Agro-Inputs Project

Overview:

CNFA implemented the five-year (2012-2017), $14 million USAID-funded Agro-Inputs Project (AIP) to improve the knowledge of and access to quality agricultural inputs for farmers in the Feed the Future (FtF) zone of Bangladesh. Through the establishment of a sustainable Agro-Input Retailers Network (AIRN), CNFA provided trainings and technical assistance on business management and ethics, basic agronomics, safe use and handling of pesticides and other related topics to 3,000 agro-input retailers. AIP activities specifically targeted 300 women retailers through grant fundings, tailored training and advisory activities to encourage women’s participation in the agro-inputs sector. AIRN members served 1 million smallholder farmers, impacting more than 5 million individuals across 20 southern districts of Bangladesh and generating more than $100 million in sales

Approach:

Building on extensive experience in the development of agrodealer networks across Europe and Africa, CNFA’s approach supported the development of AIRN as a high-quality technical training and advisory service provider to ultimately increase smallholder production and productivity. Recognizing the importance of gender sensitivity and environmental consciousness to this approach, CNFA integrated both into every aspect of AIP to ensure equity and sustainability in our programming. AIP’s core intervention outcomes included:

1. Established Input and Service Provider Network: AIP established AIRN, a first-of-its-kind agro-inputs training organization and service provider in the Feed the Future zone.
2. Distributed Market Information: The program improved the effectiveness of the agricultural inputs market information system (MIS) through distribution of Monthly Price Outlook Bulletins supported by an innovative GIS platform containing data on input distributions networks, client concentrations, cropping patterns and product and price trends to our retailers. In addition, the project created demand for improved quality inputs among farmers through 500 input demonstration plots.
3. Enhanced Knowledge and Application of Quality Standards: CNFA improved recognition of and demand for quality inputs through a multi-media awareness campaign designed to encourage retailers and farmers to purchase quality agro-inputs. In addition, AIP worked with industry associations, their members and the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) to improve industry standards for major crops.
4. Strengthened Local Organizations: CNFA helped local organizations to become future implementers of USAID activities. For example, capacity building and financial assistance was provided to industry association partners, AIRN, Bangladesh Fertilizer Association and Bangladesh Crop Protection Association, and a wide range of local NGOs and private sector entities.

Partnering Input Supply Companies:

• Bayer Crop Science
• Getco Agro Vision Limited
• Lal Teer Seed Limited
• Syngenta Bangladesh Limited

Overview:

The Rural Economic Development Program (RED) (2012-2016) for the Southern Regions of Georgia was a joint Danish-Swiss program that aimed to contribute to the economic growth of the agriculture sector and reduce poverty in the Samtskhe-Javakheti and Kvemo Kartli regions. The four-year, $11.5 million Rural Economic Development Program focused on three main initiatives: increased productivity and profitability of seed and ware potato producers; increased productivity and profitability of commercial dairies, milk and beef producers; and private investment in potato, dairy and livestock value chains.

Approach:

1. Improved Productivity and Marketing: The program advised and provided guidance on production and marketing of seed and ware potatoes, raw milk and other dairy products.
2. Boosted Investment in Key Value Chains: RED stimulated direct private investment in program-targeted activities using two financing mechanisms: a secured lending facility and a co-investment fund.

The impact of RED on smallholder farmers and agricultural enterprises involved in the target regions was substantial. With the tailor-made technical assistance and increased private investment in the potato, dairy and livestock value chains, targeted value chain actors – including farmers – reached higher productivity and improved incomes, in turn, leading to economic growth of the region.

Overview:

In Liberia, CNFA implemented the $19.3 million Feed the Future Liberia Agribusiness Development Activity (LADA) (2015-2020), funded by USAID. LADA aimed to increase incomes of smallholder farmers and entrepreneurs throughout Liberia to expand access to and use of agricultural inputs, improve post-harvest handling activities and streamline high-potential agricultural value chains.

Program Approach:

1. Linking Markets Through Private Sector Engagement: LADA used a results-driven and sustainability approach to increase private sector investment in agricultural input systems, post-harvest handling, transport and processing activities and to strengthen the market environment with information, advocacy and support.
2. Training and Capacity Building: LADA established 24 different aggregation clusters across the country to select appropriate agribusinesses, sustainable and transparent cooperatives and established agrodealers to provide specialized trainings and certifications.
3. Financial Management: LADA managed a credit guarantee facility to catalyze the extension of credit to agrodealers by supply companies and financial institutions to mitigate the high risk associated with agricultural lending. Another financial tool, the Agribusiness Investment Network (AIN), was established and is housed with LADA’s local sub-implementer, Business Start-Up Center (BSC) Monrovia in order to provide a platform through which agricultural and agribusiness agents, NGOs and financial institutions can interact.
4. Increasing Access to Market Information and Digital Financial Services: Enclude, a CNFA partner, explored the development of a digital financial services product portfolio, delivery channels and risk management mechanisms for LADA. This technology allows smallholders to make better-informed decisions for production, processing and marketing processes through value chain gap analyses.
5. Youth, Gender and Social Capital: LADA targeted youth in the project’s agrodealer development interventions and linked smallholder farming youth groups to aggregators and buyers. CNFA also employed a full-time Gender Specialist who mapped gender roles and decision-making power within the targeted value chains, ascertained gender roles and examined issues related to women’s time, workloads, access to information and control over resources.

Partners:

1. Enclude
2. Business Start-Up Center Monrovia’s network
3. The Global Cold Chain Alliance

Overview:

The Georgia Hazelnut Improvement Project (G-HIP) was a $7.3 million project (2015-2023) funded and implemented by a Global Development Alliance (GDA) between USAID, Ferrero and CNFA to increase the sustainable capacity and private sector development of the hazelnut industry in Georgia.

Hazelnuts represent Georgia’s second largest agricultural export by value and support the livelihoods of more than 50,000 growers and processors, but due to inconsistent quality and lack of market distinction, Georgian hazelnuts often sell at lower prices. G-HIP worked to transform and streamline the hazelnut value chain to improve the quality of Georgian hazelnuts.

Program Approach:

1. Capacity Building and Association Development: G-HIP provided training to beneficiaries such as the Georgian Hazelnut Growers Association (GHGA) and the Hazelnut Exporters and Processors Association (HEPA) to strengthen the capacity of the country’s existing drying and storage infrastructure and maximize impact in the sector.
2. Increased Productivity and Competitiveness: G-HIP implemented activities to mitigate inefficient value chain dynamics, including the introduction of a post-harvest quality incentive system, technology upgrades to post-harvest infrastructure and improved access to finance for value chain stakeholders.
3. Infrastructure Development and Marketing: To expand export marketing opportunities for Georgian hazelnuts, GHGA initiated efforts to improve traceability and widen the use of soil testing to enhance hazelnut quality along the value chain.

Overview:

CNFA returned to the birthplace of its widely respected agro-dealer model, first developed in Zimbabwe from 2000 to 2005 and since successfully implemented in Kenya, Malawi, Mali, and Tanzania. When CNFA closed out its program in Zimbabwe in 2005, it had built a network of 1,030 trained agro-dealers covering much of the country. The 18-month Agro-dealer Strengthening Program (ASP-Z) aimed to revitalize and create a more robust network of agro-dealers through which improved inputs and technology could flow to rural smallholder farmers, increasing agricultural production and improving rural livelihoods. ASP-Z laid the framework for a vibrant input supply sector, which created jobs, improved livelihoods, and brought food security to thousands of individuals, bolstering rural economies throughout the provinces of Masvingo, Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South, and Midlands.

Program Approach:

1. Provided training in business management, as well as technical training on new crop varieties, production technologies, and the safe use, handling, and storage of fertilizers and crop protection products;
2. Worked with agro-dealers, input suppliers, and research institutions to stimulate demand for improved inputs and production practices through demonstration plots and farmer field days;
3. Stimulated investment in agro-dealers and increased rural access to finance through guarantee and matching grants facilities;
4. Created sustainable agro-dealer associations to advocate for member interests.

Overview:

Launched in 2007, the Tanzania Agro-dealer Strengthening Program (TASP), funded by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, has been successful in building and supporting a vibrant agro-dealer network capable of serving smallholder farmer demands for improved inputs, services, and marketing. Like CNFA’s other agro-dealer development programs, TASP focused on business and technical training as well as capacity building. Programming also focused on facilitating access to financial services, output marketing, processing, value adding services, and policy advocacy through association development.

TASP also designed and supported the Tanzanian government’s targeted subsidy program to link agro-dealers to the local seed industry and has been scaled up to foster the development of a nationwide rural market network. In 2010, TASP expanded into new districts, allowing CNFA to improve productivity and incomes for additional farm households in remote and underserved areas. Since 2007, TASP has certified over 2,600 agro-dealers, who are providing products and services to over 1.5 million smallholder farmers and improving the lives of nearly 8 million people.

Program Approach:

• Built agro-dealer capacity to better serve farmers through a proven six-part technical training covering: managing working capital, managing stocks, selling and marketing, basic record keeping, costing and pricing, and managing business relationships;
• Facilitated demand creation by establishing demonstration plots and farmer field days showcasing new agricultural inputs;
• Promoted improved linkage to financial services for agro-dealers through forums and clinics focusing on licensing, completion of a business plan, and access to capital.

Seed Industry & Smart Input Subsidy Distribution: At the program’s outset, CNFA focused on the five Southern Highlands districts targeted by the Government of Tanzania (GoT) for its smart, targeted subsidy program (Fast Track Districts) and five districts in the Arusha, Meru, and Kilimanjaro regions in Northern Tanzania. In Year 2, TASP expanded into the seven other districts in Manyara and Morogoro regions. Around Arusha, CNFA integrated agro-dealer development efforts with initiatives to improve Tanzania’s local seed industry, including foundation seed enterprises and local seed companies. Early activities focused on the design of a smart input subsidy program for sustainably implementing government subsidies to targeted communities and on developing the network of agro-dealers necessary to implement this subsidy program.

Association Development: CNFA supported seven district associations that were fully registered and ten that were in nascent stages of development. One of the associations supported by CNFA was the Songea Agro-dealer Association (SADA). SADA offers a powerful example of the benefits that a well-run association can accrue for its members and the influence that can be exerted. For example:

• SADA successfully advocated against the practice of Regional and District officials dictating prices at which inputs could be sold;
• SADA also proposed the “master input subsidy” concept that CNFA later brought to the MAFC, which would be issued by district officials on presentation of numerous input subsidies by the agro-dealer;
• Where individual group members (particularly startup agro-dealers) experienced difficulty in securing input supply credit, SADA managed to successfully negotiate for credit as an association;
• SADA leased an office in Songea Town and hired a coordinator to administer their activities.

Strengthening the Agro-dealer Network: TASP encouraged the establishment of new agro-dealerships in remote, underserved areas through matching grants, a credit guarantee facility, and demand creation activity that gave the farmer an opportunity to physically witness the benefits of improved agronomic practices and inputs. In addition, technical trainings to strengthen agro-dealer capacity, agro-dealer association development, and linking agro-dealers to financial institutions were key parts of the approach.

The Business Management Training (BMT) raised agro-dealers’ business standards of management and acumen, allowing the MAFC to exclusively link the handling of the subsidy inputs to agro-dealers’ successful completion of BMT. CNFA trained an additional 849 agro-dealers in 24 districts beyond the 17 in the original TASP scope to pave the way for the National Agricultural Inputs Voucher Scheme.

Overview:

The Agrodealer Strengthening Program, funded by the government of Sierra Leone through the Global Agricultural Food and Security Program, aimed to promote the transformation of the Sierra Leone’s fragmented and informal input distribution system into a more efficient, commercially-viable input supply infrastructure operated by the private sector. As part of an implementing consortium with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), CNFA developed an agrodealer network to provide a one-stop-shop for smallholder farmers to access improved inputs, services and output marketing. The program was implemented in the District of Bombali, and enhanced agricultural productivity, increased rural incomes and improved household food security.

Program Approach:

• Develop a private network of agrodealers by establishing one-stop-shops;
• Provide business management and technical training to agrodealers;
• Build and strengthen private sector associations that supply agricultural inputs;
• Improve access to finance through a credit guarantee facility and matching grants program;
• Foster a commercialization enabling environment by advocating for agrodealer involvement in national agricultural sector strategies and implementations.

Overview:

Partnering with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), CNFA implemented the three-year Agro-dealer Strengthening Program for Mali (ASP-M) to increase rural incomes and reduce poverty by transforming Mali’s underdeveloped input distribution practices into a more efficient, commercially viable input supply system. ASP-M strengthened Malian agro-dealers by providing training in business management and productive farming methods and increased farmer access to agro-dealers in remote areas, ultimately raising rural incomes and increasing household productivity. In order to transform Mali’s agro-dealer network sustainably, our team implemented a methodical four-step approach.

Program Approach:

• Built Agro-dealer Capacity to Serve Farmers: ASP-M developed and implemented activities including business management training, training in product knowledge, and safe use of chemicals and fertilizers. The program also increased market demand for improved inputs through demonstration plots, exhibitions, and farmer field days.
• Improved Rural Access to Finance: To complement stronger business and technical expertise of program trainees, CNFA worked to improve agro-dealers’ access to finance, creating guarantee facilities to stimulate access to trade credit and capital, developing agricultural lending training for commercial banks and microfinance institutions, building targeted agricultural lending products, and introducing competitive matching grants to spur private sector investment.
• Connected Farmers to Markets: With better financing in place, the program focused on smallholder farmer access to larger markets for distribution of their products. CNFA worked with agro-dealers to develop and deliver basic output marketing training in order to increase farmer awareness of market opportunities and to help link them to existing market channels.
• Advanced Agricultural Policy Advocacy: The last component of ASP-M focused on improving channels for a sustainable public-private policy dialogue. CNFA maintained a leadership role in the policy arena, shaping Malian agricultural policy to promote the interests of private sector growth and of the rural smallholder. CNFA also supported the growth of the Agro-dealers National Union in Mali (UNRIA-Mali), which received an endorsement from former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan after he visited the project in August 2010.

To ensure the successful operation of UNRIA, CNFA provided training on organizational management, member services, networking, and advocacy capacity building. This last component of ASP-M ensured that the program would be self-sustaining and bring increased business for agro-dealers and higher incomes for smallholder farmers.

Overview:

With funding from the Rockefeller Foundation and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), CNFA, through its Malawi affiliate the Rural Market Development Trust (RUMARK), developed a proven and flexible model for a rural-based, commercially-viable agro-dealer network that provides inputs and technology to smallholders on a sustainable basis. The model is tailored to address local needs, conditions, and available resources, and combines a trade credit guarantee to help local input retailers expand inventories and services for smallholder clients with business skills training needed to manage their operations profitably and sustainably.

RUMARK’s initial project, Rural Agricultural Input Supply Expansion (RAISE), focused on increasing the number of agro-dealers selling inputs to smallholder farmers by facilitating agro-dealer access to training in business, financial management, and product knowledge, use and safety from input supply companies, input supply companies willing to extend credit, group loans for working capital from financial institutions, and demonstrations of product and technologies supported by input supply companies to stimulate demand.

RAISE’s goal was to increase rural household incomes, agricultural productivity, and output marketing channels of smallholder farmers. CNFA achieved this goal by strengthening and expanding existing agro-dealer networks in Malawi, thereby increasing access to inputs, technical knowledge, and linkages to resources for farmers. CNFA also facilitated the creation of a commercial business skills training network to deliver business and financial management training to rural retailers, and enlisted almost all of Malawi’s major input distribution companies in private sector partnerships to develop production linkages with these retailers.

Program Approach:

• Created an Umbrella Agricultural Inputs Traders Association (AITA) made up of the Seed Trade Association of Malawi (STAM), Croplife Malawi, and the new Fertilizer Association. CNFA helped create and serves as the secretariat for both AITA and the Fertilizer Association, and will continue to help the private industry use these associations as a platform for policy advocacy;
• Developed broad technical training programs to include a range of important training topics for agro-dealers such as rural lending (by Malawi Rural Finance Company), the seed industry (by STAM), and pesticide regulations;
• Introduced a new training module on Managing Business Relations that blends elements of technical training and business management training. Training was delivered jointly by both CNFA staff and input supply company staff to better strengthen business linkages between the input suppliers and the agro-dealers.