– Karim (left) plants 5- 7 hectares of cereals (maize, millet, sorghum) and cotton
– Minata (right) plants 2-3 hectares of rice and vegetables
– Together, they support a family of 15 +
– Despite their hardwork, they are only able to grow enough food to eat, without having much leftover to sell.
Together, Karim and Minata have more land than the average small holder farmer in East Africa or South Asia, but they share the same problem when it comes to incentives: since the cereal and vegetable markets are not well developed they are not incentivized to increase production intensity or increase the amount of land they cultivate. So, like many of other farmers in Mali, Karim and Minata live of the edge of subsistence farming – planting enough for their family to eat well in a good year, and eating slightly less in others.
In other words, farmers like Karim and Minata have decided that if they can’t sell their extra harvest, why invest additional money to produce more? Makes sense to us!
We believe there is a market for increasing food production in Mali and the West African region. Bamako, Mali’s capital is the fastest growing city in Africa (6th in the world!). Bamako is also in the center of West Africa and could be a center for food processing for the region. Our marketing and development strategy is going to be to convince farmers that by investing money in their farm they can grow more and sell their extra harvest to us for a premium price. This will be harder in the first year and become easier as we grow and prove to farmers that myAgro is a trustworthy and reliable business partner.
To those who think that Africa will always be series of stories of famine and poverty, we say look to farmers like Karim and Minata. They are wise and conservative investors – they’ll invest their money when the market looks right and they will build the breadbasket of Africa in the process.
