Agriterra

We are glad to share the Impact Report of our ‘Increased maize 🌽 value chain efficiency in Rwanda’ project, marking a successful 4.5-year collaboration between Agriterra, Africa Improved Foods Rwanda Ltd, Sight and Life and the Rwandan Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources. 🌟 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗔𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 The project significantly reduced post-harvest losses, eradicated aflatoxin contamination from the maize value chain, improved market access for maize cooperatives and made beneficial cooperatives bankable. It also empowered young members and female leadership through targeted trainings. 📄 The full Impact Report delves deeper into these achievements. You can read it here: https://lnkd.in/ekTYZpDA #Agriculture #SustainableDevelopment #ImpactReport #MaizeValueChain #Rwanda #YouthEmpowerment #FemaleLeadership

𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗲𝗻𝘆𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗚𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗨𝗽 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗴𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗮 𝗞𝗶𝗰𝗸-𝗢𝗳𝗳 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 Empowering the next generation of agricultural leaders, Agriterra Kenya's recent Youth Kick-Off Training equipped young members of the Mangu Progressive Dairy Cooperative with the skills and knowledge to drive positive change. Participants crafted a six-month action plan through interactive workshops and collaboration, demonstrating their commitment to a sustainable agricultural future. This intensive program, led by Diana Macharia and Roy Vermeulen, fostered international knowledge exchange and empowered young farmers to shape the Mangu Progressive Dairy Cooperative's future actively. Stay tuned for further updates on their progress! https://lnkd.in/eKVRbs3G

Since 2021, Agriterra has proudly partnered with SNV in the PADANE Project in Burundi. The project aims to improve the living conditions of agricultural households, women, young people, and market actors through increased incomes, job creation for youth and women, food and nutritional security, and resilience to climate change.   Meet Gloriose, one of the farmers who has greatly benefited from the PADANE Project. For Gloriose and her fellow cooperative members, the project has significantly improved their household living conditions. They've experienced rising incomes and enhanced food security, and their efforts in chicken breeding and raising other small animals are flourishing. Read her inspiring story: https://lnkd.in/gW28N8dT

It was a pleasure to be back in Burkina Faso the first week of July. Together with Agriterra's CEO Marco Schouten and Agriterra's country representatives from Ghana HABIBA NYARKO AGYEMANG and Ivory Coast Rachel Miessi, we were received with a warm welcome by our Burkina Faso team. The reason for the visit was the kick off of the ECDD-GIRE project in Burkina Faso, that is implemented by WorldWaterNet, Agriterra and Auxfin. The project aims to enhance sustainable water management and practices, introducing ICT tools to support this. As around 70% of available water in identified areas in Burkina Faso is used for Agriculture, Agriterra is involved to work with horticulture Farmer Organizations to introduce and strengthen sustainable production methods related to water management. The program is financed by the Dutch Embassy in Burkina Faso, and has a duration of 5 years. It is a follow up of a program that was executed by WWN and SNV. Besides this launch we visited one of the horticulture cooperatives who are involved in the HortiPlus programme, which Agriterra implements together with Advance Consulting, SENSE, Agrodev and Auxfin, and which is financed by the Dutch Embassy in Burkina Faso. It was great to see an abundant production of salads, okra, and seeing an increasing production of quality strawberries, the focus for this cooperative in the project. Producers who organize themselves to tackle common problems they experienced in strawberry production and market access/price setting are the engine of this cooperative, which has a great potential to expand its work, results and incomes for the farmers and delivering quality food to the consumer market in Burkina Faso. As Agriterra has renewed its membership of AGRICORD, a collaboration between several AgriAgencies, we had the opportunity to meet representatives from TRIAS, AFDI, VERTE and AHA in Ouagadougou and make the first steps of renewed collaboration in Burkina Faso. It was great to see our team in Burkina Faso and the work they do, and for me to be back in the city which I called home between 2019 and 2022. In case you like to know more about Agriterra's work in West Africa, and specifically Burkina Faso, please contact me or our Burkina Faso Country Representative OUEDRAOGO Issouf, or visit our website www.agriterra.org #Agriterra #BurkinaFaso #Water #Agriculture #Horticulture #Cooperatives Frodo Van Oostveen Monique Zwiers Janette (Drs.) Worm Marco Schouten OUEDRAOGO Issouf HABIBA NYARKO AGYEMANG Rachel Miessi Sjoerd Herms Dibouloni Jean Bosco Michiel Arnoldus

SDGP Project “Increased potato value chain efficiency in Great Lakes Region” to improve resilience and increase the income of potato farming families. I feel proud and grateful to have played a part in contributing to. Increase in: Memberships 29% Cooperative Equity  72% Cooperative Revenue 200% Strategic vision and business cases Financial practices Access to Finance (Loan and Capital) Inclusiveness Thanks a lot, colleagues! I’m prepared to work on the next project. https://lnkd.in/eNmdyz3A Agriterra Rwanda #duurzaam ondernemen

The Future of Cocoa Farmer Empowerment: Addressing Industry Challenges and Promoting Sustainable Livelihoods    Together with Tony's Chocolonely, Agriterra is working to address significant issues plaguing the cocoa industry, including low prices, farmer poverty, child labour, and deforestation. These problems harm local communities in regions such as Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, where millions of smallholder farmers rely on cocoa cultivation. Addressing these challenges requires comprehensive, collaborative efforts to promote sustainable practices and improve farmer livelihoods.    As part of a project funded by the RVO's Social Sustainability Fund (SSF), Agriterra and Tony's Open Chain (TOC) are working to enhance farmers' livelihoods through financial inclusion. By leveraging digital tools, they aim to ensure transparent cocoa premium payments, ensuring that vulnerable groups are not overlooked. The project specifically targets women and cocoa farmers who do not earn a living income, providing them with specialised support. Overall, the initiative seeks to improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers, promote sustainability, and address social challenges within the cocoa supply chain.    Over the next 3.5 years, the project will target six cocoa-supplying cooperatives across Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. The first phase began in April with a local impact assessment involving focus group discussions with local communities, evaluations of the six cooperatives, and a study on digital solutions for promoting financial inclusion. Based on the assessment results, a series of validation sessions and workshops will be held with the cooperatives, leading to the development of joint action plans. These plans will outline a collaborative approach to improving social sustainability in the cocoa value chain and will be implemented over the next three years.    As we celebrate World Cocoa Day, we recognise the hardships in the cocoa value chain and reaffirm our commitment to helping communities and farmers move towards a more ethical and sustainable cocoa industry. 

𝗖𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟲𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆! After 10 years, Rien Geuze visited Kenya and discovered that cooperatives have significantly developed after a partnership with Agriterra. Long-term relationships and proactive initiatives have led to thriving agribusinesses. Leveraging Dutch agricultural expertise has proven successful in driving this growth. Read more about Rien's inspiring journey and the remarkable progress of these cooperatives here: https://lnkd.in/eQny2rBf or https://lnkd.in/eE4C9dbt (in Dutch) #Coopsday

As one of the partners in the #BRIDGEproject we are proud of the great achievements!

Exciting news from OACF! Since 2009, they have grown from 40 cooperative unions to 67, with over 3 million individual members. They recently acquired a new office building in Addis Ababa to better serve their community and enhance operations. As a result of its contributions to the success of OACF, Agriterra has acquired recognition and was awarded a certificate in front of its full members, higher government officials and other development at their newly inaugurated office. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/e8nK3y7v

Let me tell you about the fantastic week I had in Tanzania! Under the watchful eye of Mount Kilimanjaro, the past week we launched the AgriGRADE pilot in #Tanzania! This was the first time we gathered with our founding partners, IDH , Oikocredit, Agriterra, and SCOPEinsight, providing an excellent opportunity to get to know each other better. From the first hour, the team spirit was sparkling with the personal introductions setting the tone. We discussed the core concepts of the AgriGRADE approach—a systemic, scalable, and interoperable approach to professionalizing cooperatives—and reviewed the results of the Rapid Assessment of 228 cooperatives and their segmentation into four development stages. Furthermore, we practiced using the AgriGRADE Intelligence Center to plan the next steps for tailored capacity building at the four levels. A visit to Union Stores, a trader and processor (dealing with barley, rice, maize, etc.), gave us valuable insights into the challenges faced by the private sector in Tanzania. Despite having a ready market both domestically and internationally, the biggest bottleneck for the company is the lack of working capital. The goal of the AgriGRADE approach is to professionalize at least 60 cooperatives, graduating them to a higher level, and to optimize the supply chain together with buyers/traders like Union Stores. This includes improving their services to cooperatives as suppliers. Access to financing for both cooperatives and agri-SMEs is part and parcel of the AgriGRADE approach. In short, well-financed professional cooperatives as strong market players in efficient and inclusive supply chains...that's AgriGRADE's promise. Icing on the cake was the event on June 26th, where AgriGRADE was officially presented in the presence of Dr. Benson Ndiege, the Registrar of the Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission (TCDC), as well as Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Tanzania, traders, processors, cooperative district officers, farmer cooperatives, and financial institutions. Quite an event! Many thanks to the partners for doing a great job in organizing it. The Registrar's message was crystal clear: the future for Tanzania's 4,300+ registered agricultural cooperatives is no other than professionally run, market-oriented, and digitized. His invitation to collaborate with AgriGRADE and its partners in a data-driven way of segmenting, strengthening, and graduating cooperatives was extended. The journey has started... Let's collaborate! Let's AgriGRADE! @Farmfit Fund, World Food Programme FAO International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) EAGC Grain Business Institute (GBI) IFC - International Finance Corporation The World Bank AGRA Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken Cindy Van Den Boom Agnes Janszen Marco Schouten Tony Bruggink Hans Perk Marise Blom Lucas Simons Roel Messie Baraka Zebedayo Ntiruhungwa Geoffrey M. Honest Mseri Sharifa Chikaha patrick kagathi, CPA Mascha Middelbeek