no way to prove their produce meets a buyer's standard, and no track record to show a lender. Good work goes unrecognised simply because nothing was ever written down.
What VersTrace does
A simple digital record of every member's production, inputs, and deliveries — built to work over 2G and plain SMS, so no farmer is left out for lack of a smartphone or data plan.
Built Step by Step
The idea takes shape
A direct-to-buyer harvest in Osun State proves the case: farmers with a confirmed destination for their produce lose almost nothing to spoilage. The plan for a farmer-owned cooperative begins to take shape.
VersCoop opens founding membership
Cooperative registration begins under Osun State cooperative law, alongside recruitment of 50 founding farmer-members and the launch of VersGrow and VersTrace.
Growing the cooperative
Expanding membership and shared infrastructure, with a stronger farm-gate price for every member along the way.
Farmer-members envisioned within five years
Annual volume target at scale
Jobs created across the programme
Who Runs VersCoop
VersCoop's governing Board is elected by and from its founding members. Until the founding intake is complete and that election is held, a cooperative Coordinator is building the systems, membership, and relationships the Board and members will step into.
Francis Olaleke
VersCoop
Governing Board
To be elected — chosen by and from founding members once the founding intake is complete. Announced here as soon as it is confirmed.