|
Wednesday, 21 July 2010 11:21 |
East African Business Week
By Joseph Olanyo
July 21, 2010
www.busiweek.com
KAMPALA, UGANDA - A network of African agribusinesses wants greater support for the development of private entrepreneurship in rural areas.
Participants of the first ever Strategic Planning Workshop on Agrodealer Development in Kampala, Uganda recently, raised the need for more training and capacity building in business management, greater access to finance, and higher quality farm inputs, particularly improved seeds, to meet increased farmer demand in support of an Africa-wide effort to transform small-scale agriculture from subsistence to business. The meeting, convened by the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), which supports rural entrepreneurs, brought together rural African businessmen and women from nine African countries to share experiences around constraints to their businesses and opportunities to tap into Africa's rapidly emerging small-scale, private agribusiness industry.
Agrodealers are the owners of farmer supply stores, which in recent years have grown in number and proximity to the rural farmers who need access to them most. Despite successes, many African countries are facing perennial food crises, which are partially driven by poor access to higher yielding, disease-resistant seed for staple crops like maize, cassava, rice, and sorghum. It is estimated that crop diseases such as maize streak virus and bacterial wilt affecting bananas cost African farmers millions of dollars in income, thus worsening an already dire food situation.
"Everywhere we travel in Africa, seed companies report to us that they are continually selling out of their stocks. Farmers have really come alive to the advantages of new, locally bred crop varieties," said Joe DeVries, director of AGRA's Programme for Africa's Seed Systems (PASS). "Africa's food needs cannot be outsourced. Food needs to be grown here in Africa, and that process starts with getting improved seeds into the hands of farmers."
For AGRA, the key is linking agrodealers in rural areas to public and private African seed companies that are developing improved, locally-adapted varieties and getting them on the market.
"Investing in agriculture is an investment in our society," said Ms Hope Mwesigye, Uganda's Minister of Agriculture. "Agrodealers are the front desk for farmers. These businessmen and women move seed stocks to locations that are close to farmers and sell them at prices that farmers can afford."
Uganda is home to some of Africa's most successful seed companies.
Before 1998, there were no private seed companies operating in Uganda, even though more than three-quarters of Ugandans depend on farming for food and income. Currently, there are 23 private seed companies in Uganda that sell between 10-12,000 MTs of seed of staple crops to farmers each year.
In 2007, Josephine Okot, founder and CEO of Victoria Seeds, was awarded the Yara Prize for Africa's Green Revolution, which recognizes individuals who show entrepreneurial excellence and the ability to work at many levels to transform African agriculture. Okot's innovative marketing and business skills helped to position Victoria Seeds as one of the country's leading seed producers with over 200 production facilities. Agreeing with Uganda's minister of agriculture, Mariam Mwanyota, Secretary of the Kenya National Association (KNAA), said, "Agrodealers are businessmen and women that sell farmers a range of agro-inputs from seeds and fertilizers to day-old chicks to animal vaccines. We are a one-stop-shop for farmers," But she added that, "We also give farmers advice on when to plant and how to care for their crops and livestock."
In Kenya, there are an estimated 10,000 rural agrodealers. AGRA's Agrodealer Development Program (ADP) is strengthening networks of village-based agro-dealers to distribute seed to remote farmers in 13 countries.
As part of ADP's work, the programme is working with local partners to provide business management and marketing training to agrodealer associations and working with banks to open up credit lines for successful retailers that are interested in expanding their operations.
http://www.busiweek.com/10/page.php?aid=924
|
|
Newsletter Subscribe
|
News 
.png)
Follow us on Twitter