How can supply chain partnerships scale up sustainable farming in Africa?

To enable smallholder farmers to rise to the challenge of feeding Africa and the world beyond by 2050, supply chain partners must come together to provide financing, information and farming support

Over the coming decades, smallholder farmers throughout Africa will play a pivotal role in supporting the continent’s economic development and enabling food security. However, these farmers currently face numerous constraints that hinder their productivity and profitability. Challenges include a lack of support and access to resources such as financing, technology, inputs and markets.

Accelerating Africa’s regenerative agricultural transformation requires a farmer-centric, ecosystem-led approach that involves actors across the whole value chain. Impactful partnerships and collaborations between farmers, governments, developmental organisations, entrepreneurs, food companies and other stakeholders can yield innovative solutions to help smallholder farmers overcome this complex set of constraints. Access to resources and opportunities through resilient value chains is essential to optimising profitability and improving smallholder livelihoods.

To discuss these issues Bayer Crop Science and Innovation Forum convened a webinar, bringing together stakeholders who contribute to the smallholder ecosystem, to find solutions for scale.

To follow is a summary of the key points, challenges and solutions discussed. To watch the webinar recording, including the live audience Q&A session, click here. You can also watch a French translation here. The discussion is also available to listen to as a podcast here.

Discussion summary

Smallholder farmers are under enormous pressure from worsening climate change impacts such as increasing heat and extreme weather events, which threaten soil health, crop yield and farmer livelihoods altogether.
Simultaneously, smallholder farmers will play a major role in feeding an increasing African – and global – population.
In addition to not depleting natural resources or increasing carbon emissions, African smallholders have the opportunity to replenish soils, sequester carbon and increase yields in the long-term, through a transition to regenerative farming.
Farmer-centric, ecosystem-led approaches focus on collective commitments that bring together value-chain actors to sustainably enhance the economic and social wellbeing of smallholder farmers. Such partnerships are a key component of implementing and scaling solutions.
Fragmented value-chains have historically led to a lack of decisive leadership on issues such as: who pays for sustainable agriculture? who supports farmer education? and, who protects and enhances their livelihoods?
Actors must focus more on what the farmer needs. In the past, solutions have been unpopular with farmers and therefore have not stayed in place beyond support and funding from external organisations.
Not all smallholders will go on the journey towards sustainable agriculture – the focus must be on engaging and equipping those who are willing to see sustainable farming as a business opportunity.

The panel discussion focused around three broad areas of the smallholder farmer ecosystem: financing, education and information, and farming.

Financing

Challenges

Large-scale challenges include harvest losses, floods, droughts, increased pests and disease pressures – all being exacerbated by climate change. These result in loss of yield, and consequently can jeopardise farmer livelihoods.
Farmers can’t afford the drop in yield that occurs during the first few years of the transition to regenerative agriculture.
Farmers often can’t afford the right inputs to increase soil health and yield.
Fragmented value chains have resulted in a lack of leadership, and answers to the key question – who pays?
Agriculture is not a financially enticing or even viable career for many young farmers in Africa. For agricultural production to meet demand, the younger generation must be empowered to pick up the mantle.

Solutions

Supply chain partners (in the private sector) can allow farmers to save money on inputs and buy these at the end of a year. Farmers can then access inputs through savings.
Farmers could save on three main inputs into Africa – fuel, fertiliser and food – if these could be sourced locally. Partners from other sectors can come in to provide the financing.
Partners must support farmers with financing during the transition to regenerative agriculture – for instance, with long-term contracts.
Blended finance can be offered by partners, and linked to the achievement of measurable sustainable outcomes by farmers.
Government must provide incentives for private sector actors to step in and invest, creating access to market for farmers. This could create opportunities for thousands of farmers to engage in the value chain. Supply-chain actors can support the shaping of these incentives.
Financing can also be directed towards scaling tech innovation, such as solar powered irrigation kits, remote-sensing technology and increased biogas production.
Carbon markets can provide an income stream for farmers in the future, so long as they are well regulated, and farmers are equipped with the tools and knowledge to participate.
Streamlining supply-chains to cut out unnecessary intermediaries can allow more of the profits can filter down to the grower level.

Educating and informing

Challenges

African farmers lack sufficient education and information on issues such as: 1) how to test soil; 2) the right sustainable fertilisers to use; 3) how to access financing for sustainable farming
Farmers lack real-time information on weather patterns, pests and diseases that will impact their crops
Farmers lack information on how to benefit from the sale of carbon credits, and payment for wider ecosystem services
Women farmers are often left out of decision-making and important conversations on sustainable farming

Solutions

Large commercial farmers can support the missing middle and smallholder farmers through providing advice, field days on their farmers and showcasing innovations. These commercial farmers must be incentivised and supported by supply chain actors.
Partnerships with media stakeholders can help farmers to receive relevant information on a regular basis.
Initiatives can better utilise media and data – for instance by providing simple, instructional videos on sustainable farming techniques through simple communication, for example via WhatsApp groups. Extension workers can then follow-through with support for farmers on the ground.
Farmers will need to be given the right information to understand how they can work within carbon markets and sell credits for an extra income stream.
Women farmers must be empowered and included in conversations / stakeholder engagement efforts around scaling sustainable farming solutions

Farming

Challenges

Projections show that feeding a world population of 9.1 billion in 2050 will require raising overall food production by around 705 [?] between 2007 and 2050. This puts pressure on the smallholder farmers responsible for 80% of total food production in developing countries.
Damaging practices linked to industrial agriculture have degraded soils, which continue to decrease in organic matter content. This process is being worsened by rising temperatures and erratic weather phenomena.
Government agricultural extension services for farmers in many African companies are limited.

Solutions

Ecosystem approaches that enable collective commitments between value-chain actors can scale regenerative outcomes to increase yield over the long-term.
A balance must be struck between regenerating resource bases in Africa through sustainable farming techniques, and ensuring that the stewards, or the farmers, can earn a living.
Private sector actors can add to agricultural extension services provided by government.
SMEs working directly with farmers on the ground can be empowered to provide further support by value chain partners. They can be there at the “last mile” to provide extension services and advice.
Sustainable management of soils can increase organic matter content.
Support must be formed around what farmers really need. This way, solutions are more likely to last beyond the duration of implementation projects by external partners.

Webinar panel

Sheila Komen Keino, sustain Africa regional lead, east and southern Africa, AFAP
Anthony Kioko, CEO, Cereal Growers Association
Alan Johnson, senior operations officer, IFC
Everlyn Musyoka, smallholder strategy lead, Africa, Bayer Crop Science
The discussion was led by Innovation Forum’s Toby Webb