Rural farmers often face a difficult choice at planting time: go into debt to afford the necessary agricultural inputs for their fields or risk smaller plots, lower germination, and less yield come harvest time. But myAgro’s unique mobile layaway model allows farmers to finance their own inputs little-by-little, eliminating the need to go into debt. This was the case for Marie Ngom. “Before joining myAgro, I had difficulty paying my debts because I borrowed money to buy fertilizers and inputs. But now I have no more debts.” Marie is a widowed mother of 7 who has been growing with myAgro for 4 years.
But the payment model isn’t the only convenience Marie appreciates about working with myAgro. “myAgro delivers to our homes and on time, no need to travel long distances.” Before, she relied on her children to transport the fertilizer in from Dakar.
By eliminating the risk of taking on debt, Marie has been able to expand her agricultural enterprise. As a new poultry farmer, Marie appreciates the additional income she’s able to generate: “if I sell a few I can pay for my electricity and give money to my children at school.” Not only that, she also has enough chickens that she enjoys having the option to “eat with [her] family to satisfy them.”
In addition to her farming and poultry, Maire already has plans of increasing her outputs even more. She is saving up so that she can begin raising even more livestock “such as sheep and dairy cows in order to participate in the economic emergence of our country.” Farmers like Marie are able to utilize the convenience of myAgro’s payment and delivery models to expand their businesses and their income. This growth generates new opportunities and allows farmers to continually invest in themselves. That’s why Marie says she “will always work with myAgro. Because [she] feels its usefulness.”
