Two years ago Marie Claire, a Rwandan farmer who lives in the far southwestern corner of the country, was unable to grow enough food to feed her three children. Yet this June, Marie Claire had climbing beans aplenty, feeding her family and selling 100 kilograms at a harvest buyback program. She earned about $60 from the sale, which allowed her to make upgrades to her home, including installing a new door. When I visited Rwanda recently, she showed me these improvements to her home with great pride.
Before last year, Christine, a Kenyan farmer who lives in Chwele District, had never had access to quality bean seed. Last year, she grew enough bush beans to sell 130 kilograms, earning about $135, which she used to purchase a cow. Now, she plans to sell her cow at a profit and will invest the money in a higher-quality breed that will produce more milk. Christine is a natural businesswoman, she just needed the tools to jumpstart her farm’s productivity.
Both Marie Claire and Christine are members of One Acre Fund, an agriculture organization that helps rural farmers produce enough food to feed their families and to invest in new economic opportunities. One Acre Fund is already helping 30,000 smallholder farmers double their farm income per acre in one growing season. These farmers support about 150,000 children. By 2020, we aim to reach 1 million small farmers and their 5 million children, upholding our motto: Farmers First.
One Acre Fund reaches farmers by providing a complete market bundle. We sell seed and fertilizer on credit, provide education and facilitate market access. We extend our services deeper into rural areas than many other microfinance or agriculture organizations; we deliver seed and fertilizer to market points within one mile of our farmers.
The more than 300 field officers One Acre Fund employs throughout Kenya and Rwanda are the most important aspect of our service model. Typically recruited from the communities in which they work, the officers are not university-educated horticulturists. Farmers can learn most of what they need to know in a few simple lessons, and we prefer to employ down-to-earth, hardworking staff—many of whom are farmers themselves—who have strong leadership potential within their own communities.
A One Acre Fund field officer is a cross between a loan officer and an agriculture extension agent. Field officers work with roughly 120 farmers each and visit every one of their farmers at least twice a month. During these visits, they conduct training sessions, check germination rates, troubleshoot problems in the field and collect repayment. Over the course of the season, they cultivate a strong bond with their farmers. They consider the feedback their farmers give them about farming techniques and our program. In turn, farmers have a deep appreciation for how knowledgeable their field officers are and how hard they work to serve their customers. Many farmers call their field officers “teacher.”
However, we also learn a lot from our farmers. Their ideas and feedback, communicated through our field officers, are integral to our growth strategy, One Acre Fund has a research team of fifteen people focused on testing successful techniques for adaptation and distribution of new technologies to smallholders. Many ideas for research trials come from the field—for example, after many farmers asked their field officers about the best way to intercrop maize and beans, we began to run a trial on optimal configurations of these crops. Any potential innovation must have a significant effect on scale, impact and sustainability–Can the technique reach many people, generate significant income and be cost effective?
The innovations generated by our research team are based on continuous farmer feedback and extensive testing in the field. They will enable us to expand to meet the high demand for services among rural smallholder farmers and to share our findings with other organizations—from African governments to private-sector companies to other non-profit organizations—striving to help improve food security in rural Africa.
Stephanie Hanson is the Director of Policy and Outreach for One Acre Fund.
Photo courtesy of Stephanie Hanson.