Three years ago, I was privileged to speak with more than 100 students at a local University in Ghana during a Youth Summit Day. The topic was about "Agribusiness Opportunities for African Youth ". I began to ask them about the difference between agriculture and agribusiness. Most of the answers were - sadly- related to rain-fed production mainly by [...]
How demonstration plots boosted knowledge – and use – of fertilizer. In the lush Southern Highlands of Tanzania lies the country’s breadbasket. Here, maize, potatoes and sunflowers are grown among the rolling hills and verdant valleys. This is why Leonard Rubuye decided to start up Rubuye Agro-Business Co, a hub agrodealer, in the Njombe region in [...]
A supplier credit guarantee helps everyone on the agro value chain To understand what Julius and Sarah Towo set out to accomplish when they opened their business in 1992, you have to know some KiSwahili. Rafiki Kilimo translates as agricultural friend, which is what Rafiki Kilimo Agrovet wanted to be to farmers in Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro region. [...]
Creative financing helped an hub-agrodealer’s business increase dramatically. Rose Joseph Assenga (Mama Assenga as she is fondly called) had been a banker for 12 years before she started her own business in the Moshi district of Tanzania, on the lower slopes of Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain. “When I left the bank, I started wondering what business [...]
A small business selling farmers’ surplus crops grows into a major fertilizer distributor. Sikadza Kokha Lda is a hub agrodealer in Mozambique’s Tete province owned by Mr. Jonas Jacob Lazaro, a 35-year-old father of five. “I come from a poor family of farmers and I was forced to quit my studies at grade 5 because my [...]
A cooperative society evolves into a major fertilizer distributor in a flood-hit region In 2010 and 2012 heavy rains hit the Chokwé district of Mozambique’s southern Gaza province, leaving more than 10,000 people destitute. Most of them were smallholder farmers. In an effort to reclaim their livelihoods, these farmers got together with partner organizations, including the [...]
A seed-multiplication business grows into a successful hub-agrodealer and commodity trader. During Mozambique’s civil war, Mr. Peter Waziweyi moved his family to Zimbabwe, where they lived and worked for many years. But he always wanted to return home, so when the war ended he did just that. The family acquired land in Báruè District, and started [...]
How a full-service Seed Shop is helping farmers grow their crops – and their incomes. “Agriculture has always been my passion,” says Mrs. Afia Owusu-Nyantaki, the owner of the Seed Shop in Gomoa East, in Ghana’s Central Region. “I used to buy and sell vegetable and flower seeds.” That was 12 years ago. Now, as Mrs. [...]
Building on experience and know-how in Ghana’s breadbasket. It hasn’t been an easy few years for farmers in the eastern region of Ghana. While the Afram Plains region is known for its agricultural potential – its mountainous areas and lush lowlands offer ideal conditions for vegetable, maize and rice farming, the unpredictable rainfall in Ghana’s breadbasket [...]
How a former midwife turned a small fertilizer shop into a $3 million a year agribusiness. After many years as a midwife, in 1997 Mrs. Elizabeth Dwamena opened a small shop in Techiman, a vibrant and bustling market town in the Brong Ahafo region of southern Ghana. It was a good place to start. The centrally [...]
