Rwanda
Program Highlights
Group Formation
Community Agribusiness Partners focuses on the power of the group in the agriculture sector as it relates to revenue and resilience. As groups, individual small-scale farmers come together and leverage collective benefits. Groups engage in knowledge-sharing, and risk-sharing through collaborative production and aggregation, resulting in larger yields, increased market bargaining power, reduced administrative costs, and social and financial safety nets.
At the request of cooperatives partners, a company - East Umuhinzi Company (EUC) was formed. 22 farmer cooperatives in the Eastern Province are members. EUC supports farmer cooperatives to build long-term relationships between themselves, and between agricultural stakeholders, and strengthening farmer groups bargaining power.
Self Assessment & Learning
Farmer groups collaborate to conduct internal assessments of their needs and capacities, working collectively to identify and address supply challenges through community-based solutions. Solutions focus on systems such as improved governance, aggregation, logistics, marketing, and business development gaps. To enhance their operations, larger finance-oriented groups, like cooperatives, prioritize access to finance, utilizing a graduated loan program to establish a credit history. They also leverage information on supply and market dynamics related to producer groups to support operations and market positioning. By identifying and understanding these gaps, farmer groups can use their resources more effectively and efficiently to address these issues in a targeted manner. This allows them to participate more actively in agribusiness and improve access to supply and output markets.
Partnership Development
Community Agribusiness Partners focus on creating linkages between farmer groups and key agribusiness partners. Groups/cooperatives are introduced to and develop relationships with essential supply chain partners, including financiers, input suppliers and agro-dealers, local/regional commodity buyers, and support providers such as government agricultural extension services. The purpose is to establish these direct connections and promote relationship development so farmer groups and cooperatives can access crucial productive resources such as supplies, capital, advisory services, and market information, enhancing their ability to consistently sell quality products at competitive prices. Furthermore, to create an environment in which farming communities have a more significant voice and influence in decision-making processes, shaping policies and practices that are more attuned to their specific needs, influencing the terms of their participation, and negotiating for better conditions.
OUR IMPACT
260% increase
in high quality maize sales to markets after aflatoxin reduction and post-harvest loss training
22 coops
make up the East Umuhinzi Company - a farmer cooperative owned company focused on seed production and increased bargaining power of farming communities
10,000 seed producers
trained and certified to meet the local demand for high quality planting material