Farmer-to-Farmer Success Story

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Vincent Nelson
5 years ago
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Farmer-to-Farmer Success Story Improved Fish Farming and Business Management Skills Lead Chilomoni Integrated Fish Farmers (CIFF) to Great Harvesting Success Chilomoni Integrated Fish Farmers (CIFF)

Since IRLAD ended, the farmers took full control of CIFF and chose to focus on aquaculture due to the high demand for fish in the Blantyre region.

1 Farmer-to-Farmer Success Story Improved Fish Farming and Business Management Skills Lead Chilomoni Integrated Fish Farmers (CIFF) to Great Harvesting Success Chilomoni Integrated Fish Farmers (CIFF) was founded in 2004 through the Malawi Government project called Irrigation, Rural Livelihood and Agriculture Development (IRLAD) to produce maize, sugarcane, vegetables, and farmed fish. Since IRLAD ended, the farmers took full control of CIFF and chose to focus on aquaculture due to the high demand for fish in the Blantyre region. Despite the demand, the group lacked knowledge on modern fish farming practices and struggled to afford the expensive fish feed, both challenges hampered production. Therefore, CIFF requested technical assistance through the USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer program Leader of the group, Kuchonde, left, with fellow farmers soon after harvesting Fish Harvest Yields Last harvest before training (Kgs) First harvest after training (Kgs) In June 2015, CNFA fielded Farmer-to-Farmer volunteer consultant Marty Riche, a Ph.D. in aquatic animal nutrition with over 30 years of experience in aquaculture, to provide the group with technical knowledge on fish farming. Dr. Riche trained the group in pond management, production of fingerlings, breeding and reproduction, harvesting and record keeping, and health and stress management. He also trained them on all aspects of feeding: fish nutrition, diet formulation, feed production, and supplemental feeding. As a direct result of Dr. Riche s assignment, CIFF improved the management of their ponds and increased their fish harvest by 150%, compared with their harvest in early The graph on the left better illustrates the yield increases in each of the 8 ponds. Furthermore, the average price paid for each fish has increased, which contributed to a doubling of the association s profit from $2,432 in 2015 to $4,900 in After experiencing an increase in their production and sales, the farmers are eager to further scale up the business. Leveraging information from Dr. Riche s trainings, CIFF farmers have begun raising and selling their own highquality fingerlings to outside aquaculturalists. The farmers have also continued to strengthen their business management practices, hoping that the next fish harvest is even better than the last. Generally, there is a wave of optimism sweeping through CIFF - finally fish farming has become the business they hoped. We couldn t believe our eyes when we saw the sizes of some of the fish coming out of our ponds Mr. Henry Kuchonde, farmer

Farmer-to-Farmer Success Story Malawian Company Obtains a $175,000 Loan with a Convincing Business Plan Cecilia Rice founded Estrell Trading Company in 2012 with her own savings and small loans from

Ms. Rice has proven herself as a successful entrepreneur, but she is the first to admit that she lacks the accounting skills necessary to access commercial bank loans.

2 Farmer-to-Farmer Success Story Malawian Company Obtains a $175,000 Loan with a Convincing Business Plan Cecilia Rice founded Estrell Trading Company in 2012 with her own savings and small loans from friends. Ms. Rice wanted to produce peanut flour after she recognized that it is in high demand and an important nutritional supplement. Ms. Rice now employs 31 people, including 22 women, and is also producing peanut butter which she sells well throughout Malawi. Ms. Rice has proven herself as a successful entrepreneur, but she is the first to admit that she lacks the accounting skills necessary to access commercial bank loans. Through the USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer program, she sought technical assistance to convince banks that her company is a viable investment. Estrell Trading Company Owner Ceilia Rice showing off her new factory equipment In August 2015, CNFA identified Ronald Overmyer, a consultant with 30 years of experience working with agribusinesses, to create a strategic business plan to highlight the profitability of Estrell Trading Company. In April 2016, Estrell Trading company received a $175,000 loan from Business Partners International, a regional fund management company. Ms. Rice used the loan to purchase new machinery that increased the quantity and quality of their products. She bought a roasting machine, a grading machine, a sugar grinder and a peanut butter processing machine. The loan was also used to build a new warehouse, upgrade the outdated electrical system, and increase the working capital. Ms. Rice is thrilled with the new investment and sees an increase in production and growth. Estrell Trading Company now has the capacity to process 2.8 metric tons of peanuts per day, 1.6 tons more than before, and the peanut products are available now in all major supermarkets in Malawi. Some of the new processing equipment in the Estrell Trading Company factory This would not have been possible without Mr. Overmyer s help and training. He even continued working with us remotely, long after the assignment was over. Ms. Cecilia Rice, Owner and Manager

Credit and Savings Training Leads Tadzera Kulima and Surrounding Community to Financial Success Members enjoy savings and loan training in Lamego Elizabeth McGuinness in Mozambique with the two

There are 28 members, mostly women, who produce vegetables, oilseeds and cereal grains which they sell in local markets.

3 Credit and Savings Training Leads Tadzera Kulima and Surrounding Community to Financial Success Members enjoy savings and loan training in Lamego Elizabeth McGuinness in Mozambique with the two groups together Tadzera Kulima, a local name meaning we are here for farming, is a farmers association located in Lamego, in the Nhamatanda District, Mozambique. There are 28 members, mostly women, who produce vegetables, oilseeds and cereal grains which they sell in local markets. Because the members are all smallholder farmers they experienced challenges getting small loans from commercial banks; therefore, the association s board has chosen to provide smallholder farmer loans to members for production and marketing activities. In January 2016, Tadzera Kulima requested assistance through the USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer program in order to establish a credit and saving system which could be replicated by other farmers in Lamego. In May 2016, CNFA fielded Elizabeth McGuinness, an evaluation specialist with over 20 years of experience in finance and development programming, to start a saving and loan system for the association. Ms. McGuinness worked with the members and an additional 31 farmers from around Lamego to start two savings and loan groups. The first group, Tiphedzenimbo Lamego, is 25 members exclusively from Tadzera Kulima. The second group, Tikubemba Lamego, is three members from Tadzera Kulima as well as other members of the Lamego community. CNFA Mozambique also connected Ms. McGuinness with a local NGO, Association for Local Development (ADEL), who attended the trainings and provided support to the saving groups once the volunteer assignment ended. Since Ms. McGuiness s assignment, these groups meet once a week, receive regular assistance from ADEL in financial management, and have begun providing small loans with an interest rate of 10% (as compared to the 25% interest rate of loans provided by commercial banks) to group members. Only six months after Ms. McGuinness visit, members of Tadzera Kulima saved about $720 and given out $493 worth of farmer s loans to expand production and increase efficiency. We want to be a rural micro-finance institution to improve the welfare of members of our community and we are moving toward this goal Mr. Zito, President of Tadzera Kulima

Farm Profit Soars after Market Planning and Record Keeping Training Associação dos Camponeses do Terceiro Bairro de Nhamatanda is a farmers association located in Nhamatanda Village, Mozambique.

household consumption and sales. In 2015, the association produced about 150 tons of different products.

4 Farm Profit Soars after Market Planning and Record Keeping Training Associação dos Camponeses do Terceiro Bairro de Nhamatanda is a farmers association located in Nhamatanda Village, Mozambique. The association is comprised of 24 members, including 14 women, who work on an area of 75 Ha to produce legumes (peanuts, pigeon peas, common beans, and cowpeas), vegetables, sesame and cereal for household consumption and sales. In 2015, the association produced about 150 tons of different products. Kevin Andrezejewski (center, hands up) with Terceiro Bairro members after receiving their certificates Terceiro Bairro members organizing the financial committee The assoication has high potential to sell produce at a high price because the fields are located along a major highway and members can use the 108 square meter warehouse for crop storage. However, the a lack of knowledge on marketing and recordkeeping limits the association. In April 2016, CNFA sent Kevin Andrezejewski, a global supply chain manager from Colorado, to work with the association. Mr. Andrezejewski trained members on how to improve their market strategy by conducting a market survey, providing tools for the host to access larger clients and trained members how to best establish a pricing systems for their crops. Since the association also requested assistance with recordkeeping, he created a finanical committee and trained the committee members to better monitor production and sales over time. Through the assistance of the CNFA volunteer consultant, the association is now selling to larger-scale clients at a higher price point. One of the biggest successes of the association is their newly established system of purchasing legumes from nearby farmers, storing the crops in their warehouse and selling the legumes in bulk when demand is high. The assistance from the volunteer consultant more than doubled the association s gross sales. In 2015, the association sold about 29 tons of legumes with a gross sale value of $10,600. In 2016, after Mr. Andrezejewski s visit, the farm sold about 76 tons of legumes with a gross sale value of $23,733. Overall, the farmers credit a lot of their success to Mr. Andrezejewski and the USAIDfunded Farmer-to-Farmer program for improving their buying and selling power and enhancing their adversitising methods. The CNFA F2F volunteer gave us the tools to leverage our sales and to maximize underutilization of our warehouse Mr. Airone Isaias Joaquim, President of Terceiro Bairro

Volunteer Assistance Transforms Falumbamba Farm in Mbanza Kongo, Angola The Falumbamba Farm is a multi-operational farm that provides agricultural goods and services to Zaire Province, Angola, and

The farm also provides services to the surrounding community, including land preparation, technical assistance on food production practices and housing construction.

because they had no strategic plan and had issues with pests and diseases.

5 Volunteer Assistance Transforms Falumbamba Farm in Mbanza Kongo, Angola The Falumbamba Farm is a multi-operational farm that provides agricultural goods and services to Zaire Province, Angola, and employment to the surrounding community. The farm produces a wide variety of crops on about 1280 hectares (only 20% of the farm) which is sold to markets in Luanda, Soyo and M Banza Kongo. The farm also provides services to the surrounding community, including land preparation, technical assistance on food production practices and housing construction. Janet Buresh training on business management methods Healthy and productive watermelon fields Founded in 2013, Falumbamba Farm is one of the biggest farms in M Banza Kongo, but growth was constrained because they had no strategic plan and had issues with pests and diseases. Falumbamba wanted technical assistance through the USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer program which resulted in assistance from two volunteer consultants Louise Swartzwalder, a private farmer from Ohio, and Janet Buresh, a business consultant from Washington, D.C. In February 2016, Louise Swartzwalder trained the farm workers on modern production practices to increase soil health and decrease the spread of diseases. As a farm owner who produces a variety of fruits and vegetables, Ms. Swartzwalder provided practical recommendations to improve seed selection, decrease the spread of disease by properly disposing weeds and install a drip irrigation system instead of surface irrigation, and encouraging the use of greenhouses to produce fruits and vegetables through the dry season. In May 2016, Janet Buresh provided assistance with their business management. Ms. Buresh, a returning F2F volunteer consultant, worked directly with the farm owner to research profitable on-farm activities, including expanding the cattle herd, raising and selling chickens, and expanding cassava production in order to sell in bulk to large clients. By the end of the assignment, they created a 5-year strategic business plan that included a production plan, a market strategy and financial record keeping templates. Cassava harvest from F.A. Lumbamba fields Falumbamba s owner confirmed that the F2F volunteer assistance led to a significant increase in farm production. For example, the area for maize cultivation increased from four to nine hectares, beans increased from four to eight hectares and green leafy vegetables increased from two to five hectares. The cassava harvest increased by 300 tons, per year resulting in a sales increase to $268,000 from cassava and $90,000 from fruit and vegetable harvests per year. We recognize that working without modern methods is not productive. We re now happy because we gained practical knowledge from CNFA volunteers. Falumbamba, owner

Land Mechanization Training Transforms Tumbi-Kongo Farmers Association Tumbi-Kongo farmers association is in the Tomboco area of Zaire Province in Angola, a region with great agricultural potential

The association currently has 12 members and produces bananas, pineapples, oranges, cassava, beans, maize and green leafy vegetables on 35 hectares of land.

Cooperrider showing a Tumbi-Kongo tractor operator how to plow with the cooperative s new tractor After the harvest, women from Tomboco and surrounding villages buy fruit and other produce from the

6 Land Mechanization Training Transforms Tumbi-Kongo Farmers Association Tumbi-Kongo farmers association is in the Tomboco area of Zaire Province in Angola, a region with great agricultural potential because of its fertile soil, access to water and provincial demand for fruits and vegetables. The association currently has 12 members and produces bananas, pineapples, oranges, cassava, beans, maize and green leafy vegetables on 35 hectares of land. CNFA F2F volunteer Robert Cooperrider training Tumbi-Kongo members on plowing and harrowing techniques Mr. Cooperrider showing a Tumbi-Kongo tractor operator how to plow with the cooperative s new tractor After the harvest, women from Tomboco and surrounding villages buy fruit and other produce from the Tumbi-Kongo farmer s association Tumbi-Kongo has a tractor to prepare the land for planting that members also lease out to nearby farmers for additional income, however the members of the association and others in Tomboco did not know how to properly operate and maintain the tractor. Through the USAID-funded Farmer-to-Farmer program, the association s board requested training on land preparation techniques. In October 2014, CNFA fielded Robert Cooperrider, an expert in farm mechanization with 12 years of experience as a private farm owner. Mr. Cooperrider provided training on basic tractor operation, maintenance and storage to ensure that it could be used for many years. He also trained members on tractor usage to improve farming practices, including requirements for field operations and how to plow to save time and money. Through Mr. Cooperrider s assistance, both production and sales increased for the association. The president of Tumbi-Kongo confirmed a 56% increase in the production of fruits and vegetables and a 100% increase in sales since the assignment. The association has also increased the cultivated area from 35 hectares in 2014 to 42 hectares in 2016 and they intend to further increase the cultivated area next year. The knowledge gained on proper tractor usage and maintenance allowed the association to grow and has also improved the members quality of life. Our tractor operators now work more carefully and are doing maintenance following the training from the F2F volunteer. Now we do more work faster and longer Pedro Miguel Nunes, President of Tumbi Kongo.

Case Study: High-Value Horticulture

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