Market-oriented agriculture

Many smallholder farmers in Africa are engaged in low-profit agriculture without knowledge and access to the market trends on input materials (seeds/fertilizers) and output products. SAA is working with JICA on the Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment and Promotion (SHEP) to promote market-oriented agriculture by improving farmers' access to markets. SAA aims for more profitable agriculture by improving access to postharvest processing – such as threshing and milling – services for farmers and reducing postharvest loss.

SAA also supports the organization of farmer groups and cooperatives by providing training on organizational management, business development, marketing and more to farmer groups. We also support the establishment of linkages with fertilizer and seed dealers, output brokers and financial institutions.


A woman farmer holding her high yielding bean seed ready for sell, Uganda

ONE STOP CENTRE ASSOCIATIONS (OSCAs)

The OSCAs is a community-based farmer organization, developed by SAA in Uganda, started with the construction of physical structures to host farmer groups and capacity building of the members. It aims to (a) build capacity of farmers along the agriculture value chain starting from production, post-harvest, agro-processing to marketing (b) enable collective acquisition of agro-inputs; (c) facilitate access to finance, market information and postharvest and agro-processing services; (d) improve the quality of produce; (e) promote income generating activities

Zirobwe Agali Awamu Agri-business Training Association (ZAABTA) in Luwero district has served a total of 73,300 farmers in their surrounding communities through following enterprises; service provision with agro-processing machines such as threshing and milling, marketing of crops produced by members, establishment of input shop etc... Now they export maize and beans weekly to countries like Kenya and Sudan, which contributed to a sales turnover of USD695,403 in 2020.
Now the OSCA approach has grown beyond the original physical structures and it’s now being implemented in other communities by other NGOs as a sustainable community enterprise model.


The truck loading produce from ZAABTA for Kenyan market


Village argent buys high quality maize flour from ZAABTA for sale in rural communities.

Voices from the Field

Steven in his maize field
Uganda
August.19.2020

“I am grateful to SAA for empowering me to become a youth entrepreneur”

Steven Sseruma is a 27-year-old smallholder farmer, engaged in service provision, from the Nakaseke District of Uganda. Owing to training administered by SG 2000 Uganda, Steven was selected as a community-based facilitator in 2018, and was tasked with training farmers in his community on how to improve their farming methods. Through the private service provision extension model, SAA supports the capacity-building and development of youth farmers along the agricultural value chain, which covers C...

Furi Hirpo showcases one of his multi-crop threshers to a group of smallholder farmers in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia
Ethiopia
May.29.2020

From Bankruptcy to a Lucrative Business

Having gone bankrupt in his previous business, Furi Hirpo, a smallholder farmer and father of three, decided to follow his brother’s footsteps and turn to service provision. With an initial investment of 10,000 Birr ($340), Furi adopted a multi-crop thresher, promoted by SAA-SG 2000 Ethiopia, to use in Shashemene, in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, and the surrounding communities.

SG 2000 Ethiopia regularly conducts demonstrations of different machineries through the Postharvest Handling and...

Daniel (L) and John working in the green house
Uganda
June.17.2019

“I am proud of being engaged in agriculture”

The youth agribusiness in Uganda turning agricultural employment into a winning choice.

The Zirobwe Agaliawamu Agri-business Training Association(ZAABTA) is a dynamic and award-winning youth agri-business association situated in the Luwero district of central Uganda. The success of the group rests on its ability to inspire African youth to view agriculture as an employment choice with a bright future, rather than as a last resort....

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SAA history book
"Walking with the Farmer: The journey of the Sasakawa Africa Assoication since 1986"

This book chronicles the history of SAA from its inception to the present.

Success stories
Voices from the Field Special Edition 2022

This is a special edition of the "Voices from the Field" articles.