YamBEEji Ltd., a Zambian agri-business that specialises in rice and honey production, has just managed to sign a big deal with Alternative Investments. Over the past years, SNV and the Agri-Hub coordination team have supported YamBEEji in its development. Now, it is reaping the fruits of its growth; not just for itself, but even more for its smallholder suppliers.

Network facilitator Christel Schiphorst comments that she is pleased to see the deal happen: “The initial matchmaking between YamBEEji and ALTVEST started through the Zambian Agri-Hub. The Dutch-based organisation VC4Africa was looking for interesting business cases to facilitate. The Agri-ProFocus support office in the Netherlands responded with a first set of potential entrepreneurs in the agricultural and food processing chain, which went through a quickscan.”

YamBEEji Ltd. and its CEO, Mr Chibbonta Chilala, had been supported and nurtured into self-sufficiency by SNV since its start in 2007 and therefore was an obvious choice. “An intensive trajectory followed between YamBEEji and ALTVEST. The open, quick and transparent communication between YamBEEJi and Agri-ProFocus was a confirmation to me that indeed, a good choice was made with supporting this inspired entrepreneur and connecting him to a private investor, in order to realize his ambitious goals,” says Christel.

The deal was closed on the first of May. By signing, ALTVEST commits to investing in YamBEEji through fresh equity capital, working capital financing, machinery for further mechanisation and management support. With this investment, YamBEEji can now integrate 5,000 farmers and manage 30,000 hectares of farmland to become the centre of gravity for rice production in Zambia.

How the YamBEEji outgrower scheme benefits farmer entrepreneurs, you can read on this poster about local sourcing.

Read also:
•    The press release on the Agri-Hub Zambia online platform
•    The interview on VC4Africa
•    The article in the Times of Zambia

The first of the FoodFirst/ Floriade conference sequence on food and development issues took place on April 24th. This gathering, co-organised by Agri-ProFocus, underlined the importance of organising farmers, because together they can access markets and finance. Key factors for successful cooperatives are trust, good governance, supportive policy and keeping close to the ‘ground’.

The event was attended by around 175 participants from many different backgrounds. Among the speakers were Kees Wantenaar (Chair of Agri-ProFocus) and quite a number of Agri-ProFocus member professionals, such as Vincent Lokin and Pierre van Hedel (Rabobank Foundation), Ellen Mangnus (KIT) and Christiaan Rebergen (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

Key note speaker was the Kenyan Minister of Cooperative Development, Joseph Nyagah. According to Nyagah, many African countries have become too dependent on aid from abroad. Starting cooperative enterprises will enable farmers to gain their own livelihoods – as long as policies support agricultural development, irrigation is researched and invested in, and efforts are made to get credit to the farmer.

Rather than aid, Nyagah would prefer to see fair and equal trade. He relates how he once got the Dutch and German ambassadors together and prized them for their development assistance to Kenya – “but if you pay my mother only 20 eurocents per kilo of coffee, she will never be able to buy inputs for her next harvest!” His statement receives a laugh and loud applause from the audience.

In her presentation together with Ton Duffhues (ZLTO), Ellen Mangnus (KIT) explored how characteristics of cooperatives in Mali can be explained by looking at Dutch cooperative history. Like in the Netherlands, the initiative to start a cooperative often comes from outsiders, and informal relations and member solidarity, rather than strictly adhering to formal rules, play important roles in the development of a cooperative.

During the day in all presentations and discussions, several interesting points to look at emerged. Governments need to take a lead on providing an enabling environment for agricultural entrepreneurship; farmers need better access to savings and credit facilities; close relations with the farmers and mutual trust are crucial to cooperatives; we need to think about involving the poorest of the poor in agriculture or agricultural services; and efforts must be made to attract youth to farming, in order to keep up production.

At Agri-ProFocus, we believe that the conference was a success. The outcomes of the discussions can be used to fuel our knowledge agenda, in particular the theme of ‘Organised Farmers in Agri-Business’. We thank the speakers, participants and co-organisers for all their efforts!

If you want to read more about the conference or see pictures, please check out the online Agri-ProFocus platform on Organised farmers at http://apf-producers.ning.com. FoodFirst has also published an article on their website, see: http://www.foodfirst.eu/index.php?a=24april2012.

Wageningen University, member of Agri-ProFocus, organised a three-day conference called ‘From Islands of Success to Seas of Change: What works when scaling inclusive agri-food market development?’ Agri-ProFocus member organisation KIT gave a workshop on sustainable local sourcing, using business cases from the network.  

12 April, early morning in Scheveningen, The Hague. The sun brightens up the Syndicate Room with a sea view at the Carlton Beach Hotel. A good number of participants are attracted by it, as all 22 seats are taken by the time the participative working session on Local Sourcing starts.

After a word of welcome by Christel Schiphorst (Agri-ProFocus), Marije Boomsma (KIT), who was in charge of the design and coordination of the Agri-ProFocus action-research trajectory, sets the reference frame for this morning’s discussion:

“Sustainable local sourcing means that a company buys local or regional products, processes them locally and markets them in local or regional markets, and in the process creates a sustainable business that benefits both its local suppliers and the company itself”.

Three cases, notably from Sierra Leone Breweries, Multi Flower (Tanzania) and YamBEEji Rice (Zambia), are elaborated upon in a World Café setting. It is supported by a poster presentation, which creates a lively atmosphere among the participants.

The discussion takes place around three statements and the summary here below is based upon the outcome of the discussion.

Reportedly, requirements for local sourcing are:

• Committed entrepreneurs;
• By running a good business, companies create wealth for themselves and related actors;
• NGOs should focus on providing capacity building, which may require a changed mindset. In general, the different roles (NGOs, private sector, public sector) should be clearer;
• For growth, one needs middle-income  class consumers;
• A special focus on incentives for female farmers is needed;
• Offering incentives for local policy makers to constructively address economic development;
• One should not only focus on scaling up; by scaling out (duplicating small initiatives, rather than enlarging existing ones) one could achieve the same results.

A private investor (to Kenya) makes a final statement by remarking that almost all cases described are focusing on contract farming as a means of local sourcing. He states that this is an expensive way of sourcing and not a necessity. We should look for alternative ways, innovative and more efficient business models to scale up local sourcing. The workshop left everyone with food for thought.

More information on the business cases and the action-research trajectory, including a position document on local sourcing trends, will soon become available on http://www.local-sourcing.com. The brochure can be found at http://www.agri-profocus.nl/2012/publications/brochure-sustainable-local-sourcing-in-africa/.

“My name is Joost Bolt and I work for Agentschap NL as a project officer. Agentschap NL (member of Agri-ProFocus and formerly known as EVD) works for the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation to promote and support Dutch entrepreneurs abroad. My specific job is with the Private Sector Investment programme in developing countries. Investing in Africa creates employment opportunities and introduces new knowledge. I assess subsidy applications of entrepreneurs. To make a proper assessment, I need a lot of knowledge about local markets. Myself, I do not know much about agricultural value chains such as soya beans, potatoes or sunflower seeds. Agri-ProFocus, and especially the Agri-Hub Uganda, has been really useful in getting to know the right people who could tell me more.

Our PSI programme has a tender procedure every half year. Last time, we had two proposals about agriculture that I would like to find out more about. I put my questions on the Agri-Hub Uganda online platform. One was a proposal for a potato chips’ factory in the South West of Uganda. There is a lot of potato production in that area, but little value is added to the product after harvest. Which opportunities were there for a processing factory, and what did I have to pay attention to? As it turned out, a person from the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) replied who had done research in the potato sector in Eastern Africa for years. He helped me to more contacts. Other responses were also very useful indeed.

I knew about the Agri-ProFocus platform from Hedwig Bruggeman (director, red.) and from Roel Snelder (network facilitator, red.). It really was the designated place for such a request. I could also have contacted the Dutch embassy in Uganda, but they do not have as much in-depth knowledge about agricultural subjects, as they have many other issues to attend to. The Agri-Hub focuses on clear themes and offers the possibility for discussion. It was surprising how fast I got a response! Especially with the potato question, there were responses both from the Ugandans and the Dutch. For those two agricultural projects I had to assess, the platform helped me to form a better and more balanced judgment. I’ve recommended it to my colleagues for Ethiopia and Kenya.

My suggestion for Agri-ProFocus is to keep on moderating the platform well and to make sure it serves people’s direct needs and interests. If members are pushed to continue participation on the one hand, and if the result is of immediate use to them, the platform works. I don’t think you should put too much effort into making it a second Facebook though. I appreciate Agri-ProFocus most for introducing me to information or knowledge to do my job.”

Interview: Vera Hendriks, Agri-ProFocus

The first Participants’ Council meeting of 2012 was held on 5 April at Aequor in Ede. The goal of the meeting was both to present results from 2011, to discover new tracks for the next phase (2013-2016) and to create a network and business opportunity for members.

Though it took place in a busy period of anxiety about reforms and budget cuts in development cooperation, the meeting was well attended by 36 participants from member organisations.

The afternoon was opened with the commemoration of former Board member Erik Heinen (Oikocredit), who sadly passed away on 30 March. Then Kees Wantenaar, the new Chair of Agri-ProFocus, was introduced by Board member Caroline Figuères (IICD), after which he officially opened the floor and welcomed the participants heartily.

Aequor gave a short presentation about its activities, drawing attention to the importance of adding a focus on vocational agricultural education to the partnership’s goals. Next, new member CBI introduced itself to the other members of the partnership. CBI provides a network of actors in many countries, consisting of SMEs, Business Support Organisations and local exports, and a network of importers in the Netherlands to the Agri-ProFocus members. By joining Agri-ProFocus CBI, being on the marketing end of the production chain, expects to gain more (access to) knowledge on the production side.

Also on the agenda were the Agri-ProFocus milestones of 2011, presented by means of the draft Annual Report ‘Agri-Hubs take the lead’. Last year, Agri-ProFocus achieved improved links with Dutch policy, developed its knowledge agenda, organized two expert meetings, created a revised Theory of Change, founded two new Agri-Hubs, increasingly involved the private sector and doubled its online platforms’ participants – among others. A special update was given on the consultation with members regarding the planned modalities of the new PPP facility Food security and Business.

The second part of the afternoon was devoted to looking ahead. Commissioned by Agri-ProFocus, consultant Kees Zevenbergen had interviewed around 25 Agri-ProFocus members and other connections. His engaging presentation of findings and the following group discussion led to advice on how to position Agri-ProFocus in a changing Dutch context of food security policy and private sector development.

Director Hedwig Bruggeman presented the strategic planning process for the upcoming months. Agri-ProFocus will form a reference group of members, which will discuss Agri-ProFocus’ achievements so far, and what kind of set-up and strategic focus the partnership should have in the years to come.

Recently, Mr. Kees Wantenaar became the new Chair of the Agri-ProFocus Board. Mr. Wantenaar was until December 2011 Chair of the dairy cooperative Friesland Campina. He comes from an agricultural family and has his own dairy farm. Though he has travelled to many places, the field of development cooperation is still new to him.

What attracts you in becoming Chair of Agri-ProFocus?
“The nice thing about Agri-ProFocus is that I can work in a field related to agriculture. My family were farmers, and my life has always been interwoven with agriculture. Of course, I have no real experience with development cooperation – but I feel strongly connected with farmer entrepreneurship and the agricultural sector. In Agri-ProFocus, I could help build a system to link cooperatives in developing countries with the agricultural industry.”

You have been, and are, a Board Member of multiple organisations and companies. What kind of specific knowledge and/ or contacts do you bring in that could be relevant to Agri-ProFocus?
“I know about cooperatives and how they operate; I am connected with the agricultural industry; and I am well-connected with national and international business, especially of agriculture. That should be of added value to Agri-ProFocus, should it not?”

What, in your view, are the current priorities for the Agri-ProFocus network?
“The thinking around development cooperation in the Netherlands is going through a process of change. I don’t think people should ever be afraid of that – nor should Agri-ProFocus. What should happen, though, is that we clearly define the role of Agri-ProFocus. The network must be given a practical, tangible consequence.”

What are the opportunities for cooperation of Dutch companies and cooperatives with those in developing countries?
“In the new way of thinking, internationally operating companies have more responsibilities than just the responsibility for yielding profit. Agri-ProFocus could assist them in that. In the countries in which the Agri-ProFocus is active, the partnership has a role in connecting Dutch companies and cooperatives with local ones.”

As Agri-ProFocus has different kinds of members – do you think there is a different culture in business from the one of NGOs?
“Surely there is. Companies as more direct and more geared towards obtaining financial revenue. Their work is clearer, and easier to frame. For NGOs, it is more difficult to prove themselves. That is because they create value in more ways; they cannot always express the results of their actions in money. That does not mean, though, that you cannot cooperate – on the contrary. We should focus ourselves on efficiency – however, perhaps with different goals for different parties. The art is to broker connections with the image of what for and in which field you are active.

What, do you consider, is the strength of farmer entrepreneurship?
“Farmers’ personal commitment is very big. Often they are people who are very closely involved in their enterprise. That works for them in their motivation and entrepreneurship. It helps also in the translation to other countries. Having a good feeling with the outside world is very important. Dutch farmer entrepreneurs can cooperate with those in developing countries on the quality of products, purchasing, sales, and hiring external knowledge. From the experience of the Netherlands, we consider that as a factor of success. It will be, if embedded in the local culture of course.

“From the NGO ‘world’, probably not everyone will be convinced of what I say. ‘What does that man know about us and far-away countries?’ But I have been in many countries and have seen quite a lot. I am open to criticism and don’t want to put up any barriers – I would really appreciate open communication.”

“I hope I will be able to contribute to the work of Agri-ProFocus. I certainly sense a lot of enthusiasm and feeling for the job in the team. That’s what you need! Or else, things would be very difficult.”

Date: Tuesday April 24th, 2012
Time: Conference 13.30-17.00, drinks afterwards
Location: Innovatoren, Floriade, Venlo, (www.floriade.nl)

At the conference, FoodFirst and Agri-ProFocus want to reflect with you on the strengths and challenges of cooperative business models. Advocates of cooperatives consider these models of collaboration and entrepreneurship as vehicles that can help farmers to get access to finance and markets. At the same time historical experiences and current local interventions show that introducing and supporting cooperatives in for example Africa is not a simple recipe for success. Why are cooperative models, based on trust between economic players, successful in certain countries and contexts, and less successful elsewhere? What are recent experiences with, and realistic perspectives on supporting these models?

Programme

Moderator of the day: Marcia Luyten, journalist

13.00 Welcome & Coffee

13.30 Introductory speech Kees Wantenaar – Chair of Agri-ProFocus

13.40 Opening speech Vincent Lokin – Director Cooperatives and Governance, Rabobank Nederland

13.50 Key note speech
Joseph Nyagah – Minister of Cooperative Development and Marketing of Kenya
Co-referent  Christiaan Rebergen – Deputy Director General International Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands

14.30 Discussion with the audience

14.55 Access to markets
Double interview with Daniel Njenga – Manager Kiambaa Dairy Farmers Cooperative, Kenya and Frank van Ooijen – Corporate Director Sustainability Friesland Campina

15.15 Break

15.45 Dutch cooperative experiences
Ellen Mangnus – Advisor Royal Tropical Institute

15.55 Access to finance
Sathis de Mel – Executive Director Arthacharya Foundation, Financial cooperative Sri Lanka
Co-referent: Pierre van Hedel – Managing Director Rabobank Foundation

16.20 Discussion with the audience

16.50 Conclusions and closing
Jos van Gennip – President of Socires, Chairman of FoodFirst

17.00 Drinks

You can register via the website www.foodfirst.eu/24april2012; please register before 17 April! Participation in the conference is free and gives free entry to the Floriade as well.

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Inge Jansen (i.jansen@foodfirst.eu / +31 (0)70 338 32 88)

We hope to welcome you on 24 April!

On behalf of the FoodFirst coalition,

Jos van Gennip, Chairman

The possibility has been buzzing around for a while: combining the Agri-Hub Rwanda with new Hubs in Burundi and the East-Congolese provinces of North and South Kivu, under the umbrella of Agri-Hub ‘Grands Lacs’. As such, Agri-ProFocus will be creating a regional approach to networking for farmer entrepreneurship. Now the Annual Meeting of Rwanda has responded positively to the plan, preparations may begin.

The IPER cooperation partners IFDC, ICCO, Oxfam Novib, Terrafina and Agriterra all work at a regional level in Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern Congo. As the three countries are close together and networks are intertwined, they expressed their wish to create a joint Agri-Hub Grands Lacs. The name ‘Grands Lacs’ is chosen to specifically denote the French-speaking countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa.

The plan is that the three countries will have independent Agri-Hubs and coordinators. In addition to their national activities, they will also cooperate as ‘Grands Lacs’ in organising regional exchanges and events, and some joint coordination will take place on a higher level. The Ning platform will be called ‘Agri-Hub Grands Lacs’ and will have separate country as well as joint regional pages.

A proposal was presented by Espérance Mukarugwiza of Agri-Hub Rwanda to the participants of the Annual Meeting (which took place on 23 and 24 February in Musanze). The response was very positive; members clearly saw the added value of a regional approach, especially as most organisations were already working on a regional level or doing business across the border. The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Rwanda/ Burundi supports the plans, which is of course a preferable condition.

Next steps in the Agri-Hub set-up process will be contacting and inviting possible partners, selecting coordinators, writing a context paper and affiliation matrix, and having two kick-off meetings. It is foreseen that the kick-off in Burundi will already take place in June 2012. The meeting in Congo may follow in September or October.

If you want to keep up to date with the developments, please sign up to the Agri-Hub Rwanda!

The Agri-Finance Fair took place on 21-22 February in Musanze, in Northern Rwanda. Whereas before, banks often turned farmer entrepreneurs away when they came to ask for a loan, now they know how to find each other.

This Agri-Finance Fair was the third organised by the Agri-ProFocus network, following the events in Kenya and Uganda in November 2011. The Rwandan Fair was organised by the Agri-Hub Rwanda coordination team and several of its local members. It took place in the Ubworoherane Stadium, where tents were set up to house the banks, microfinance institutions and SACCOs. There were 20 stands in total, visited by around 700 farmers in two days.

The objective was to create a space where banks and farmers could discuss money issues and do business on an equal level. In normal circumstances, a farmer would be turned away from a bank, as the banks do not recognise the business potential of their proposals or see difficulties with the (communal) collateral the farmers can provide. In addition, the farmers and bankers operate on totally different levels of society.

It is important for banks to tune in to farmer’s needs. As Chantal Nyirakamineza, a professional farmer from the UNICOAPIGI cooperative says: “I grow Irish potatoes and mushrooms, but I would like to change my business because the mushrooms are not profitable enough. Before, I could only get a small short-term loan. For agriculture, you need a long-term investment. I asked another bank today, and we’ve agreed to follow up.”

Banks confirm they are happy to be at the Agri-Finance Fair, as they are not sure on how to contact the farmers and cooperatives. Agri-Hub Rwanda produced a special farmer’s catalogue to distribute contact details of cooperatives to each bank present at the Fair. A banker comments: “I always used to remain at my desk. Now I will be able to go out of my office and visit the producers.”

Awards were handed out to those stands who, by popular vote, had the best exhibition (Banque Populaire de Rwanda), the best financial product (Business Development Fund Ltd.) and the best stand overall (Kenya Commercial Bank). The governor of the Northern Province closed the event with a speech, in which he promised to invest more in agriculture and to better listen to farmers’ needs.

Financial contributions to the Fair were made by the Royal Netherlands Embassy, the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture, Terrafina and IFDC. Organisational contributions came also from (local branches of) SNV, ICCO, Agriterra, the World Food Programme, KIT and ISAE. We express our gratitude to all contributors!

‘We work in value chains and really want to address gender, but we do not know how

Agri-Hub Ethiopia organised its first event in 2012 about the theme of Gender in value chains. The workshop on 7 February, in the Kaleb hotel in Addis Ababa, was attended by 38 people (20 women, 18 men) from universities, BDS providers, NGOs and producer organisations.  Participants mentioned: ‘We work in value chains and really want to address gender, but we do not know how to’. By providing practical tools, this workshop addressed a felt need.

The workshop had an interactive character and was very dynamic. During the first exercise, the arguments for gender-sensitive value chain development were listed:

• It is ‘fair’ to make value chain development benefit men and women equally and to make it contribute to greater gender equality.
• But it is also smart economics: women often play important (but invisible) roles in value chains; and therefore they are an important factor in upgrading a value chain.
• Women are crucial for poverty alleviation, as they are more likely to use increased income for the well-being of their family.

Subsequently, in 8 sub-groups, participants practised four tools to make different phases of a value chain intervention gender sensitive: selection of a value chain, value chain mapping, analysis of costs and benefits and monitoring of impacts. The tools were taken from a brand new toolkit, which is made available on the Gender in Value Chains Ning platform.

According to the participants, the tools were in general “comprehensive, practical, easy to use, and helped to gain insight.” As one participant put it: “Gender has been on the agenda for a long time, but translation to practice is still lacking. Today, we have learned some tools that can be helpful in transforming our practice.” Others mention that the tools can be used to convince their colleagues of the importance of looking at gender aspects.

Participants also realised that this one-day workshop was not enough. The proposed coaching track, which the Agri-Hub Ethiopia intends to start as follow-up of this workshop, was received very positively: “A great idea to provide assistance to people, while they are trying to apply what they have learned during this workshop.”

The workshop was facilitated by Angelica Senders of Fair & Sustainable Advisory Services together with Ethiopian gender expert Lenesil Asfaw. For more information, please contact Wikke Tuinhout of F&S Ethiopia: wikke.tuinhout@gmail.com.