Part of the myAgro model is that we help farmers sell their harvests, which then creates an incentive for farmers to invest in better agricultural inputs for their farm and increase the land size they cultivate each year.
Until myAgro has a sizable customer base to interest large scale buyers in Bamako in signing purchase contracts with our farmers directly, we will purchase harvests from farmers and sell onwards to Bamako.
We launched our “Harvest Purchase Program” last week, and while farmers did not have a lot to sell us, a few entrepreneurial women sold us bags of peanuts, which helped us test our logistics process for purchasing harvests and showed farmers that we were serious about purchasing their harvests next year if they invested in their fields to increase their harvests.
When farmers approach our purchase table, they receive a Market Card with their total savings goal for this year, their progress to date, and a place to mark how much they’ve earned from this year’s harvest purchase.
The village vendor is on hand to sell myAgro cards in case the farmer wants to use part of the money she earns from our harvest purchase to save for the agricultural inputs she needs next year.
After selling us a bag of peanuts, the farmer below bought a 10,000 CFA card (~$20 USD) and applied it towards her 23,000 CFA goal (~$56 USD) this year to plant 1/2 hectare of peanuts with us.
Marietou was the first farmer to sell us harvests in Sanambele Village - and she purchased a 10,000 CFA card (one of our highest value cards) to invest in her peanut field next year. Farmers like Marietou prove that small scale farmers are willing to invest their money into their farms if there is a flexible and convenient way to do so!
We purchase well-dried and sorted peanuts, maize, millet and sorghum. Eventually, we'll also purchase vegetables that have a high value on the local and regional markets: chili peppers, bell peppers, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, etc.
