David Sanga is a 65 year old resident of the Mbingu Village in the Kilombero District in Tanzania." David Sanga is a 65 year old resident of the Mbingu Village in the Kilombero District in Tanzania. David has been a cocoa farmer for more than ten years. Before Kokoa Kamili (KK) appeared in Mbingu, David sold his cocoa harvest to ‘Mocoa’, an organic cocoa out-growers association. As there was little competition for his produce, prices were determined by Mocoa and were non-negotiable. With little information on real market prices and the additional expense of having to take his produce to ‘buyer’ collection points, his farming business was a subsistence exercise characterized by insecurity and hardship, especially during the dry season when there was little to sell. When Kokoa Kamili begun their project in September 2014 in Mbingu, they introduced a healthy element of competition offering not only significantly higher prices for a better grade of cocoa but a collection service for ‘wet’ cocoa, at no extra charge. This additional service had not been an option before, but it not only simplified the process of getting his cocoa to market, but also significantly reduced his costs and the time spent organizing sales. The Sanga family had also been growing rice, maize and bananas on their small-holding, production having been expanded over the past five years to cover three plots in Mbingu. David also produces a wide range of fruits and vegetables to support the dietary needs of his family. Aside from...

TMA partnered with Uganda’s NUCAFE to invest in a coffee roasting machine. This enabled farmers to process coffee beans, ultimately increasing the value of their produce by 30% as compared to selling raw unprocessed beans. NUCAFE seeks to improve the lives of coffee farmers by promoting a farmer ownership model. The model holds that farmers should own their product throughout the value chain, from the coffee beans to the final export product. For a long time, farmers were only “custodians of coffee” says Joseph Nkandu the Executive Director of Nucafe, one of TMA’s partner in Uganda. They sold raw coffee to cooperatives, where it was de-husked, sorted and graded. At each stage of the value chain, the price of coffee increased but the growers only received payment for the minimum value at the first stage. In the 1990s, the Ugandan government liberalized the coffee industry meaning private buyers could now compete with cooperatives to buy raw coffee from farmers. By 1993, unable to compete, cooperatives collapsed, leaving farmers in disarray. Power of one To bridge the gap, NUCAFE undertook research that revealed farmers were largely ignorant of coffee beyond the trees in their farms. With the survey results, NUCAFE drew up a five-year strategic plan that centred on training and creating awareness amongst farmers. Organizing farmers into associations and cooperatives, followed, with the agreement that cooperatives would maximize income for members. And so, began the farmer owner business model which is changing the face of the Uganda coffee industry. Steps...

If you wanted to transform 1,500 families in Tanzania, where would you start? How about with a cup of chocolate? By helping cocoa farmers in Tanzania access the market profitably, TMA’s Challenge Fund, beneficiary Kokoa Kamili is transforming their lives for the long term. 65 year old David Sanga lives in Mbingu Village in the Kilombero District of Tanzania and has grown cocoa for over ten years. Before every bean reaches the market, David must ensure that he has the right seedlings, that the trees are pruned, weeding done, the soil fertilised and the crop is free from pests for him to harvest a good crop. The crop should be delivered to collection centres which are set up for aggregation to ensure efficient access to markets. The buyers must offer him a competitive price for his cocoa beans for the practice to support his family. Thus, before the hot chocolate lands in your cup, there is a complex behind the scenes infrastructure that makes it possible. Kokoa Kamili is ensuring these behind the scenes activities benefit the farmers. Kokoa Kamili begun their project in Bingu in September 2014 after establishing that few cocoa buyers meant that local cocoa beans fetched poor prices comparative to other areas. The prices set by out-growers’ associations were also predetermined and non-negotiable. Transport costs to the collection points meant a further dip in farmers' profits. Poor seedlings affected the amount of produce down the line. Kokoa Kamili's mixed approach offers free collection services for wet...

It’s a long way from Makerere University in Uganda’s capital Kampala to the rural district of Yumbe, in the north-west of the country, bordering South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Approximately 600 KM. The two places are also separated by climate, topography and, significantly, socio-economic status. It’s fitting then, that they are drawn together by an exciting new enterprise started by Makerere academics, which they hope will bring income and employment to their northern compatriots. Makerere University is the oldest institution of higher learning in East Africa and has a prestigious reputation. It sits on top of one of Kampala’s hills, overlooking the city and is home to about 38,000 students including post-graduates. Standing tall over the campus is the School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bio-engineering, which is responsible for the new project. It all started with the Food Technology and Business Incubation Centre (FTBIC), an arm of the School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bio-engineering, which nurtures business start-ups. The FTBIC is funded by the government and is an attempt to link the academic subject with the real world. At the same time, the School of Food Technology, Nutrition and Bio-engineering also houses FONUS (Food and Nutrition Solutions Ltd), a business providing consultancy from academic experts in the agriculture, nutrition and health sectors to local communities. In 2013, FONUS experts were in Yumbe District when they noticed the proliferation of mango trees growing wild. The trees were laden with growing fruit and the academics discovered that...

Enriching farmers through mobile information. George Karari, 56, is a Kenyan smallholder farmer living in the rural area of Kikuyu, on the outskirts of Nairobi. He farms four and half acres of mostly maize and potatoes for home consumption and as a cash crop. George grew up in a farming community and learnt the ways of the soil from his mother. Like many farmers in Africa, over the years his crops have been subject to the vagaries of weather, climate, soil, disease and market prices, leaving George to support his wife and six children in shifting economic circumstances. He learnt from experience, from other farmers and from government education programmes, but often the information came after the event – too late to prevent late planting or a poor harvest. In March 2015, George signed up to a new, free mobile information service for farmers, called ‘iShamba’, (the Swahili word, shamba, means garden or farm). The idea was simple: to allow farmers to subscribe to mobile information on two crops, or livestock, on which they would receive weekly text messages, with vital facts to assist them in getting the most out of their products. George subscribes to maize and potato help lines, which send him up-to-date, weather information (straight from aWhere.com, a digital platform offering weather information based on accurate data) and market prices supplied by the National Farmers Information Service. In addition, George receives farming tips through text messages aligned to his two crops, the season, and to the region...

Melkior Kilenga, second on the left in the picture, has been farming for more than thirty years, but has only been a resident of Mbingu village since 2008. A subsistence farmer before 2008, he has always grown plantain, rice, cocoa, fruits and vegetables, but since acquiring his two plots totalling 4.5 acres in Mbingu he has increasingly specialised in cocoa as a commercial crop. Before Kokoa Kamili’s arrival in Mbingu, Kilenga sold his cocoa to ‘Olam’ – an agri-business operating from seed to shelf. While Melkior’s relationship with Olam was largely trouble-free, the pre-Kokoa Kamili price seemed to be dictated by a small cartel of buyers from Iringa and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) with little discrimination made in terms of farmers’ harvested products and product quality. Before Kokoa Kamili’s arrival in Mbingu there was no real market price, however their arrival quickly led to the introduction of a quality and pricing tier that resulted in better quality grades of cocoa being rewarded with a significantly higher price per kilo sold. Additionally, while Olam received their purchases at collection points, which came with an additional transport cost, Kokoa Kamili offered what was then an innovative collection service for the ‘wet’ cocoa at no extra charge. When Kokoa Kamili are not buying up harvested stock from the local producers, Melkior then sells to Olam, but on the basis of a substantially reduced purchase price to that offered by Kokoa Kamili’s in-season offer (less than 15%-25% per kilo).   Melkior continues to grow...

Assiimwe Allan is a 22-year-old student in his second year at the Makerere University, in Kampala, Uganda. He is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree, taking statistics as his major and mathematics as his minor. In August 2015, Allan teamed up with five fellow hardworking students to form a transformation movement project called Coffee Max which will be operationalized through the registration of a business company at the Makerere University. The Coffee Max project intends to develop a new generation of young people to embrace and enjoy coffee in its full diversity. As a result, this will increase domestic coffee consumption amongst the young people and integrate them more along activities in the coffee value chain. Allan began this project with the aim to popularize coffee as a trendy beverage amongst university students which, in turn, would reduce alcoholism. He and his team participated in the annual Uganda coffee festival that was hosted in November 2015 and organized by NUCAFE in conjunction with the Uganda Coffee Developed Authority (UCDA). In addition, Allan developed a strong passion to boost his fellow young people, especially his fellow university students with entrepreneurial skills to assist them to be self-employed which in turn will reduce the overwhelming youth unemployment rate in Uganda. The project will start with the purchase of automated coffee vending machines that will offer a wider variety of coffee beverage. This will be followed with a vigorous coffee club at the Makerere University and accompanied by trendy promotional materials for awareness...

Coffee and tea are Rwanda’s largest agricultural exports, but while most tea is grown on large plantations, coffee is produced by thousands of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods depend on their crop. Coffee exports, therefore, can really make a difference to the lives of Rwandan farmers Connecting business to business and boosting Rwanda’s exports “We love Rwandan coffee,” a Rwandan newspaper quoted a Starbucks vice-president as saying when he visited the country in May 2015. The executive and his team, apparently there to negotiate an increased order, had just paid a courtesy call to President Paul Kagame - a hint perhaps of the importance of coffee exports to the Rwandan economy. Coffee and tea are Rwanda’s largest agricultural exports, but while most tea is grown on large plantations, coffee is produced by thousands of smallholder farmers whose livelihoods depend on their crop. Coffee exports, therefore, can really make a difference to the lives of Rwandan farmers. According to Rwanda’s National Agriculture and Export Development Board (NAEB), in 2014 Rwanda’s green (unroasted) coffee exports were worth almost US$60 million, up on the previous year and buoyed by good global prices. Buyers generally prefer green coffee, allowing them to roast and blend to their own specifications. However, while a container of green beans is sold for about US$8,000, a container of roasted, ground and packaged coffee is worth 12 times that amount. No wonder then, that the coffee sector, in its export strategy, has prioritised value addition activities, such as roasting and packaging...

It was the launching of the modern Ipatagwa irrigation scheme in 1999 that spurred Jeremiah Mwasanyila to go into rice farming in 2000.  He had two acres of land on which he was growing assorted vegetables but decided to devote it all to rice instead. His first harvest later that year yielded 16 bags and he felt he could keep at it. Later, in 2006, when Mwasanyila and fellow villagers around Ipatagwa, were introduced to the idea of using fertilizer to improve their yields, he collected 24 bags from the same plot. In 2013, with a total of five acres under rice cultivation, Mwasanyila was expecting a yield of 70 bags from that year’s harvest. “But in the end I got only 48 bags,” he says. “The fertilizer brand that I bought turned out to be fake and it caused me a lot of problems.” However, as the harvest season got underway in June, Mwasanyila and many of his peers soon realized all was not well. Not only was the buyer traffic into Ilongo lighter than usual, but also the few buyers arriving were not offering attractive prices. “Where are all the buyers, everyone was wondering,” says Mwasanyila. “The few we got were offering as little as Sh60,000 for a 150kg bag and they wouldn’t budge. At such a price it’s as if you worked for nothing, but you are also under pressure to settle your debts now that you have harvested. I opted to try looking for my own...

Faustini a father of six is a coffee farmer in Rwanda. He has been growing coffee for 20 years. He started with 200 trees he inherited from his father who was a traditional coffee smallholder. In 2005, at a time when a coffee-drinking culture was rapidly expanding across the globe, the Musassa Coffee Co-operative was formed in Ruli District - located in Rwanda’s verdant hills, a slow and steep two-hour drive from Kigali. The establishment of the cooperative represented a promise of access to markets and this encouraged Faustine to take coffee growing more seriously. He increased his trees to 1700 and over time hired extra help of 5 workers. Musassa Coffee Co-operative represents 2,000 smallholder coffee farmers, 60% of them women. The farmers take their beans to designated collection points in the district from where they are delivered to the washing station, for washing, drying and grading. Almost all Rwandan coffee is exported in the green (unroasted) state because the buyers prefer to roast it themselves, sometimes blending it with other coffee types from various origins. “My life improved very well,” he says, “before we had so many problems related to production and management of coffee trees. The co-op came with solutions in the form of efficient supply chain and now we are making more money.” Faustini has done well over the 11 years he has been part of the Musassa co-operative. While his father lived in a house made of mud, Faustini’s is brick and has electricity. His...