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Improving Livelihoods of Farmers Engaged in Ground nuts Production, Marketing and Value Addition

Farmers in Tororo District have taken keen interest in growing ground nuts as one of the major cash crops in the area. The main goal of this project is to increase incomes of farmers through enhanced production and productivity and marketing of ground nuts with the specific objectives to increase accessibility of quality inputs to farmers by strengthening the input shop and to promote gender mainstreaming and environmental conservation among beneficiary farmers. Through this sample proposal farmers will be trained in disease/pest identification, prevention and control practices and ensuring they get inputs from reliable importers and create awareness on viability plus demonstrating use of the inputs at the DFA level & farmer level.

Background

xxxxxx is a company limited by guarantee that was registered in 1998 with an aim of transforming the farming community of Tororo into commercial oriented producers at house hold levels. The XXXXXX currently has a total membership of 7,000 members of which 3,290 are females [47%] and 3,710 are males [53%]. The XXXXXX with support of other partners eg VECO have implemented programmes targeting the farmers that focus on maize and groundnut value chains majorly orienting farmers to commercialization.   The XXXXXX has a business wing – Tororo XXXXXX input shop based in the town of Tororo and this greatly improved the performance of the XXXXXX among her communities despite the challenges.

Tororo XXXXXX received support from XXXXXX Trust in 2012 to implement a project in ground nuts value chains targeting 5,000 farmers with a grant value of Ush. XXX/= for 2 years. The project reached 4 sub counties of the District.

The end of project evaluation report stated that during the implementation, 275 demonstrations were established from the 200 planned; production increased from 5 bags per acre to 15 bags per acre; 1,442 bags were bulked and sold collectively at XXX /= per bag and these were sold to Busia Traders, TODIFA agro input shop & Malaba Traders. This increased household income from XXX/= to XXX/= as according to the testimony’s farmers gave.  The successes of the project are attributed to the trainings, PHH equipment’s provided, input shop and accessibility to the boarder. There is tremendous improvement at farmer level and they introduced VSLA among their groups on their own and this led to increase in the number of farmers to the current 7,000. For sustainability, the input shop, collection centers have continued to collectively bulk and sell collectively and the influx of traders from Kenya have kept the XXXXXX and farmers running even without support. It’s against these achievements and lessons learnt that TODIFA is seeking for upscale of the project to reach 12 S/Cs of the District.

Business case

Tororo XXXXXX started an input shop in 2012 as her business wing for purposes of sustainability and bringing closer genuine inputs to farmers with in Tororo District. They procure inputs from Kenya in bulk which they have continued to sell to farmers, NGOs and other development partners in Tororo and across. Due to genuine inputs sold to several stakeholders in the district, this has led to an increase in purchasing power since they started to date. They specialize in herbicides, pesticides, seeds, fungicides, fertilizers and farm inputs.

The input shop started in 2012 with Ush. XXX/=as capital, making a net profit of Ush. XXX/=; Ush. XX/= and Ush. XXX/=. It’s projected that it will make a net profit of Ush.XXXX/= in 2015 when the grant of XXX is given since their major challenge has been capital to re-invest in the business.  This will lead to growth of the business since they will be able to increase sales through attaining bigger contracts plus supplying more farmers in the district thus sustainability. It’s against this background that TODIFA needs financial support towards the input shop for sustainability.

Problem Statement

Tororo XXXXXX attained some achievements in the past project related to increased production, market availability plus increasing output for sale. The project led to increase in the number of beneficiaries from 5,000 to 7,000 but not all the services could reach all. More are still yearning for the support from the XXXXXX in VSLA & gender that was not funded by the past project, improved seed, fake seeds in the market, low productivity, in adequate PHH equipment’s plus lack of value addition facilities or machines. Farmers in Tororo District have taken keen interest in growing ground nuts as one of the major cash crops in the area. This is supported by the fertile soils that guarantees high yields, influx of traders from Kenya and Sudan have acted as an opportunity for farmers and TODIFA in ground nuts value chain. However, they are still limited by fake seeds and unavailability of improved seeds, limited capital for the input shop, selling raw products and lack of value addition facilities despite the good lessons learnt from the past project and achievements.  It’s against this background that Tororo XXXXXX is seeking support from XXXXXX to improve livelihood of farmers through groundnuts value chain in Tororo District.

Project Goal and Objectives

The main goal of this project is to increase incomes of farmers (60 old groups & 220 new groups) through enhanced production and productivity and marketing of ground nuts in Tororo District.

The specific objectives of the project are:

    • To build the capacity of 280 groups in PHH, agronomy, gender, VSLA by end of 2017.
    • To form and train VSLA groups at farmer level among 280 groups by 2017.
    • To increase accessibility of quality inputs to farmers by strengthening the input shop.
    • To promote gender mainstreaming and environmental conservation among 7,000 beneficiary farmers in Tororo District.

Contribution towards Xxxxxx Trust M&E Targets

Sector growth level indicators

    • On average acreage will increase from 1 to 2 per farmer per season.
    • On average 24 bags of groundnuts will be produced per farmer per season by end of 2 years.

Enterprise performance level indicators

    • On average income will increase from 450,000/= to 1,080,000/= shillings per acre per season.
    • On average farmers will increase production of groundnuts from 5 bags per acre to 12 bags per acre per season by end of project life.
    • At least 3,500 farmers report improved gender relations in their households.
    • Increase in farmer saving from at least 2,000/= to at least 5,000/= per week in the formed VSLAs by end of project period (2017).

Market uptake level indicators

    • At least 3,850 farmers (70% of new farmers) apply GAP by 2017.
    • At least 3,150 farmers (45% of total beneficiaries) bulk the produce in the 4 bulking centres and sell collectively by 2017.
    • At least 3,500 farmers (50% of new total beneficiaries) increase savings and borrow from the VSLA for business expansion.
    • At least 3,500 farmers (50% of total beneficiaries) implement joint plans, share responsibilities and benefits and joint decision making by end of project period.

Market trigger level indicators

    • 44 demonstration gardens will be set up ie 11 demos per season for the entire project life (5 groups per demo).
    • TODIFA trains farmers in VSLA methodology and distributes kits to at least 140 groups.
    • TODIFA trains 280 groups (7000 targeted farmers) in joint planning, decision making, visioning and developing joint work plans and sharing of benefits.

Intervention level indicators

    • TODIFA procures 44 demo kits and prepares training materials for 220 groups.
    • TODIFA identifies 40 change agents among 280 groups to facilitate gender mainstreaming among farming communities by 2017.
    • TODIFA procures inputs for the input shop to avail quality inputs for farmers.
    • TODIFA staff mobilizes and selects 44 marketing committees in the new groups by 2017.

Expected Impact Areas

    • Increased incomes on average by Ush. 320,000 per season for the 3,150 directly supported farmers from groundnut production and marketing by 2017.
    • At least 3,850 farmers trained will have adopted and increased yield on average from 5 – 15 bags per acre, and adopted good agronomic practices on their farms.
    • At least 7,000 targeted farmers employ at least 250 casual and 50 permanent workers on their farms & shops by 2017.

Cross-Cutting Issues

    • The input shop will promote environmentally friendly quality inputs such that farmers soils are not exhausted (organic fertilizers etc).
    • To promote green growth, ground nuts farmers will be advised to use the ground nuts harvest as manure instead of burning it as the previous practice. The manure will make the soils fertile for production in the next seasons.
    • Gender concerns will be integrated within all the project activities. Farmers will be trained in gender concepts alongside other project activities and this will improve gender relation plus sharing of roles at household level thus improved farmer’s livelihoods.

Monitoring/Results Measurement

    • Tororo XXXXXX will develop an internal monitoring and evaluation system that will allow for regular and consistent tracking of project performance of critical indicators and project work plan. The field extension staff will monitor field activities and give monthly reports on work progress among their target area by 2017.
    • TODIFA will set up and manage an effective monitoring and evaluation mechanism that will be monitored by the XXXXXX Trust. Quarterly reports submitted to XXXXXX trust will be reviewed and evaluated for accuracy. In addition, XXXXXX will regularly monitor and evaluate progress of the project to check performance and achievements or impact created.
    • The measurement of impact for TODIFAs ground nuts project will be carried out by XXXXXX Trust both on beneficiary farmers and TODIFA herself after completion in 2017.

Sustainability

    • Support to the input shop by XXXXXX will lead to sustainability of TODIFA through increased incomes. The support will increase the capacity of TODIFA to win bigger contracts thus supplying many farmers in the District and across with genuine inputs.
    • The adoption of VSLA methodology in almost all the 280 groups will lead to group cohesion and improved savings culture and this will help participating farmers to continue financing agricultural production.
    • Capacity built among value addition groups, marketing groups by TODIFA staff will help farmers to continue growing, processing & marketing even after the project has ended.
    • Market linkages created will improve farmer’s performance with traders through the collection centers already established, farmer groups will be able to earn better prices leading to improved livelihoods.

Recommendation

I recommend that XXXXXX Trust supports Tororo District Farmers Association with xxxxxx (Six hundred sixty-seven million six hundred fifty-five thousand one hundred shillings only) to support a project entitled “Improving the livelihoods of farmer groups engaged in groundnuts production & marketing in Tororo District for 2 years.