SMEs big boost to farmers across Africa, report says

September 12th, 2019 – SMEs big boost to farmers across Africa, report says. Some 64 per cent of food consumed across the continent is controlled by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a new report shows. This has, therefore, helped create vast opportunities for smallholder farmers.

This has, therefore, helped create vast opportunities for smallholder farmers.

The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa’s (Agra) 2019 Africa Agricultural Status Report (AASR) indicates that the SMEs, which are often women-led, include food processors, wholesalers and retailers, and provide a range of services, from transport and logistics to the sale of inputs such as fertiliser, farm machinery, pesticides and seeds to farmers.

Their activities are driving a “quiet revolution” across the continent’s agriculture, connecting smallholder farmers to markets.

The report notes that only about 20 per cent of the food consumed in Africa fits the notion of subsistence agriculture where food is consumed directly by farming households growing it.

The better part of what the continent eats flows through private sector value chains managed by SMEs, which purchase commodities directly from smallholder farmers, process, package, transport and sell the food products to consumers.

More…https://www.nation.co.ke/business/seedsofgold/SMEs-big-boost-to-farmers-across-Africa/2301238-5270478-4wejgs/index.html

Written by Daily Nation