e3 Anchor Farms

Smallholder farmers - the most poor and food insecure, characterised with low productivity - need to increase production by 60% to feed the world by 2050 (FAO, 2012). Access to productive inputs and services including markets require farmers to operate collectively. Even though supported with collective structures, over 2 million farmers in Malawi are unable to leverage on 90% of the available structures. Weak leaderships and coordination underly varying attributing factors across farmer organisations. Worthwhile, underutilised collective marketing structures entice a hybrid model of aggregating and contract farming for quality and sustainability-oriented markets. These farms would engage local farmer organisations and creditors to foster and support sustainable production and decentralised aggregation for export markets using improved, diverse plus eco-farming approaches, digital tools and communal warehouses. This will strengthen farmer organisations to facilitate marginal farmers access to productive inputs, services and profitable prices, to improve their productivity, food-nutrition sufficiency and incomes.

To feed the world in 2050, smallholder farmers need to increase production by 60% (FAO, 2012). Smallholder farmers contribute to 75% of world food production yet comprise the most poor and food insecure. They are characterised by low productivity that is perpetuated by lack of access to quality inputs, improved technologies and formal markets, compounded by resource degradation and climate change. Fragmented nature and income gaps expose them to exploitative traders. We need a sustainable agri-food system able to improve the producer and feed the same, otherwise they benefit less from farming. It is proven that smallholders require to operate collectively to access productive inputs and services, including formal markets. In Malawi, farmers have been supported with collective structures that include communal warehouses, value addition centres and farmer organisations frameworks. Contrary, of over 920 registered cooperatives, only estimated 20% are operational and less than 3% access formal off-take markets. Estimated 90% of over 150 donated communal warehouses are under- or not operating. Weak leaderships and coordination underly varying attributing factors across different farmer organisations. Over 2 million farmers have no access to productive inputs, services and formal markets despite exposed to such opportunities and efforts.

Our mission is to strengthen farmer organisations capacity with export-oriented e-coordinated ecological (e3) anchor farms and decentralised aggregation to improve farmers productivity, food-nutrition sufficiency and incomes. As an aggregator, we are establishing anchor farms that engage local farmer organisations (LFOs) and creditors to foster and support sustainable production and decentralised aggregation for an identified export/quality-oriented market using improved plus diverse and ecological farming approaches, digital tools and communal warehouses. Our process takes the following steps;

1. Strengthening or restructuring LFOs management with key personnel (in finance, digital applications, leadership) to manage anchor farms and out-growers to satisfy requirements of and engage quality-oriented buyers and creditors

2. Integrated financing of LFOs by outsourcing credit/funds for distribution of quality inputs, designing eco-farming system and decentralised aggregation  

3. e-coordination or ICT-based/digital extension and monitoring on improved and sustainable practices (using solar-powered projectors and smartphones/tablets for geo-spatial, agronomic and communication/media applications) for cost-efficient central production coordination of multiple distant anchor farms

4. Decentralised aggregation, grading and delivery to satisfy high value markets through the communal warehouses.

Inaccessibility to quality inputs and improved practices keep marginal farmers' productivity low. According to FAO, African farmers under-produce at an average of 1.2 tons/ha of cereals compared to 3 tons/ha for farmers in developed countries. In Malawi, marginal farmers are 60% net buyers of maize, which they sell at lower prices after harvest, re-enforcing poverty and hunger. We tempted to facilitate collective marketing using an online model. We learnt that marginal farmers hardly use collective marketing structures. This is why the e3 anchor farms model was developed with intensive practical interventions and integration. In this model, we are providing LFOs with high quality seeds plus other inputs, cash credit and digital extension/monitoring for marginal farmers to produce quality high yields. The cash credit and e-coordination would also facilitate decentralised aggregation, grading and delivery through communal warehouses, to satisfy high value markets and incur premium prices. Diverse and eco-farming components would enhance access to sufficient nutritious foods, along with regeneration and conservation of land, water and climate. These factors will enable LFOs to improve productivity and food-nutrition sufficiency  of marginal farmers, and protect them from exploitative traders, therefore improving their farm incomes.

With poor access to quality inputs, improved technologies and markets, smallholders will not be able to feed the growing population. Access to productive inputs and services including markets require farmers to operate collectively. The e3 achor farms model is expected to strengthen more than 1000 organisations serving at least 1,000,000 marginal farmers in Malawi by 2025. The digital network is expected to allow inclusion of remotest farmers. The holistic multicropping and eco-farming designs will transform rural agro-landscapes into highly productive and climate-smart, sustainable or resilient farms amid population growth.

The e3 anchor model is an inclusive and cost-effective model of improving marginal farmers productivity, food sufficiency and incomes. It takes a unique approach by inserting educated capacities within farmers, not as employees or extension workers, but as part of farmers. It strives to make at least one village member efficiently digital literate. These individuals are expected to provide digital coordination that cuts cost of extension workers. The model also out-competes exploitative traders that governments have failed to control or eliminate.

The e3 anchor farms model is driven by e-coordination component. This is provision of extension and monitoring of farming activities through combination of solar-powered projectors and smartphones/tablets. The e-coordinators use the projectors to deliver internet-generated content to the farmers directly while using existing advanced geo-spatial, agronomic and communication applications to report field activities. Even the two gadgets have been used in agricultural extension, they have never been used simultaneously and by local personnel (farmer representative) intensively.

Solar-powered projectors and smartphones are now being widely used in agricultural extension. Accessagriculture.com provides extension videos in vernacular languages.

Inputs

1. Strengthening farmer organisations

2. Integrated financing

3. e-coordination

4. Decentralised aggregation

Outputs

1. Local Farmer Organisations able to organise anf manage anchor farms and out-growers

2. Marginal farmers grow uniform, high quality seeds and diverse foods efficiently and protect farm lands, water resources from degradation while reducing carbon emissions

3. Local Farmer Organisations aggregate, grade and deliver high quality commodities that satisfy high value markets

Outcomes

Local Farmer Organisations able to improve marginal farmers productivity, food sufficiency and incomes.

In this firt year, we are going to be serving 10,000 marginal farmers.

We want to serve 1,000,000 farmers by 2025

Our goal in the next one year is to establish a sustainable business model by creating strong funding and market relationships.

In five years time, we want to expand our scale to all three regions of Malawi with the profits we are going to make every year. Out business model aims to make more profits from export markets.

Lack of access to credit or finance institutions is our major barrier.

We plan to create more chances of accessing credit or financing through maximizing our visibility. Wr aim to invest in both mainstream and social media to present our capacity and impact.

Our team consists of three business partners.

Our team is composed of creative, dedicated and self-motivated individuals.

As a founder, I have a certificate in Agricultural Policy Formulation, Review and Analysis and another in social entrepreneurship.

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