AGRA

How far are we from an inclusive agricultural transformation (IAT) in Africa and what are the major challenges?

We are seeing good progress in various countries in terms of leadership from the top, resources committed and focused approach in building input systems, extension services, markets and affordable financing using a public private partnership approach.

IAT should be seen at various levels. For farmers, it means the exit from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture in which incomes and productive assets grow. Agriculture is big business in Sub-Saharan Africa, projected to be a $1 trillion  (Sh108 trillion) industry by 2030 compared to $313 billion (Sh34 trillion) in 2010, which is why it should be at the top of the agenda for economic transformation and development.

What should our leaders do to make the continent food and nutrition secure?

First, we need to credit our leaders for recognising the critical role that agriculture can and must play in transforming their economies. Starting with 2003 declaration and commitments in Maputo, to 2014 in Malabo, Africa’s leaders have consistently sent strong messages and signals for agriculture and food security. But the numbers and results we are seeing are not optimal.

The continent is not on track to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2, 3 by 2030. More than 280 million Africans are still going to bed hungry, and these numbers are increasing because of cycles of droughts and floods and related pest damage all resulting from climate change. And now, Covid-19 has thrown very many people out of jobs and increasing numbers of the food insecure.

Another sobering fact is that the United Economic Commission for Africa recently projected $43 billion as Africa’s annual food imports. This urgently calls for a radical transformation to wean the continent from this dependence that is projected to soar to $110 billion by 2025. The ongoing food systems summit dialogues are critical for Africa to define its future food systems.

The message is simple. Leaders must take bold actions to reverse these trends. They need to set, reiterate and clearly communicate their national visions, strategies and plans and commit to more ambitious goals. Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta has set a good example by committing to the Big Four Agenda and creation of the Agriculture Growth and Transformation Strategy. Rwanda is making strong progress, its leaders have made a choice to set strong and ambitious targets and ensure that accountability is not compromised.

What lessons have we learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to food security in Africa?

As Covid-19 took a hold in African communities, many governments implemented critical measures to protect their people – tightening or closing land borders, restricting air traffic, reducing access to public services, banning civil gatherings and closing schools. Despite including agriculture as an essential service, which is commendable, the measures impacted the supply chain of the sector exposing some vulnerabilities across the value chain.

This disrupted inputs and markets access which destabilised food availability and prices across the continent. Lessons picked from these include governments need to ensure that national response plans enable farmers and agriculture SMEs access input and output markets, private sector actors should complement and coordinate with national response plans to ensure continued access to agricultural technologies and accelerate digital agriculture solutions such as extension and finance, and access to markets and development partners should mobilise collective voice, knowledge, resources, and action to efforts directed at mitigating the impact of Covid-19.

During your recent visit to rural Kenya, what agricultural lessons did you pick that other African countries should emulate?

Kenya is a champion in many fronts, and it’s always a privilege to come and learn new things here. In most countries, the extension ratio to farmers is more than 1:3,000. In my country Ethiopia, we took a public sector approach and hired more than 100,000 extension officers and did manage to reduce the ratio significantly, however, this came at heavy recurrent cost to government.

In my trip to Kiambu, I was happy to see an innovative private sector lead approach called the village based advisor (VBA) or agent model. This is a cost-effective and sustainable model as it leans on a partnership between government and private sector and builds on the trust between farmers.

I saw the various seed varieties under demonstration plots, adoption of agroforestry and other regenerative agriculture practices. I also saw women positively engaged as owners of land assets, what is critical as it drives equity and inclusion of women in acquisition of productive assets and profitable agriculture.

How will the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) unlock the continent’s agricultural potential?

There are three main pathways, although not exclusive, that the AfCFTA will impact agricultural transformation. First, through enhanced productivity in reduced cost of agriculture inputs, expanded market for agriculture outputs, and attraction of FDIs along key agriculture value chains.

Generally, the agreement is expected to lift 30 million Africans out of extreme poverty and boost the incomes of nearly 68 million others who live on less than Sh150 a day. Most of these poor are farmers, traders and largely women.

Interview conducted by Isaiah Esipisu for Nation Newspaper’s Seeds of Gold

Dar es Salaam. Former Ethiopian Prime Minister and board chair of the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) Hailemariam Dessalegn arrived in the country yesterday, Friday, July 9, 2021.

H.E. Dessalegn is expected to meet President Samia Suluhu Hassan for discussions on the government’s priorities on the food systems.

Tanzania would be the fifth country after H.E. Dessalegn’s successful visits to Malawi, Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso.

“Key to his visit is the mobilization of political leaders and the private sector’s participation in promoting agribusiness as a way of stimulating food security and increasing household income,” he said.

His visit comes at a time when Africa is prepared for the UN Food Systems Summit in September, where the world will take stock of the progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially the commitment to end hunger and poverty by 2030. 

H.E. Dessalegn will also use the opportunity to invite President Suluhu to the 11th AGRF summit slated to take place in Nairobi, Kenya between September 7 and September 10, 2021.

H.E. Dessalegn will engage AGRA staff and partners in reviewing the impact of their work in the country’s pursuit of an agricultural transformation.

To complete his four day tour of Tanzania, the H.E. Dessalegn will engage AGRA’s staff and partners in reviewing the impact of their work in the country’s pursuit of an agricultural transformation.

About AGRA

Established in 2006, AGRA is an African-led and Africa-based institution that puts smallholder farmers at the center of the continent’s growing economy by transforming agriculture from a solitary struggle to survive into farming as a business that thrives. Together with our partners, we catalyze and sustain an inclusive agricultural transformation to increase incomes and improve food security For 30 million farming households in 11 African countries by 2021.

More information: https://agra.org/; Rebecca Weaver, rweaver@agra.org

About AGRF

The AGRF is the premier forum for African agriculture, bringing together stakeholders in the agricultural landscape to take practical actions and share lessons that will move African agriculture forward. The Forum is designed to energize political will and advance the policies, programs and investments required to achieve an inclusive and sustainable agricultural transformation across the continent.

More information: https://agrf.org; Catherine Ndung’u cndungu@agra.org

In September this year, world leaders will converge at two important forums to address issues that are important for Africa’s food systems transformation. These two events are the AGRF Summit 2021 in Nairobi, Kenya, and the UN Food Systems Summit in New York.

At both gatherings, the leaders will evaluate progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 2, which pertains to the eradication of hunger by 2030. 

To draw attention to the two events, one of Africa’s distinguished leaders in agriculture, the Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia, H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn has in the past one month been on an ongoing tour that has seen him travel to four countries in East and West Africa.

Starting with Kenya, H.E. Dessalegn, who is also the Board Chair of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), travelled to Ghana, Nigeria and Burkina Faso. He will be in Tanzania later this week.  During this tour of Africa, the Board Chair has been joined by AGRA President H.E. Dr. Agnes Kalibata, with whom they are inspecting the impact of various AGRA-supported projects.

In the four countries visited so far, H.E. Dessalegn and his entourage had audience with presidents, prime ministers, ministers and other influential leaders, with whom they engaged on different topics spanning the future of Africa’s food systems. He also met with different players in agribusiness, including farmers, processors, traders and equipment manufacturers.

In Nairobi, Kenya, he underscored the importance of the private sector in agricultural transformation while meeting with H.E. President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“The private sector plays a key role in investing to support farmers access the right yield enhancing technologies, finance, markets, post-harvest technologies, irrigation, and mechanization services,” he said.

In Nigeria, President H.E. Muhammadu Buhari supported the AGRA Board Chair’s advocacy for investments that increase access to agricultural technologies by smallholder farmers.

“Mitigating the challenges of climate change and improving access of smallholder farmers to technologies will accelerate inclusive agricultural transformation,” H.E. Buhari said.

Meanwhile, in Ghana, Agriculture Minister Hon. Owusu Afriyie Akoto, described AGRA as a key partner for his government’s Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) flagship, through investments in seed development and smallholder farmer support. 

“AGRA, in my four and a half years in this job, has been the closest partner that Ghana has had in agriculture,” Hon. Akoto said.

The meeting with Hon. Akoto came after H.E. Dessalegn’s engagement with Ghana’s President H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo around the creation of a favorable policy environment for the growth of the continent’s agriculture sector.

“From my personal experience in government, I know the importance of mobilizing strong government commitment to the agricultural sector – and AGRA is at the forefront of mobilizing African leaders in prioritizing agriculture in their policymaking,” Dessalegn said.

The AGRA Board Chairman ended his tour of West Africa in Burkina Faso, where he held extended talks with H.E. President Roch Marc Christian Kabore and the Rgt. Hon. Prime Joseph-Marie Dabire on the country’s agricultural prospects. The conversations in Ouagadougou focused on the government’s plan to increase annual rice production to 1 million metric tons up from 244,000 tons, and to provide all school going children with at least one balanced meal per day.   

From Burkina Faso, H.E. Dessalegn heads out to Tanzania, where he will meet with H.E. President Samia Suluhu for dialogue on her government’s plans for food security and increased incomes for smallholder farmers.

The Fertilizer Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN), has disclosed that it has raised about N140billion cash and guarantee that would enable blenders to procure raw materials for fertilizer production for the 2021 farming season.

This was disclosed in a statement by the Executive Secretary of FEPSAN, Gideon Negedu, stating that the association has been having different challenges such as adulteration of fertilizer by some corrupt blenders.

According to him, adulteration is the biggest problem of the fertilizer industry because poor quality fertilizer shortchanges farmers and reduces crop yield which will eventually affect food security and livelihoods in the country.

“This implies that when you ask farmers to invest in fertilizer for their farm, you are asking them to put in their trust in your product for better yield, however, that is not always the case because low-quality fertilizer has flooded the market as well as bags of fertilizers below the expected weights.

“People buy these fertilizers and expect that the mineral contents of say NPK 15:15:15 is in the right ratio, proportion, and formulations, however, they don’t get what they have paid for because of adulteration.”

He urged citizens to patronize only FEPSAN accredited blenders to guarantee the quality of the fertilizer purchased.

“FEPSAN is proud to work with the government in coming out with what we call Fertilizer Quality Control Act which will help to sanitize the industry and ensure that farmers have access to quality fertilizer.”

“That law will help to make sure that there is teeth to bite for fakers and people who adulterate fertilizer so that when they are caught, they will face the law.

“Because if we produce anything and the farmers are not there to pick it means nothing.”

“AGRA is currently supporting the fertilizer consortium which includes the Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR, Zaria), Fertilizer Producers and Suppliers Association of Nigeria (FEPSAN), and the National Program for Food Security (NPFS) towards the development of crop and site-specific blends of fertilizer. The consortium intends to recommend the two best blends for rice, maize and soybean in Kaduna and Niger states.”

“The final phase of the fertilizer blend trials will be conducted in 2021 season to validate the already identified blends of fertilizer for rice, maize and soybeans in Kaduna and Niger states.”

Regional Hub partners AGRA and UNDP support RFS country projects in developing resilient and sustainable value chains, a key avenue for establishing more sustainable livelihoods and reducing food insecurity in smallholder communities.

In Africa’s drylands, small-scale farming is characterised by low productivity and financial returns. Smallholder farmers primarily produce food for their families and their local community. They operate within informal ‘short’ agri-food value chains, selling crops, livestock, and other raw materials, either directly or through middlemen, to small local off-takers, such as stores and consumers.

The income from these short value chains is inconsistent, and opportunities to grow and expand into other markets are few and far between.

Gaining entry to higher-value informal or formal agri-food value chains can put a small-scale farmer on a different track. The development of new agri-food value chains, or expansion or formalisation of existing value chains can expose smallholders to new markets, opportunities to pivot to higher-value crops, new skills and technologies and greater income security. 

The bottom line? Value chains are essential components of food systems. By integrating the green value chain development approach within food security projects and programmes, we can better identify barriers to smallholder development and leverage opportunities to improve the incomes and lives of small-scale farmers.  

In line with this understanding, Resilient Food Systems (RFS) has been integrating a cross-cutting value chain approach across all 12 country projects. Regional Hub partners, the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), provide guidance and technical assistance to country projects in support of the development of resilient and sustainable, or ‘green’, agri-food value chains. Their support will span the entire duration of the RFS programme. 

‘Green’ agri-food value chain approach helps food security initiatives achieve the ‘triple bottom line’

‘Greening’ refers to the transformation of a process or practice towards a more holistically sustainable and resilient outcome. Green agri-food value chains proactively promote the sustainable use of natural resources to mitigate adverse environmental impacts on the landscape and generate positive results for nature and communities. A resilient and sustainable food value chain considers proper disposal and recycling of by-products and waste. It has a plan for recapturing value at every stage to reduce negative environmental, socio-cultural and economic impact overall.

By promoting the development of ‘green’ agri-food value chains, RFS aims to increase economic opportunities, introduce innovations in production operations, upgrade technologies and practices, and integrate smallholder farmers into upstream value addition activities.

Transformative interventions using the green value chain approach can contribute to the ‘triple bottom line’. Interventions can lead to improved human wellbeing (economic impact) and social equity (social impact) while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities (environmental impact).

For RFS projects, adopting a ‘green’ agri-food value chain approach means designing and implementing interventions that address challenges within specific agricultural production and post-harvest links, from input suppliers to end markets.Combining economic objectives with environmental and social goals and an enabling operating environment enhances the quality of smallholder livelihoods and aligns food system transformation with broader sustainable development goals.

AGRA and UNPD are supporting the development of sustainable and resilient agri-food value chains in 12 African countries

RFS Regional Hub partners AGRA and UNDP have supported country projects in developing resilient and sustainable value chains since the programme’s start. In September 2019, the two Regional Hub partners hosted a regional training workshop, which focused on formally introducing the green agricultural food value chain concept to RFS country project teams in Nairobi, Kenya. The event’s purpose was to find entry points for country project teams to identify and apply green value chain practices and technologies to priority crop and livestock farming operations, raise awareness of the need to make food value chains more sustainable and resilient, and, importantly, identify value chain greening training needs.

Thirty people attended, representing Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Malawi, Senegal, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The trainees attended sessions on integrating climate-smart agriculture into value chains, building community resilience and adapting to climate change. At the end of the training, each country project developed specific action plans for greening their three priority food value chains.

With the knowledge gained from the initial training session and further country project engagements, UNDP and AGRA developed a training manual to help guide RFS country teams as they work to green food value chains. The guide aims to build value chain actors’ capacities and analytical skills, focusing specifically on encouraging smallholder producers and support service providers, such as farmer extensionists and marketers, to embrace food value chain greening.

The manual blends best practices and lessons learned from projects, programmes and initiatives that promote resilient and sustainable food value chain development in Africa. It will help country teams implement a holistic approach to agricultural productivity and agribusiness development in their smallholder farming systems and improve the health of their ecosystem.

In May and June 2021, AGRA and UNDP hosted a second round of targeted training to promote value chain greening with the aid of the manual. The three sub-regional training sessions were preceded by a pilot training in December 2020, which was attended by four country project teams: Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria and Eswatini. Each sub-regional training focused on building country team capacity to develop multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs), identify priority value chains actors, and develop action plans. AGRA and UNDP covered all aspects of green value chain development, from mapping the value chain to financing its “greening”.

RFS awards three grants of USD 200,000 to organisations working to develop and strengthen green agri-food value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa

Complimenting their capacity-building efforts, AGRA and UNDP invited applications from experienced, competent and interested applicants for sub-regional catalytic grants for green agri-food value chain development in April 2020. AGRA and UNDP requested proposals addressing critical resilience, sustainability, production and marketing constraints affecting selected regional staple food crops and livestock.

AGRA and UNDP received sixty-three (63) value chain greening concept notes from interested organisations across the 12 RFS countries. The RFS partners shortlisted nine (9) concept notes for further development into full project proposals.

RFS ultimately awarded grants to three organisations: Kilimo Trust, covering Tanzania and Uganda; the GRAD Consulting Group in Burkina Faso; and African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnerships in Malawi and neighbouring countries. To learn more about the grant recipients, download the most recent RFS knowledge brief, which provides an overview of the three innovative value chain greening projects and documents the AGRA-UNDP approach and grant process.

Over the next 18 months, the grant recipients will work with over 40,000 smallholder farmers to strengthen agri-food value chains and integrate natural resource management into food systems in West, East and Southern Africa. The grants will support the adoption of climate-smart agriculture, provide labour-saving agricultural inputs and services to smallholder producers, build agricultural centres for aggregation and processing, facilitate trade agreements, and improve producers’ access to finance. 

As these three projects progress, AGRA and UNDP will produce knowledge products to communicate valuable lessons learned, experiences and knowledge that will help inform the implementation of RFS country projects and, more broadly, projects and programmes that focus on improving smallholder production and resilience across the African continent.

To keep up to date on project progress, sign up for the RFS newsletter for critical insights and stories as the awardees begin their work to upgrade agri-food value chains and, as a result, establish more sustainable livelihoods and reduce food insecurity in smallholder communities.

Originally published

The Warehouse Receipt System (WRS) launched in July 2020 by Kenya’s Ministry of Agriculture Livestock, Fisheries and Cooperatives (MoALFC) holds the promise of increased incomes for smallholder farmers through a reduction in post-harvest losses and price exploitation by middlemen.

The WRS was activated after a successful pilot in 2017 by the East African Grain Council supported by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). According to AGRA, during the trial period, nearly 13,000 smallholder farmers trained on post harvest management transacted about KSh 100mn (USD 1mn) worth of grain on the WRS, where 19,000 metric tons of maize was sold.  

“The WRS signifies increased income for smallholder farmers. For instance, the Mwihoko Self Help farmer group in Nakuru County increased its income by 11 percent (the equivalent of KSh24,975 or USD231) by storing 10 metric tons of maize for six months” said John Macharia, AGRA’s Kenya Country Manager.

Under the WRS, owners of commodities – producers or dealers – deposit produce in any of the certified five warehouses belonging to the National Cereals and Produce Board. The MoALF is evaluating six more warehouses owned by cooperative societies across the country, according to Samuel Ogola, the acting CEO of WRC. At the warehouse, the produce is tested, cleaned, graded and then stored, with the owners receiving a receipt as proof of ownership.

 “The WRS reduces the pressure on farmers to sell their produce immediately after harvest when prices are usually low. The system empowers farmers to make decisions as when to sell by giving them the option not to sell under distress at harvest when prices are low,” said David Ombalo, Principal of Agriculture at the MoALFC.

The receipt can also be used as collateral to access credit from participating financial institutions or traded in commodity markets.

“The system collateralizes the warehouse receipt which, as a document of title, can be used to get credit…something which cannot be achieved if the produce was at farmers’ homes because there is no guarantee that it will be kept safely,” Ombalo said.

The system took effect after the Kenya Parliament passed the WRS Act 2019 providing a legal and regulatory framework for its development, and establishment of the Warehouse Receipt Council (WRC).

AGRA played a key role in the establishment of the WRS by supporting the agriculture ministry in preparing the regulations and other institutional frameworks needed to make it operational in Kenya.

“This (WRS) took over eight years to be made, like many laws. AGRA was able to do study tours to South Africa, through the existing grain bulk handlers, where members of parliament were able to see in practice how it works; and, indeed, when they came back, the law was enacted,” said AGRA’s policy officer, Rachel Shibalira.

The WRS has proven important in encouraging the meaningful participation of women and youth in agriculture, added Shibalira.

“The WRS is a tool that will empower the smallholder farmers, and to cut it even closer, empower women and the youth. They [women and youth] can act work in groups to aggregate their produce and present that to the warehouse, where they obtain a receipt that is now collateral enabling them to access finance,” she said.

As the WRS advances, it is encouraging the aggregation of produce by small scale farmers enabling them access to large traders, processors and governments, from whom they get better prices. In coming days, the WRS will also be important in promoting the participation of farmers in the national commodity exchange.

“The warehouses, when linked to the commodity exchange, will participate in the competitive discovery of prices. A commodity exchange merges buyers and sellers, and the receipts owned by depositors can be taken to the exchange for buyers to bid on,” Ombalo said. 

In such ways, the WRS is helping alleviate the problems of poverty and food insecurity in Kenya, by reducing post-harvest losses, which represent 35 percent of the food produced in the country, according to Ombalo. Maize, in particular, has been constantly wasted, even as it remains an important staple food for Kenya.

“If 45 million is the number of bags we produce, then 10percent alone is already 4.5 million bags…sometimes the loss is equivalent to what we import,” Ombalo said.

In conclusion, Ombalo noted that sustaining the implementation of the WRS will lead to a transformation in farming and the trade of agricultural commodities

Despite the African continent holding the world’s most arable land and the agricultural sector employing over half of the population, Africa is still struggling with food production and food insecurity.

For a long time, the continent’s agricultural sector has been characterized by small farms, low yields and limited opportunities for innovation. Especially in the Sahel, the Great Lakes region, and the Horn of Africa, food insecurity is growing due to climate change and related challenges, with food production gravely affected by changing rainfall patterns. With over 239 million of its population classified as undernourished, more proactive and innovative measures are needed to boost agricultural production and increase food supply.  

Industrial agriculture has the potential to drive economic development, contribute to food security and generate income for millions of rural farmers. Recent years have seen a growth in digital innovations that can address the different challenges in the agricultural and food industry. Startups led by the private sector are tackling issues ranging from access to markets to provision of financial services. However, despite innovations and viable business models, challenges persist. This is due, in part, to constraints in sharing knowledge and lesson learned among countries and regions of the Global South. As a result, agricultural solutions have failed to achieve the wider impact that could modernize and transform the agricultural and food industry sectors of the continent.

South-South and triangular cooperation (SSTC) can provide a solution to these challenges. Through the exchange of knowledge and resources, this cooperation allows Southern actors to respond efficiently to common issues faced by developing countries. IFAD’s collaboration with AGRA through the Leveraging South-South and Triangular Cooperation to share rural development solutions for private sector engagement grant is embedded in this perspective. The two agencies are working to identify innovative rural solutions from the private sector in Africa and in Asia and the Pacific regions that can be shared and replicated for the benefit of target communities. A few of these are presented below. 

Counterfeit seeds

Two-thirds of Tanzania’s population is engaged in agriculture, mostly as small scale farmers. There is a high demand for seeds and pesticides; however, the supply has faced some challenges, especially due to the dubious origin and quality of these inputs. Cases abound of farmers being duped into buying counterfeit or recycled seeds in the belief that they are potentially higher-yielding hybrid ones.

Quincewood, a Tanzanian mobile services company, is working with the Tanzania Seed Certification Institute to help smallholder farmers detect counterfeit and adulterated inputs. Through eHakiki, an e-verification solution for tracking genuine agricultural inputs, farmers can verify the authenticity of seeds or pesticides via their mobile phones at agro-dealer shops. Each packet of seeds bears an eHakiki verification label with a unique code, which farmers use to see if the seed packet has been certified by the Tanzania Official Seed Certification Institute (TOSCI) and is suitable for use. The same procedure is applied to pesticides, which are subject to verification by the Tanzania Pesticide Research Institute (TPRI). EHakiki is positively affecting thousands of lives in Tanzania’s largest economic sector by reducing the prevalence of counterfeit and adulterated agricultural inputs.

Access to agricultural information

In northern Ghana, agricultural extension services are limited in their ability to reach often-remote communities and promote improved farming practices.  Through the Greater Rural Opportunities for Women (GROW) project, the Amplio Talking Book (ATB)has provided information to over  23,000 women farmers and their families in the Upper West Region. Designed for settings with limited or no access to the internet, they are pre-loaded with technical lessons, songs, drama skits and interviews to promote behavioral changes in farming practices. Topics include sustainable agriculture, financial literacy, value chain development, health, nutrition and gender. Beneficiaries have reported increased farm yields, as well as an overall improvement in their quality of life. 

Rural agricultural mechanization

Agricultural machines in most of Africa are often too large to be useful for the small plot sizes farmed by its smallholder farmers. This lack of mechanization means most farm work is manual – from land preparation to crop threshing, resulting in lower productivity and incomes, a limited ability to expand farmland and avoidable post-harvest loss. 

Nyabon’s solution packages and sells low-horsepower tractors targeted at specific crop value chains.  The company rents out tractors that are suitable for farms of 0.5 to 5 acres, to be used for land preparation, weeding, threshing and winnowing, canal maintenance and transport of produce. Farmers are trained in mechanization and agronomic practices and supported to link up with credit institutions and produce markets.

This collaboration between IFAD and AGRA reflects the enhanced efforts of the Fund to engage the private sector as an important partner for sustainable economic transformation. In this particularly critical period, the innovative products and services in technology, digitization and mechanization that the grant has identified can improve nutrition and open up new markets and job opportunities, especially for the youth. To ensure scaling-up, adaptation and replication in other regions and contexts, these solutions will be featured on the Rural Solutions Portal, the Fund’s web-based platform for knowledge sharing and SSTC.

For more case studies, visit the Rural Solutions Portal.