Wed, 03 May 2017 10:43:43 +0000
By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
OVER 335,000 smallholder farmers have purchased farming inputs from firms that invested in extensive distribution networks for products to rural areas between 2012 and 2016.
According to Musika, the smallholder farmers had purchased inputs from 28 of its client firms that had invested in extensive distribution networks for products to rural communities between 2012 and 2016.
Musika Development Initiative Zambia public relations manager, Pamela Hamasaka, said a total of 2,131 agro-dealers, agents and sales representatives were developed to increase smallholder access to seed, fertiliser, agrochemicals and farm equipment during the period under review.
Ms Hamasaka said Musika also assisted farmers with technical information necessary to encourage adoption of productivity-enhancing technologies in order to maximize the benefit of their usage.
She was speaking in an interview at the just-ended Agritech Expo held at Golden Valley Agricultural Research Trust (GART) in Chisamba from April 27 to 29 2017.
“The value of these commodities has risen sharply with the private sector offering competitive market prices that have given smallholders the confidence to diversify their production.
“Over 3,000 smallholder farmers had sold commodities into improved output markets between 2012 and 2016, with increased participation by women supplying mostly legumes through out-grower schemes,” she said.
She said while the input markets still heavily focused on maize, Musika had supported the development of supportive supply chain relationships between buyers and smallholder farmers in 12 non-maize commodities, including soya beans, groundnuts, sorghum, beans, cassava, rice and cow peas.
Ms Hamasaka said about 20,000 farmers were working with the various agro-dealers in the value chains, some of which had not been formalised before, like cassava.
She said as a result of the various interventions implemented with private sector partners in the input and output markets, Musika anticipated that the smallholder sector would see a robust growth in non-maize crops in the 2017 harvest.
“As an organisation that stimulates and supports private sector investment in the smallholder market, Musika’s interventions have increased access to seed for diverse and resilient crops such as sorghum and legumes.
“It has also improved access to transparent and assured markets for a diverse range of agricultural products. Other interventions include support to weather insurance, irrigation and post-harvest technology sectors,” she said.
