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Pitch

Creating impact through accelerating small holder farmer businesses or initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa reducing poverty and climate change


Description

Summary

Smallholder farmers are often marginalized, and lack sophisticated farming practices and sustainable income sources. There are different kinds of organization forms that can improve the livelihood of smallholder farmers as intermediaries or associations. To us these social enterprises that we are supporting to address some of the challenges faced by small holder farmers. The challenges include. 

Poor Prices and negotiations . Small holder farmers are exploited by middlemen on prices. Our solution here  is to train social entrepreneurs in identifying and creating farmer groups

Low Productivity. Because these are small holder farmers, getting a sizeable amount of crop output in metric tons from a single region is not possible. We support our social enterprises on how to incentivize their relationship with the farmers for a consistent agro produce.

Unpredictable Market: The inconsistency in production also makes the market unpredictable. We support our social enterprises to transition from simple middlemen to agro processors.

Lack of Value Addition Services. Uganda is a very fertile country so literary, anything can grow here.   We support our social enterprise to improve the farming methods used by small holder farmers.

Lack of Mechanized Farming. Many small holder farmer’s still use rudimentary methods of farming like the use of hoes. We work with our social enterprises on they can provide affordable maintenance services to the farm machines used by small holder farmers.

Climate change: Change in climate has drastically affected farm produce in Uganda. We with enterprise to employ mechanized irrigation services and  ICT agricultural services.

Poor Land use and Distribution. The system of land ownership and transfer is still under developed which has resulted in illegal eviction and loss of land. We support our social entrepreneurs in working with women farmers to access land for agricultural


Is this proposal for a practice or a project?

Project


What actions do you propose?

Conduct Replicator training with social entrepreneurs on replicating successful small holder farmer business initiatives or businesses. Key measure will be the refined business models from each entrepreneur addressing a social economic or environmental challenge. Duration is 45 days.

Locally match the entrepreneurs with successful small holder famer initiatives actively operating in Uganda. Key measure is the Adopter and originator matching report. Duration is 60 days

Conduct Inclusive business training and capacity development to refine business model canvas based on the evidence of current operations. Duration is 60 days  

Support the trained enterprises to build operational, marketing and financial partnerships in green ecosystems Key measure is 100 % of the businesses build strategic partnerships. Duration is 120 days


Who will take these actions?

·University of Minnesota (USA)

· SEED was founded by UNEP, UNDP and IUCN in 2002 (Germany)

· African Entrepreneur Collective (Rwanda)

· Eastern and Southern Africa Small Farmers Forum (Uganda)

·ILK Consults (India)


Where will these actions be taken?

Actions will taken in the regions of Uganda Rwanda Tanzania India and United States of America.

The actions will involve agricultural small holder Trainings in Uganda Rwanda and Tanzania 

Replication of best pratcises between Uganda Rwanda Tanzania India and United States 

Exploring of new markets for the agro produce among the countries Uganda Rwanda Tanzania India and United States

Provision of operational Financial and Technological support to small holder farmers in Uganda Rwanda and Tanzania 


In addition, specify the country or countries where these actions will be taken.

Uganda


Country 2

Rwanda


Country 3

Tanzania


Country 4

India


Country 5

United States


Impact/Benefits


What impact will these actions have on greenhouse gas emissions and/or adapting to climate change?

Rural families lack sufficient income sources, forcing them to live below the poverty line.
Due to social structures, gender inequality among local population is very high: unequal access to resources such as labour and fertilisers mean women farmers produce between 13% and 25% less than their male counterparts1.
Unsustainable farming practices lead to soil damages and reduced harvest: In Africa 65% of the arable land already shows some form of degradation².
Climate change leads to changing climate patterns, increasing droughts and bush fires. This has devastating consequences for farmers’ yield4.
Smallholder farmers have little or no access to improved agricultural inputs (seeds and fertilisers) and credits³.
Smallholder farmers lack access to markets due to rural infrastructure and not knowing where to find potential buyers³.


What are other key benefits?

Empower local populations by forming smallholder farmers into groups, especially youth and women.

Establish sustainable income opportunities to lift smallholder farmers above the poverty line. This can be done by adding value to existing crops or by planting other demanded resources.

Improve health, nutrition and food security of households by training farmers on superior agriculture practices.

Through organising smallholder farming initiatives, farmers can be trained together on sustainable farming practices, such as inter-cropping to rehabilitate degraded land and soil.

Improve soil fertility by using organic manure instead of chemical fertilizer.

Make smallholder farmers more resilient by equipping them with techniques to combat the consequences of climate change, such as bush fires.

Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by composting and reusing organic waste.

Add value to existing agricultural products to increase the income of farmers.

Include marginalised farmers in the value chain through employment.

Increase smallholder farmers’ income by forming smallholder farmers into groups. The formation of groups can attract new buyers as larger quantities can be offered. This gives farmers access to new markets.

Increase financial literacy among famers to ensure sustainable management of resources


Costs/Challenges


What are the proposal’s projected costs?

Main budget line in the project include over 18 months. Our challenge is raising funds to continue the implementation  of the project. Below are main action steps and costing. 
Implementation of Trainings including mobilization and logistics USD 20,000
Professional fees for consultancy services used Usd 10,000
Accommodation when on the Road USD 10,000
Investment Sourcing and raising financial support for the social enterprises USD 10,000
Branding and creating Marketing linkages for business supporting the small holder farmers  USD 30,000
Support Staff working on the project USD 10,000


Timeline

Conduct Replicator training with social entrepreneurs on replicating successful small holder farmer business initiatives or businesses. Key measure will be the refined business models from each entrepreneur addressing a social economic or environmental challenge. Duration is 45 days.

Locally match the entrepreneurs with successful small holder famer initiatives actively operating in Uganda. Key measure is the Adopter and originator matching report. Duration is 60 days

Conduct Inclusive business training and capacity development to refine business model canvas based on the evidence of current operations. Duration is 60 days. We expect the businesses replicate their models in different parts of Africa and India of new 10 years 

Support the trained enterprises to build operational, marketing and financial partnerships in green ecosystems Key measure is 100 % of the businesses build strategic partnerships. Duration is 120 days. We expect businesses to be sustainable and provide 500,000 jobs over 5 years 


About the author(s)

Project leader is Edirisa Sembatya and is responsible for the contents of the proposal.

Edirisa Sembatya is the Founder and Managing Director of Finding XY. He has 10 years’ experience in the field of Financial Management, Consultancy and Entrepreneurship. He has started and managed businesses in Agriculture, Tourism, Real Estate, Sales and Distribution.  He has previously worked with Yunus Social Business as Communications and Partnerships Manager, Mobile Telecom giants MTN Uganda as a Treasury Accountant, and African Institute of Management as senior consultant (South Africa).

As a consultant, coach and mentor, he provides trainings on inclusive business, leadership, business start-ups, development and impact growth.

In the first year as managing director of Finding XY he has raised funding for the enterprise and built a strong network of over 1000 entrepreneurs and organization. He has also signed 4 international agreements introducing new businesses and programs to Uganda.


Related Proposals

Other proposals related to this are Bios mass to bio gas proposal. The proposal is support animal and crop farmers turn biomass into biogas for both domestic and commercial use. 

Biomass to Briquettes and Cookstoves. The proposal is supporting the training of entrepreneurs to turn biomass to briquettes and eco friendly cookstoves as a means to addressing climate change.


References

1 RAO, A. (2014): Women farmers in Africa: The real challenges the face Online at:https://www.one.org/us/2014/03/06/women-farmers-in-africa-the-real-challenges-they-face

2 Kniver, M. (2014): African soil crisis threatens food security Online at:http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30277514

3 SAT. (2017): Challenges facing smallholder farmers Online at:http://www.southernafricatrust.org/changemakers/january2013/page4.html

4 Walton, B.. (2015): Groundwater Depletion Stresses Majority of World’s Largest Aquifers Online at:http://www.circleofblue.org/2015/world/groundwater-depletion-stresses-majority-of-worlds-largest-aquifers