Re: [wanabidii] Why African agriculture still depends on the 'middle man' — or woman

Thank youYona.
I wish the information tels us the price Nkaka gives those farmers whether she considers the cost of production plus profit. In most of cases these so called middlemen dont consider that hence the feeling of exploitation.
Muhingo
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On Wed, 10/5/16, Yona Maro <oldmoshi@gmail.com> wrote:

Subject: [wanabidii] Why African agriculture still depends on the 'middle man' — or woman
To: "Alexander Wostry" <lexlife@gmx.at>, "Janet Maro" <janetmaro@gmail.com>, "Africanhero@yahoogroups.com" <Africanhero@yahoogroups.com>, "AfriCanID@yahoogroups.com" <AfriCanID@yahoogroups.com>, "All Nigerians In Diaspora" <NigerianID@yahoogroups.com>, "kenyaonline@yahoogroups.com" <kenyaonline@yahoogroups.com>, "malawi_lawsociety@googlegroups.com" <malawi_lawsociety@googlegroups.com>, "naijaintellects" <naijaintellects@googlegroups.com>, "NigeriansnCanada" <NigeriansnCanada@yahoogroups.com>, "Nigerianworldforum" <NIgerianWorldForum@yahoogroups.com>, "Richard Gowi (Richard, Legal Affairs)" <richard.gowi@huawei.com>, "talkhard@yahoogroups.com" <talkhard@yahoogroups.com>, "USAAfricaDialogue" <USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>, "wanabidii" <wanabidii@googlegroups.com>, "wanakenya@googlegroups.com" <wanakenya@googlegroups.com>, "wanataaluma@googlegroups.com" <wanataaluma@googlegroups.com>, "Wanazuoni" <wanazuoni@yahoogroups.com>, "youngprofessionals_ke@googlegroups.com" <youngprofessionals_ke@googlegroups.com>
Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2016, 1:12 PM

"Agro-vet" is painted in
block lettering on squat concrete buildings every few
kilometers on the bumpy four-hour drive from Nairobi to
Meru. The small shops sell feed, fertilizer, livestock
products and other crucial inputs for smallholder farmers in
the surrounding area.  Drive further off the main road into
Kenya's banana, maize, mango, sorghum and millet farming
country, though, and the input businesses become few and far
between.It's there,
far from anything that could be mistaken for urban, where
Beatrice Nkatha set up shop. In 2009, Nkatha founded Sorghum
Pioneer Agencies in the Mukothima marketplace of Tharaka
Nithi county, a tooth-rattling 40 kilometer drive from Meru
town center.She
supplies quality inputs like seed and fertilizer to farmers,
and also buys their harvest, which is stored in one of her
50 aggregation centers in the surrounding area until it is
sold in bulk to buyers such as East Africa Breweries.
Business at her agro-vet — along with her 40 smaller
franchises in the surrounding 35 kilometers — is booming,
she told Devex.Nkatha
is effectively a "middle man" — or woman — in the
agriculture value chain, and is part of a movement supported
by organizations such as the Alliance for a Green Revolution
in Africa to strengthen key links in the chain.Traditionally a middle man role in
business is considered one of exploitation, and certainly
those fears exist with the agro-vet, also known throughout
sub-Saharan Africa as an agro-dealer, who has the power to
profit from rather than benefit local smallholders. But
Nkatha's network of agro-input shops, for example, have
greatly reduced the distance farmers need to travel to buy
inputs, and her guaranteed purchase of produce, which she is
able to aggregate to wait for more favorable pricing to sell
in bulk, means local smallholders can count on the sales;
last year she bought over 800 metric tons of sorghum, green
grams and cowpeas. If run wisely, the middle man role of
rural agro-vets may not one to cut out — and not only
because they provide a means of spreading agricultural best
practices and delivering new technologies to farmers. Seed
and other input suppliers are increasingly relying on rural
agro-dealer hubs to sell their stock.Link:https://www.devex.com/news/why-african-agriculture-still-depends-on-the-middle-man-or-woman-88799
--

Yona Fares Maro
Institut
d'études de sécurité - SA







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