There is an emerging trend within the Nigerian Agricultural sector and that is the Online Delivery Service (ODS). Nigerians are no longer restricted to walk to the market or travel to neighboring states to buy bulk produce. Online purchase and ordering is now the new "shopping".

The emergence of the online delivery services could be attributed to the changing nature of Nigerian consumers faced with harsh threats like covid-19, the hot and burning sun, the usually heavy Nigerian rain and the terrific and unrelenting traffic jams in most of our urban cities. Also, don't leave out the good old laziness syndrome that most of us feel on the morning after a good Friday night out with the boys/girls. Some people call it “a hangover”.

Again, imagine yourself watching the just concluded Chelsea v Real Madrid match and you suddenly feel the pangs of hunger biting down during the game. Do you want to step out into the hot sun and risk the heavy traffic to go out and buy food stuff from the market during half time or you prefer the items coming to you where you are while you continue with your match? Would you rather cross state lines in light of the prevailing security challenges or would you rather just have it delivered to your door step? Well the answer to that question is easy for me. I will rather pay the extra delivery charge and have my items delivered to me from wherever within the country.

Mobile applications (Apps) like NUBIAN GEM (www.nubiangem.com) which you can download from Play/App store can offer you hundreds of farmers in various cities like Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt with practically all the variety of agricultural produce you are looking for. Whether it is Potatoes from Jos, Perewinkle from the South or Yam from Benue, you can order them from your home or office to be delivered directly to you. Whether you are shopping for yourself or family, neighbor or even a distant friend in another location, the choice is yours and it is just a click away.

For Foodies like me that like to dabble a little here and there, Apps like NUBIAN GEM are a dream come true as you can practically get fresh from the farm produce to cook a new meal every day for months.

The effect of this evolving trend for rural farmers cannot be overemphasized. Clearly, the number of individuals visiting markets will reduce drastically. It's been calculated that up to 50% of buyers now prefer to order their food stuff via ODS. According to Statista.com, users in the online delivery segment (Food) are expected to be around 13 million users by 2024.

Farmers can respond by either building their own online applications just like FRESHLY and other market vendors or find alternative means. The cost of building an online market is the first thing to consider but even that cost and aggravation is nowhere near the cost and aggravation of marketing the online shop or mobile app successfully.

So why don't you take the other option of putting your products on someone else's application, let them deal with all the cost of building and marketing their app and you just put your products on their app and sell. With most of these Apps, if you sell nothing, you pay nothing plus NUBIAN GEM is completely free. So as far as your produce are concerned, if you don't sell anything you still take advantage of the free marketing and exposure that such an app gives you.

On Apps like NUBIANGEM mentioned earlier (www.nubiangem.com) you can do more than order agricultural produce for yourself. You can send food to a friend's house or even surprise a loved one in their house, school or office with a package. On NUBIANGEM, you can donate to charity or just hail a bike to pick up a parcel somewhere and deliver elsewhere.

Well these and many more are the benefits and comforts that technology brings to us. It's up to us in Nigeria to use the emerging technologies and trends to make life easier for ourselves, our businesses and our communities. Take the opportunity today and save yourself the stress on your next shopping. Click here to download the app