By NLM Writer
It is a simple equation: farmers invest in their land, planting supplies, and labor and expect to produce enough to eat and sell. By every estimation, food production should be a profitable venture: everybody eats, and many economic sectors depend on agricultural products and agribusiness. Yet market systems often work against farmers.
Formal food markets offer the best returns, but they are best suited to farmers with good proximity to markets and those who can consolidate their produce into quantities that allow them bargaining power. To help farmers with less land and who live far from such markets, we must focus on aggregation, allowing farmers to consolidate their produce and making farmers part of a value chain. Working towards a profitable business model is a process, not an event, and interventions must be open to pivoting existing models or adopting new ones.
The government and private partners can collaborate to invest in commercial agriculture, focusing on enabling small-scale farmers to access markets for their produce. By de-risking postharvest value chains for farmers and offering premium prices, consistent markets, and prompt payments, we can build sustainable value chains, and enable small and medium enterprise investments to develop their infrastructural and professional capacities.
Innovate and improve
Empowering farmers with innovative solutions is critical. Kenya, like many other African countries, is dealing with the aftershocks of the Covid pandemic. Since January 2021, the cost of fertilizer and other essential inputs has risen – further influenced by the Russia-Ukraine War – posing a greater challenge for farmers who want to adopt improved inputs.
Agricultural stakeholders need to collaborate with the government to propose and contribute to interventions designed to protect farmers. We could implement interventions like doubling down on complementary agricultural practices like composting and planting trees, updating fertilizer recommendations to move away from blanket recommendations, and exploring organic fertilizer and alternative fertilizer production.
Change tack
Market access efforts have picked up pace in Kenya, with organizations such as One Acre Fund designing programs to support farmers in diversifying their income through investments in high-value crops. Developing the power of entrepreneurship among farmers can accelerate efforts towards achieving wealth and prosperity.
Neither are farmers unwilling to invest in diversified income streams if markets are guaranteed. Commercialization programs can maximize their chances of success by ensuring contract farming models strike a balance between needs and production capacity — including being open to changing our strategy over time to ensure a sustainable commercial model.
Agricultural commercialization often initiates a virtuous cycle that raises income levels, attains food security goals, encourages healthy consumption, and sustains rural development. While challenges abound on the path towards diversified income streams for rural populations, relatively low–investment opportunities exist to innovate and improve existing supply chain approaches. And, in partnership with relevant sector players, demand-side farmer engagement can help build markets to realize significant smallholder potential, allowing commercial agriculture can create a truly market-driven agricultural system to help us build the economy we want. (
Email your news TIPS to Editor@nairobilawmonthly.com, and to advertise with us, call +254715061658 anytime of the day
