ARAROMI EKITI, EKITI STATE — 1 May 2026
The red earth of Araromi Ekiti has known cocoa for generations. On Thursday the first of May, 2026, it witnessed something new: the formal launch of the Araromi Ekiti chapter of iTONA AFRICA — the Integrated Trade and Organised Network for Agriculture — marking the first chapter of a cooperative digital infrastructure programme designed to give smallholder farmers across Nigeria a verified identity that markets, banks, and grant institutions can trust.
Four people attended the ceremony. There was no bunting, no politician on a podium. There was a set of documents, a smartphone, and the quiet resolve of people who have spent too long watching their crops go undervalued and their labour go unacknowledged.
What is iTONA AFRICA?
iTONA AFRICA is a community-owned agricultural platform that gives every smallholder farmer a verified digital identity. When a farmer joins iTONA, a trained Field Coordinator visits them at their actual farm — GPS coordinates are captured, consent is recorded in their own language, and their crops, land, and harvest history are documented.
That enrollment packet then goes before the ICN Seal Council — three trusted members of the farmer's own community — who review and approve it. Only when two of the three Council members vote in favour does the farmer receive the Oba-Sealed status: a community-endorsed, GPS-anchored, platform-verified digital identity.
Once sealed, a farmer gains access to:
- AgroMarket — a direct farmer-to-buyer marketplace, without middlemen
- AgroShield — community-pooled crop insurance against floods, drought, and disaster
- iTONA Storage Nodes — community storage to hold harvests and sell when prices recover
The Founding Seal Council
Three community leaders were appointed to the inaugural ICN Seal Council of Araromi Ekiti (Chapter ICN-EK-001) on May 1st:
- Mr. Akinboye Aina — Chairperson
- Mr. Kole Ajayi — Secretary
- Mrs. Funmilola Ajayi — Treasurer
Each signed a Governance Charter and individual Appointment Letters. Each is also enrolled as a farmer on the platform — they are not officials overseeing a programme that does not affect them. They are participants whose own livelihoods are subject to the same system they govern.
"They are not officials appointed from above. They are community members who now hold the authority to verify, to seal, and to govern — for their own people." — Francis Oluwarotimi Osayomi, Programme Lead
The First Field Coordinator
Mr. Tope Adegbenro became the first certified iTONA Field Coordinator on May 1, 2026. In the iTONA model, the Coordinator is what the programme calls a Human Witness — the physical presence that connects the digital platform to the living reality of a farm.
Every enrollment must be conducted in person. Every farm visit must be GPS-confirmed within 100 metres of the registered plot. Every consent recording must capture the farmer's voice in their own language. The system checks all of this automatically.
Adegbenro earns ₦500 per GPS-confirmed, verified farm visit, plus a monthly honorarium of ₦15,000 when enrollment targets are met. His first verified enrollment was submitted and confirmed the same afternoon as his certification.
The Founding Farmers
Four platform members were enrolled on May 1st — the three Seal Council members and Francis Oluwarotimi Osayomi, CANWYF's Programme Lead and a cocoa farmer from Araromi Ekiti, whose farm (ICN-EK-001-0001) is the founding farm of the programme.
"I know what it means to grow something real and have no way to prove it. That is what we are ending — not just for my farm, but for every farm in every community that has been overlooked." — Francis Oluwarotimi Osayomi
What Comes Next
Araromi Ekiti is Chapter ICN-EK-001 — the first, not the only. The programme is designed to expand across all sixteen local government areas of Ekiti State, with each community establishing its own Seal Council, appointing its own coordinator, and operating as an autonomous chapter within the iTONA Cooperative Network.
The grant suite — seven funder-ready applications across agricultural development, women and youth empowerment, digital inclusion, climate resilience, food security, rural finance, and civic technology — is available for review at canwyf.org.
For partnership and funder enquiries: info@canwyf.org
iTONA AFRICA is operated by CANWYF (CAC Incorporated Trustee) and developed by Green Francis Limited. Platform: app.canwyf.org