Many aggrieved subscribers who spoke to Pulse said Thrive Agrive has now shifted payouts by a further 12 months. 

One of the aggrieved subscribers Tega Edwin-Ajogun said she was abruptly notified of the situation after several months of reassurance from Charles Isidi who is the growth lead at Thrive Agric. 

In some screenshot from chat made available to Pulse, Edwin-Ajogun was in June 2020 reassured that she would receive her payout when her investment matures in October. 

To her surprise, she received a mail in late September from Thrive Agric, telling her that her payout will be postponed by a further 12 months. 

Thrive Agric said the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions of movement in Nigeria and neighboring countries 'greatly hampered business operations' that generate the returns on farm subscription.

The company also claimed that it stopped taking subscriptions as soon as the restrictions were out in place.

Other affected investors who spoke to Pulse reveal that they received the mail after they had complained of not getting any news of their subscription which had matured or nearing maturity.

Many of the aggrieved subscribers took to social media to state their disappointment at the situation, forcing Thrive Agric to release a statement. 

In its statement, Thrive Agric blamed the COVID-19 pandemic on its inability to meet payout commitments. 

“By now, you may be aware that payouts for some farm subscriptions are delayed. This is an unfortunate outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequent restrictions on physical access to farms and farming markets,” part of the statement signed by the founders Uka Eje and Ayo Arikawe read. 

“Like many other businesses, we were not fully prepared for the impact, and despite the intent upon which this company has been run for the last 3 years, our subscribers now bear the brunt of these challenges with us.” 

“Thrive Agric's primary revenue source is based on a successful harvest (inclusive of crops and poultry),” it also said. 

“Therefore, any revenue coming into the business is synchronized with the success of the operation as well as the timing of sales.

“When a planting season or harvest is lost, like we did this year, we can only hope to earn such lost revenues from subsequent harvests.” 

“We expect to payout before the committed due date, but in the past, we have been aggressive in our expectations and not met them,” the company also said in the statement. 

“We do not want to continue to disappoint our customers so we have given a timeline that we can more confidently keep.”

Thrive Agric has been in operation for three years and this is the first time the company is failing to meet up with it's payout commitment.