Uche Cecil Izuora
FuelTree Limited has announced its partnership with the Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN) to widen access to clean energy for Nigeria’s agricultural communities beginning towards it 24-month target to enrol 100,000 rural and peri-urban farming households onto FuelTree’s Virtual Cylinder Recirculation Model (vCRM) through government, institutional and association collaborations. The collaboration advances Nigeria’s goals for transitioning to clean energy, addressing climate change, and developing its rural economy, which are outlined in policy documents and national actions, including the Climate Change Act, Decade of Gas, Energy Transition Plan, National Clean Cooking Policy and Nigeria’s contribution to international climate efforts (NDC).
The partnership, formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding, brings together FuelTree’s clean energy delivery and digital infrastructure with FACAN’s nationwide network of agricultural cooperatives, associations, and producers. FACAN is the highest coordinating body for all agricultural commodity associations in Nigeria and operates under the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment.
Each participating household will receive access to LPG solutions via an affordable, technology-driven model built to increase accessibility to, traceability and consistent usage of LPG by the last mile. The programme integrates smart tracking tools, digital payment systems, and embedded financing mechanisms, including Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) and micro-credit options, tailored to the realities of farming communities.
Speaking on the partnership, FuelTree Director, Dr. Bekeme Olowola noted that “access to clean energy within agricultural communities has a direct impact on productivity, health outcomes, environmental protection, and household resilience, considering that there are over 120,000 annual deaths from household air pollution alone. By embedding clean cooking solutions within existing cooperative and payroll structures, the programme is designed to move beyond one-off distribution towards durable, scalable adoption.”
Under the collaboration, public-sector actors will provide enabling policy support, FuelTree will provide the digital and operational infrastructure for risk management, usage, clean energy aggregation and climate integrity, FACAN will facilitate structured engagement across its member associations, and financial and technical partners (such as gas distributors) will participate in democratising access, and scaling viable, high-integrity implementation models over time.
The partnership demonstrates each organisation’s commitment to increasing access to energy, alleviating deforestation pressures, improving rural incomes and supporting Nigeria’s wider climate and development goals through innovative, locally rooted solutions.
Implementation will begin with selected pilot states and will be executed over a three-year term, with options to scale up and extend.