A panel of representatives of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the agriculture sector has called for cooperation among SMEs to enhance the value chain in food production in the continent.
The representatives made the call in a panel discussion at the ongoing 2020 virtual summit of the African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) hosted by Rwanda.
The panel discussion tagged: “Integrating African Food Systems through the Lens of SME Champions’’ was moderated by Atsuko Toda, a top official with the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The main objective of the session was to tell the African food system and agriculture value chain stories through the voice of the movers in the SMEs space.
Panelists responded to questions raised by Toda, who is also the Director, Agricultural Finance and Rural Infrastructure Development Department, AfDB.
Mrs Patricia Yao, a social entrepreneur and founder of Canaan Land, an agribusiness, stressed the need to have “SMEs cooperation” to enhance the value chain in agricultural production.
Yao said the process of SMEs getting support from large corporate companies “was difficult and took longer”.
“SMEs cooperation is easier because SMEs have flexibility,” she said.
Mr Samir Ibrahim, the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of SunCulture said there was the need to develop win-win solutions to lower barriers to SMEs financing.
“SunCulture is a company that sells affordable solar-powered irrigation solutions to smallholder farmers.
“I think the key to accelerating transformation in the entire food system, so that Africa can feed the world, is accessibility.
“The biggest barrier to accessibility at this time, especially as we navigate the global pandemic, is affordability.
“Solutions exist. We have the opportunity to provide proven and successful financial instruments and food security solutions but we need everyone on board.”
Ibrahim said that multilateral companies, government and private agencies had to cooperate to take the solutions to hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers.
He said that industry players needed to push education and awareness across sub-Saharan Africa which required efforts of all participants.
“We need to make a case for specific government backed interventions that are advantageous to customers so we increase their incomes so that private sector companies and governments alike can benefit from.”
Another participant, Mr Ayodeji Balogun, the Chief Executive Officer of AFEX Commodities Exchange Ltd., highlighted the need for market productivity to access funds.
Balogun’s company leverages technology, innovative finance, and inclusive agriculture to connect agriSMEs and smallholder farmers to commodity and financial markets.
He said that increased productivity, increased access to finance and market access needed to be done simultaneously to create a systemic change across the value chain.
He urged development partners to “help SMEs shape their strategies to be inclusive enough that results are met.”
“Donors need to understand that when they are engaging with private players, programmes need to fit within the strategy of the corporate, not the other way around.
“You do not get corporate to change the strategy every two years for your interventions. We need a lot more empathy.”
Furthermore, Mr Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu, a farmer and social entrepreneur called for increased investment in infrastructure to transform the food system and provide safe nutritious food in Africa.
Ikegwuonu, who is also the Executive Director of Smallholders Foundation Ltd. and Founder the CEO of ColdHubs Ltd., said infrastructure would support all seasonal production to ensure a robust supply chain.
The AfDB representative said that the interventions raised by the panlists would be “cystalised into policy messages that we will certainly take forward”.
“What is extremely interesting about this session is that there is a lot of resonance about the challenges but what was very clear is that the companies on this platform definitely have solutions.
“We (AGRF and AfDB) really want to make SMEs the linchpin of African agriculture.
“We see the importance of the roles that you play, the risks you take and really to be able to give much more visibility so that policy makers understand the granularities of the challenges you are facing,” Toda said.
