2019

Africa Startup

THE FARM

“During the year 2019 the farming system has progressed towards a more permanent organic production system with a smart integration of gardens and poultry birds, agro forestry and beekeeping. A permaculturist was added to the team since the beginning of the year to train the farm staff, short and long term farm trainees and gain more insights himself as well from our many years organic farming experiences. The creation of a “food forest” has inspired not only our own team, but the many visitors to MyFarm as well. The wealth of diversity of plants has been an ideal learning environment for the many schooltrips and special designed activities on plants, their uses, their production cycles, colours, shapes and seeds.

There is work on progress in the development of a second bigger fishpond. The existing fishpond is the favorite place of most kids, a habitat for many insects and birds and a drinking places for the bees. Due to the small size of the pond the productivity of the fish is low. A productive fish farming component is on its way!

Moringa has become the tree crop integrated in every corner of the farm. Most Gambians know the crop, but the way it is cultivated, processed and marketed on MyFarm has been and still is an inspiration to many visitors. Water availability and poor soil conditions are factors which need ongoing attention.

There are not many open places to expand on farming activities. Development of the microgarden and some basic trials with vertical growing have been done. One teacher travelled to Dakar to visit the Microgarden project in the urban area to learn more about the technologies. To implement a hydroponic system with more sophisticated equipment is the next step of development.

In addition, the short-term trainees had a month of intensive farming with students of the School for Agriculture generally lacking the practical skills. Our long-term sponsored student Isaack Mendy left the farm after 4 years attachment to focus on his schoolgarden project initiative, his piggery business and his qualification as an animal husbandry graduate. He is still active as our agricultural trainer during the outings with the MyFarm on wheels, the extension program of MyFarm. Furthermore, a long-term farm hand felt he gained enough skills in order move on to develop his own garden initiative and supervise part of the garden production of a new farm initiative that started their first trials at MyFarm.”

THE BUSINESS

A vital component of the ”From Seed to Business” approach of MyFarm is the actual business itself. The “business“ started from a one shelf honey and beeswax beauty products, mango preservatives, honey and cashew paste in order to train youth in the midst of a realistic model. During 2019 the farm shop was almost daily visited (except for the rainy season), with a broad variety of Moringa oleifera products: from nutritional food supplements to high quality cosmetic products, honey, fruit preservatives and gift baskets. The moringa business is benefiting the larger communities by employing processors and buying raw materials (e.g. seeds) from women and youth. At the same time our moringa farming trials have inspired and educated many people interested in starting a similar initiative as well.

In the second quarter of the year a separate business entity was registered under the name of “Nema Naturals” and business and charity accounts separated in order to comply with the countries’ taxation laws.

From January to May, and from November onwards again we are participating at the Gambia Good Market on a monthly base giving exposure to youth entrepreneurs and lifting up the quality of local made products. At the same time, these markets are a training site in sales and marketing and customer care. Our packaging remains natural and simple, a principle cross cutting in our entire working approach.

During the dry season a couple of trainings were delivered on farm for individuals and a women groups in order to expand their moringa and soap businesses. Most trainings have been delivered while going out with the MyFarm on wheels, attending to the Mothers Clubs and farmer groups in the communities. Those whose interest were sparkled more were given the opportunity to come for follow up training at MyFarm in Nema Kunku itself.

The MyFarm products are sold in three different shops outside the farm shop and regular base customers are bringing sample products abroad to find ways of retailing in their respective home countries (e.g. Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway and Lebanon).

In order to expand impact negotiations are made with another farming initiative in the country to start growing Moringa and training the village women in the processing. Outgrower schemes with a training component at MyFarm are on the way!

Ousman Camara, long term farm trainee: “All the knowledge on agriculture I have I gained here at MyFarm. I am now advising the women in my compound how to prepare garden beds. I never knew that you measure beds and plant distances. I have realized the benefits from mulching and other techniques. My mother is proud on me and I am on myself.”

THE EDUCATION

The education at MyFarm is a journey. The education sector of MyFarm uses the concepts of Leap Learning to foster student education. This Although the majority of learning development that is happening is among students,the labs are also used for training of educators. Individuals who want to gain new experience in the educational field often come to learn new skills and methods that enhance student learning. There have also been a several qualified teachers seeking to further their education or just want to engage themselves in meaningful work when they are not teaching at their posted school. These teachers come to My Farm to assist, but also develop new skills they can use in their everyday classrooms. Although they have undergone some formalized training and have experience working with children, they aren’t accustomed to the system being used at My Farm.

The Leap Learning labs give current educators as well as those with no experience, the ability to be able to promote education in a positive environment, where students can learn at their own pace. The labs are student centred and allow students to realize their potential by letting them ask questions and giving them the opportunity to explore and find the answers they seek. The focus is on basic reading and math skills, but students gain more than that.

Furthermore, in partnership with the Ministry of Basic Education we have been able to train 60 of teachers and ministry staff in the Leap Lab concepts. Through these trainings we have been able to expand and create more educational labs across Gambian Schools in the hopes to increase literacy and basic math skills across the country. It is about 25 labs in The Gambia now, and another 15 is to be set up anytime the schools are reopening again.

MyFarm is now working close with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry will use MyFarm more as a training centre, workshop and meeting place. The World Bank has now committed themself to do an evaluation of the impact of the Learning Labs in The Gambia, starting up as soon as the Corona- situation is stable. We are very confident that it will show good impact, and this means that the concept can scale to the whole country and also beyond The Gambia due to this qualified evaluation by the World Bank.

Photo shows the Minister of Education, PS, World Bank and MRCH Holland that is a major sponsor for The Gambia, meeting at MyFarm.

The Creativity and Science labs have started to find their shapes and are well visited. The labs will still be further developed and hopefully implemented outside MyFarm when schools resume after summer holiday in September 2020. We have seen very good interest for the Creativity and Science labs and the Ministry and other stakeholders have confirmed the need for it.

There is one thing unique about the Learning Labs at MyFarm. At MyFarm the Labs are open year-round. The use of a drop-in system is in place, where students who are not able to attend studies during the year are able to register for educational programs held during their school breaks.

In 2019 a six weeks summer program was held. Approximately 65-70 students enrolled with more than half of those students attending regularly. The ages varied from 7-18. The younger students were engaged in the Reading and Numeracy Labs while the older students were either in the computer class or engaged in other sessions focusing on art, science and leadership. The education that occurs in the learning lab is combined with horticultural activities. Students have outdoor sessions where they learn about the environment, uses of different renewable energy such as solar and much more. Many sessions and activities are held around a micro garden in order to show innovative ways to grow things for a sustainable future.

Getting ready for the programs during school breaks is also a learning opportunity for those working with the students. It requires a bit more preparation. Facilitators must come up with activities and lessons that are engaging meaningful and fun. Facilitators and students have access to tablets, computers, library work, as well as learning through play is encouraged. Facilitators are asked to

think outside the box and to be creative with their activities. This can be challenging but it allows them to find topics they are passionate about teaching. Personal development and growth is not only seen in the students but in the facilitators are well.

The Play to Learn newspaper is also in the making. It took a bit longer time then we had hoped to find a good process around it, but have now succeeded and we plan to have a first edition ready when the schools start again.

THE OUTREACH PROGRAM

The farming, training and education components at MyFarm are all integrated in a compressed format when moving out with the MyFarm on Wheels truck. During the year 2019 the truck left the farm into the communities for 18 different trips. The majority of the trips were visits of community school with participation of Mothers Clubs and/or (women) farmer groups. In this way the leap learning and learning by playing concepts are experienced by the children, the environmental/agricultural demonstrations are exhibited for kids, pupils and teachers and the business component is done by hands-on demonstrations and exhibiting sample products with a trainer explaining the what, how and why. Every outing has been different, but all very successful due to the fact that many people from different ages are reached and truly inspired in a couple of hours community service work by our capable and well trained team. Good environmental/farming practices, products and alternative teaching techniques that have become day-to-day practice for the MyFarm team have been enthusiastically embraced by many teachers and their pupils.

The MyFarm garden and production area

During the year 2019 the farming system has progressed towards a more permanent organic production system with a smart integration of gardens and poultry birds, agro forestry and beekeeping. A permaculturist was added to the team since the beginning of the year to train the farm staff, short and long term farm trainees and gain more insights himself as well from our many years organic farming experiences. The creation of a “food forest” has inspired not only our own team, but the many visitors to MyFarm as well. The wealth of diversity of plants has been an ideal learning.

Entrepreneurship lab

The first pilot of the Entrepreneurship lab based on all MyFarm concept is put up in Dar Es Salaam and was show cased under Innovation Week March 2020 with great feedback and response after that, with several big organisations that wants to pilot the concept. The Entrepreneurship lab will also be put up in Gambia when things are back to normal now.

The way forward MyFarm

We have had a good year for MyFarm and we are seeing an increased interest and awareness of what MyFarm is doing and more and more requests for school trips. The partnership with Ministry of Education is now more in line, and we will have schools that the ministry will identify to come for both school visits and MyFarm on Wheels.

Ministry and Microbit Foundation have visited MyFarm, and wants us to be a part of their Mircobit-project in The Gambia. MyFarm has been, as one of very few in Gambia, that have used Scratch-programming for some years, and we are very suited to take this project on.

MyFarm is getting a few kits to test out, and then the plan is to use MyFarm as a focal point and training centre for this project when starting up when schools resume. Things never go as we planned, and also now with the global corona crisis it is affecting Gambia and also our projects a lot.

As in the writing of this report, all activities for the children are closed for 2 weeks now, and just the crucial staff for the animals and to sustain the garden will remain until we know what the situation will be further. The teachers have got a laptop with them home, to do work and planning from home, so we will be well prepared when the kids will resume again.

MCODE

MCODE is working with rural female headed households and other financially vulnerable women groups and young girls in the rural areas to improve their food and income security, through equipping them with skills and linking them to sustainable markets. 

In March 2019, MCODE received financial support from the Trolltech foundation, amounting to US$34,870 to help in the implementation of the above-mentioned project for a period of one year. 

The Objective of the project was to establish sustainable income streams for at least 210 rural female-headed smallholder farming households in Buikwe District, by ensuring access to knowledge and quality markets. 

IMPLEMENTED ACTIVITIES 

1.     Mobilisation and Organisation of female-headed households into market oriented agri-preneur groups for collective marketing. 

Many smallholder farmers in Uganda are practising agriculture that is very close to organic, but they are not aware of how easy it is for them to convert to organic. MCODE, conducted mobilization and awareness meetings about organic in the sub counties of Buikwe Town Council and Najja, in Buikwe district. The meetings targeted female headed households, and those disadvantaged women and girls in those respective sub counties. The objective of the meetings was to create awareness on organic agriculture principles and practices among the women smallholder farmers. During the meetings, the benefits and importance of organic agriculture were emphasized and many smallholder farmers were encouraged to take up organic agriculture and register up in the respective value chains. Following sensitization and mobilization, the women farmers were organised into several groups and subgroups, to facilitate marketing and bulking of produce 

A total of 217 women headed households were mobilised in Najja sub county and the outskirts of Buikwe Town council in the reporting period, comprising of 1091 family members. The mobilised farmers were then organised into 18 sub groups, each with 13 – 17 households who stay in the same neighbourhoods, this was aimed at facilitating bulking of produce and creating strong social capital among the women in the same localities. 

Focus group discussions were held with the mobilised groups to select the preferred/most suitable product value chains to engage in for purposes of collective marketing. The product chains selected included; Bananas, Vegetables (mixed vegetables; either local varieties or exotic, through either outdoor or small greenhouses). For the bananas, the women preferred the local varieties including Matooke, Gonja, Bogoya (Gros Michel) and Ndizi, because they are sweeter, have better flavour and easily marketed locally and for export. The vegetables selected included; Nakati, pepper, lettuce, Sukuma, egg plants, carrots etc among others. 

1.     Capacity Building of the groups, in organic agriculture marketing, and Governance 

MCODE conducted a total of 36 trainings, 2 trainings for each of the groups in their own localities, and each training lasting 2 days. The topics covered during the trainings included, general organic production principles and practices, organic soil fertility management, Organic pest and disease management, quality control and marketing (Technical training/Practical skills covering harvesting, washing, grading, packing), as well as training in leadership, group dynamics and financial management, focussing one the product value chain each group had selected. The training involved a total of 817 participants including the women household heads and their family members that were around. 

In addition, and with the help of an expert facilitator, farmers in each group were introduced to the concept of Farmer-to-Farmer extension visits/meetings. In this arrangement, farmers in each group were trained on how to visit ad advise each other on their production practices. Each group came up with a time table of the entire group visiting every group member’s farm at least once in every 3 months, during which visit they advise her and share experiences about how best to improve her production. They are also able to learn from the superior practices which the member visited has implemented. This arrangement was applauded by the women farmers, as being very useful and builds confidence and social capital among the members in the group.

Furthermore, one exposure visit was organised for each of the women groups. The farmers visited the Sulma Organic centre in Luweero district (about 100km from Buikwe District), where they were able to interact with the team at this old organic training centre. At the Sulma centre, they were able to learn about the various enterprises that are practiced at the centre, including; Apiary (Bee keeping), Pineapple growing, Vegetable growing, Avocado growing, Banana growing and multiplication, and how to produce organic manure/fertilisers on the farm using indigenous microorganisms. The farmers were very excited about the various organic enterprises at the Sulma Centre, they were able to be exposed to various skills which they promised to try out on their own farms and among the groups once returned to their own localities. 

2.     Establishment of an Organic Agriculture demonstration farm to serve the sub-county. 

As part of building a strong foundation for skilling female headed households and other vulnerable girls and community members in organic farming techniques, MCODE established an organic demonstration farm to serve the target communities and the district at large. The farm is situated on 3 acres of land that was purchased at Kikooli village on the outskirts of Buikwe town council on the border with Najja Sub county in Buikwe district. 

An organic farming expert was hired, who designed the farm set up and was involved in all the farm planning to identify and design areas where the different enterprises would be placed on the demonstration farm. So far, the farm houses an open organic vegetable garden, a banana plantation that has now reached production, a shade house for hardening seedlings before planting in the open fields, and a greenhouse for indoor vegetable production and for producing ready to plant vegetable seedlings for distribution to the female headed households has also been installed. In future, the green house will also produce clean ready to plant seedlings for sale to the rest of the communities at subsidised rates. This will boost production of organic vegetables in the area and increase the incomes female headed households and the rest of the community get from their organic vegetable farming. 

The demonstration farm is being used for imparting organic farming skills to the target groups and the rest of farmers in the district. After the trainings at the demonstration farm, the female headed household members return to their farms and implement the skills gained at the demonstration farm. 

A resident caretaker was also hired to maintain the farm and lead the undertaking of the daily activities on the demonstration farm. 

3.     Establishing market linkages and Support 

As part of building sustainable market linkages for the organised smallholder female household farmers, MCODE identified and entered into a memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with Frutrac Limited, a private company that exports and also trades locally in organic fruits and vegetables, as well as other organic products including spices, shea nuts/butter, Chia seeds, sesame seeds etc.

Under the MoU, Frutrac will buy all the organic products grown by the target female headed households, provided they attain organic certification. 

Frutrac also agreed to provide the necessary guidance needed when skilling the target group, especially in the areas of market requirements, quality management and packaging requirements for the export and domestic market. 

9 meetings were held between the representatives of Frutrac Ltd and the smallholder groups, to sensitize the latter on the basic quality requirements of growing for the Organic export market. The farmers were excited about this new development and pledged to be committed to ensure that this opportunity is not lost as a way of guaranteeing a sustainable market for products grown at their smallholder farms. It was agreed by the representatives of Frutrac and the farmers, together with MCODE, that each of the neighbouring 2 smallholder farmer groups will need to construct a basic produce collecting centre, for purposes of bulking the produce from each of the small holder farmers during marketing. The farmers from each of the two neighbouring groups, will deliver their harvested produce at this collecting centre, where bulking will be undertaken by Frutrac Ltd. Each individual smallholder farmer will be assisted to open up a bank account, or mobile money account, and once produce have been purchased by Frutrac ltd, payments to each of the smallholder women farmers would be made directly to their respective accounts. This will help them and encourage them to develop a savings culture as well as manage their finances better than being given cash on delivery. 

SUSTAINABILITY

The sustainability of this initiative beyond the support from Trolltech was seen as critical if the benefits accrued from the project were to be maintained and scaled up. The vision of MCODE was that once these women groups had been mobilised and are already producing, and are linked to markets they needed to start saving some of their incomes, so that they could in future continue paying for some of the critical services such as extension services, and basic administrative costs within the marketing groups. This has not been realized because the groups have just started actual production, as most of the past project year was largely spent on mobilization, organization, capacity building of the group members and skilling them to attain the necessary knowledge and skills required by the potential markets for their products. The saving from incomes will therefore be realized when all the groups have attained full production. Already the first 7 groups to be trained did plant their bananas and the first production is expected by February 2021. Other groups had not yet planted due to the challenge of accessing initial/start up seeds to plant in their gardens as shall be elaborated in the challenges section below. In addition, selling of produce to the already identified market (and therefore saving from these sales) will require establishment of basic post-harvest infrastructure at some of the groups, where initial sorting and grading of produce can be done by the women farmers before being sold to the identified export company, Frutrac limited. 

CHALLENGES 

A number of challenges were encountered during the course of implementation of the project and will require being addressed in order to attain maximum realization of the intended benefits by the target female headed households. 

1.     In the first place, it was observed that although farmers were trained and organized into production/ marketing groups to facilitate collective marketing, most of the women did not have the needed initial capital to buy start-up seeds/seedlings in order to kick-start production and utilize the skills and knowledge obtained from the trainings and capacity building activities carried out by MCODE through this project. In essence, this means that this will delay their full engagement into the organized group activities. There is therefore a need to fundraise for a start-up seed fund to as a one off for these women farmers to buy the required seeds/seedlings to start off their production using the skills and knowledge they have attained. 

 2.     Secondly, during the discussion with Frutrac limited, a company that has committed to buy the products grown by the women farmers, it was emphasised by Frutrac that at least every 2 subgroups will require a basic produce collecting Centre/ shade house where farmers within the 2 groups collect and carry out the initial pre-sorting, grading and bulking of their produce before it is paid off and taken by Frutrac. This will require construction of basic packing shade structures for use by all farmers in the nearby groups. 

 3.     Furthermore, it was also noted that a number of farmers who had started production had not fully grasped the all the information, especially related to production practices related o pest and disease management in line with organic market requirements of the Frutrac Importing markets, especially the EU. These it was seen as necessary that as the farmers go along, they needed additional trainings and re-trainings, and supervision and support for at least 2more years before they can be left on their own and leave them to be independent and to govern and plan for their marketing group on their own. 

 CONCLUSIONS 

The implementation of this project supported by Trolltech foundation has brought a lot of excitement and hope to the economically vulnerable rural female-headed households in Buikwe district. A lot of ground has already been gained especially in the mobilization and grouping of the women into the crucial market oriented collective groups for both production and marketing, and the securing of an MoU with Frutrac limited, a company that has committed to buy the produce grown by these organized women famer groups. Full realization of the visioned benefits to these farmers and even exceeding them is now possible and achievable, but this will largely depend on addressing fully the challenges above that might draw backwards the achievements and ground so far gained. 

MCODE is grateful to the Trolltech foundation for this visionary and crucial support that has provided hope and firm background for these rural women, it’s the prayer of MCODE, that Trolltech and other donors help the initiative with additional funding to address the identified challenges in order to realize the full anticipated benefit of the project.