Social Issue

In Zambia, despite the agricultural sector employing 60-70% of the country’s workforce, its contribution to GDP is less than 10%. One of the main reasons for this low contribution to GDP is due to the productivity of small farmers who produce only 20% of what commercial farmers yield per hectare.

The low profitability of small farmers can be attributed to the difficulty of acquiring quality inputs, the lack of modern agricultural practices, and the lack of storage facilities after harvests to maintain the quality of the products. In addition, the lack of access to markets in order to sell their products at a fair price is a big problem and ends up being a factor that limits the willingness of farmers to make investments that improve their agricultural production. The most compelling question for small farmers is who can I sell my production to and at what price?

Our Response

We have provided a loan to Good Nature Agro (GNA), a company created in 2014 with the vision of supporting small-scale farmers to move out of poverty and into the middle-class.

Through a network of over 4,400 small-scale farmers, GNA focuses on the cultivation and commercialization of a wide variety of certified legume seeds such as soybeans, peanuts, cowpeas and beans. These seeds are planted by more small-scale farmers in the subsequent rain season. In 2020, Good Nature seed was planted by over 120,000 small-scale farmers in Zambia, Malawi, and Botswana.

GNA’s seed production operations are concentrated in the Eastern and Northern provinces of Zambia. GNA understood that, to increase farmers’ income, one must start by identifying the most suitable and profitable crops for farmers. A crop that demands higher prices and with little volatility is the surest way to increase a farmer’s income. Since legumes are less common in the market than other crops such as maize, they tend to command higher prices. GNA provides training, seeds and inputs on credit, and guaranteed sales contracts to small scale farmers for their produce.

Expected Social Impact

This approach has shown that farmers can earn three times more income per hectare than farmers who concentrate for instance solely on maize, the  most commonly crop grown in the area.

Using our methodology to calculate Netri’s attribution, it is estimated that this loan will enable GNA to work with 700 farmers in providing them training, inputs on credit, and market access for their produce.