I have been brought up in a farming background and since I was young, I have seen the challenges farmers face in their aim to secure livelihood.
When I was a small girl, I looked up to my father since he was very dedicated and endeavored in empowering the community, especially in agriculture. However, he did not achieve his goal which was to see every farmer successful and have a healthy lifestyle.
I saw farmers struggling to grow crops but the returns they got after selling the crops were very minimal since there was a chain of middlemen between the farmers and the actual consumer.
I did a case study with two crops; tomatoes and french beans. Farming tomatoes is capital intensive and require a lot of dedication but when the tomatoes are ready, the first middle man in contact with the farmer will purchase a kilogram of tomatoes at $0.25, the final consumer will purchase the same tomato from the middlemen at $1.
That means the middlemen receives $0.75 per kilogram of the tomatoes while the farmer who bears all the cost of production gets only $0.25, which is often loss. Besides that, some conmen would come disguised as middlemen and would run away with even the $0.25. This was very painful to see the farmers go through a lot of suffering. Eventually, the farmers started giving up on farming and their living status started to deteriorate.
I always had an entrepreneurial spirit since my tender age and I promised to empower my community in agriculture. Immediately after college, I decided to start my entrepreneurial journey, it was quite challenging, especially in raising capital and getting quality and large farms for farming.
I had to look for a job so that I can manage to raise capital and sustain my basic needs. My plan was to work and be an entrepreneur. I eventually managed to raise capital through my savings and topped up with a loan facility from microfinance.
It has been challenging to break the norm and the cartels of middlemen in the market. Currently, Emmat AgroFarm has several B2B buyers and we are aiming at having both B2B and B2C clients. However challenging, it has been a fulfilling journey since several farmers have started farming again and getting good income from their crops.
Emmat AgroFarm aims at supplying the farm produce from farmers and our farms directly to the local markets and eventually exporting to the international markets. We are working on having contract farming with farmers which will help them get maximum income and improve their standards of living.
