Group ploughs US$13m to help Africa farmers

JOHANNESBURG – A green group headed by former UN chief Kofi Annan has given US$13 million in grants to help small businesses in Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya to reduce prices of supplies to farms in a bid to boost farming output.

The small retailers would sell supplies such as seeds, tools and fertiliser to 1,6 million rural households that could benefit 8,8 million farmers and their families in the three countries. “Lack of access to basic farm supplies has made it virtually impossible for small-scale farmers to increase their yield or incomes, reinforcing widespread poverty,” the farm group said in a statement yesterday.The group, named Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), was officially launched in June and is partly bankrolled by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.It aims to help small-scale farmers across Africa fight poverty and hunger through sustainable increases in farm productivity and incomes.AGRA, which works in tandem with African governments, said all the three country programmes aim to increase rural smallholder incomes by 30 per cent and reduce the price of inputs by 15 per cent in three years.They also intend to halve the average distance farmers need to travel to purchase farm supplies.Malawi and Tanzania each received US$4,3 million, while Kenya was awarded US$4,4 million in the grants awarded under AGRA’s Agro-dealer Development Programme (ADP).The group said it was common for rural farmers to travel great distances to buy seed or fertiliser, and at the end of their journey they frequently found stores lacked the items they needed or were selling them at unaffordable prices.More than 200 million Africans are malnourished and hungry, with many of them heavily reliant on farming or some form of agriculture to lift them out of poverty, UN data shows.Nampa-Reuters”Lack of access to basic farm supplies has made it virtually impossible for small-scale farmers to increase their yield or incomes, reinforcing widespread poverty,” the farm group said in a statement yesterday.The group, named Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), was officially launched in June and is partly bankrolled by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.It aims to help small-scale farmers across Africa fight poverty and hunger through sustainable increases in farm productivity and incomes.AGRA, which works in tandem with African governments, said all the three country programmes aim to increase rural smallholder incomes by 30 per cent and reduce the price of inputs by 15 per cent in three years.They also intend to halve the average distance farmers need to travel to purchase farm supplies.Malawi and Tanzania each received US$4,3 million, while Kenya was awarded US$4,4 million in the grants awarded under AGRA’s Agro-dealer Development Programme (ADP).The group said it was common for rural farmers to travel great distances to buy seed or fertiliser, and at the end of their journey they frequently found stores lacked the items they needed or were selling them at unaffordable prices.More than 200 million Africans are malnourished and hungry, with many of them heavily reliant on farming or some form of agriculture to lift them out of poverty, UN data shows.Nampa-Reuters