Strengthening Agricultural Input and Output Markets in Africa (SAIOMA) Second Quarter FY 2015 Report

The project aims to promote inclusive agricultural growth in selected African countries, namely Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia. SAIOMA's primary beneficiaries are rural smallholder farmers, and its approach fosters partnerships among local implementing partners with complementary social, agricultural, and business skills. The project specifically targets four high-potential agricultural value chains in each project country, which include grains and legumes. SAIOMA uses farmer organizations as the main platform for technology and knowledge transfer to smallholder farmers, and is designed to improve operational capacities of farmer organizations, with a specific focus on developing women's skills and opportunities in agribusiness. The project is implemented through in-country partners and achieves its goals through the following specific objectives: SO1, Improve agricultural production, by increasing smallholder farmers' access to agricultural inputs, and SO2, Improve smallholder farmers' access to markets, by improving the adoption of post-harvest management practices and marketing structures and linkages for smallholder farmers. During the present quarter, the SAIOMA team provided technical and management support to SAIOMA grantees in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia. SAIOMA Officers conducted supervisory visits to project sites and held meetings with project partners to discuss project implementation progress, provide M&E support, review spending patterns and work plans, and to assist in problem identification and resolution. In Kenya, some data collection tools were not appropriately disaggregating data such as gender/household types, there was inadequate coordination among consortium members, and insufficient information sharing among grantees. In Malawi, output market linkage interventions were not broad enough, implementing partners were over-reliant on the warehouse receipt system for the sale of smallholder farmers' commodities, and there was no clear marketing strategy for the upcoming marketing season. In Zambia, AGRA worked with implementing partners to adjust data collection tools to ensure that data captures required disaggregation. SAIOMA interventions under Objective 1: Improved Agricultural Production, seek to enhance the availability of agricultural inputs and promote good agronomic practices needed for market participation, primarily through rural agro-dealers. The theory of change here is that when producers use improved agricultural inputs and improved agronomic practices, they will increase their yields and incomes. The strengthening and expansion of agro-dealers in rural areas is critical to SAIOMA's approach under this strategic objective. Demand creation activities for agricultural inputs such as field days, input fairs, and demos unlock the development of agro-dealer businesses, and improve farmer adoption of improved inputs and practices. In Kenya, AGRA's Agro-dealer Development Specialist and AGRA's Market Access Program Officer provided technical support to SAIOMA partners in Kenya, conducting regular monitoring and supervisory visits to project sites, to provide technical guidance and support to implementing agencies. AGRA's Farmer Organization Support Centre in Africa (FOSCA) unit supported all farmer organization capacity strengthening interventions across the three project countries. The FOSCA Program Officer visited SAIOMA partners in Kenya and Zambia and worked with them to improve the use of the Capacity Performance Index (CPI) in the assessment of farmer organizations' capacities. The project has made significant progress in achieving its objectives, with a total federal funding of $9,000,000 and a cumulative expenditure of $4,644,483 as of March 31, 2015. The project has also established partnerships with local implementing partners, and has provided technical support to grantees in Kenya, Malawi, and Zambia.