Rice Farmers: Making Money, Feeding The Country

Farmers working on USAID’s Model Rice Farm, Agasha, Benue state, northern Nigeria.

The first year of the USAID/ Olam partnership provided more than 10,000 farmers with secure markets where they could sell their rice, access to commercial finance, and technical assistance to produce high quality rice. This resulted in productivity increases of almost 260% and farmer net income more than doubled.

Nigerians consume about 5.4 million metric tons of rice annually, while local production only amounts to about 2.3 million metric tons per year. The remaining 3.1 million metric tons is imported, making Nigeria the second largest importer of rice in the world.

Nigerian rice farmers weren’t able to produce enough rice to feed the country because they lack some key resources available to farmers in more developed nations. Limited access to fertilizers and credit lead to an inability to meet quality standards and a lower rate of production. In an attempt to reverse this trend, the government of Nigeria developed farmer-friendly policies.

Taking advantage of the new government policy of high import tariffs on milled rice, Olam Nigeria Limited, a major rice importer, decided to test a new business approach by investing in local production of high-quality rice for Nigeria’s domestic market. In 2005, Olam began processing locally produced rice from a government-leased mill located in Makurdi, Benue state. However, Olam was faced with the challenge of an insufficient supply of high-quality paddy rice to meet their capacity.

In 2006, USAID, entered into a partnership with Olam. The goal of the partnership was to promote Nigerian rice production to meet the demand by encouraging the use of improved technologies, farmer capacity building, commercial linkages to credible market outlets (such as mills) and strategic public-private partnerships. The first year of the USAID/Olam partnership provided more than 10,000 farmers with secure markets where they could sell their rice, access to commercial finance, and technical assistance to produce high quality rice. This resulted in productivity increases of almost 260%.

More importantly, farmer net income more than doubled. The success of the program encouraged First Bank, a Nigerian commercial bank, to become a major stakeholder with a smallholder farmer commercial credit program, providing $2.5 million in credit to more than 8,000 farmers.

Because of the success of this partnership, Olam Nigeria Limited was one of ten winners of the 2008 World Business and Development Awards (WBDA). Sponsored by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the International Chamber of Commerce, and the International Business Leaders Forum, the award is given to companies whose work demonstrates that “business can both make a significant contribution to development and be commercially successful at the same time.”

Partners in business, and in life, make the most of their training Husband and Wife Team Find Success

Mohammed and Maua take a break from their busy day outside their home in Ushongo, Tanzania.

“I am proud to work with my wife. She works hard and deserves everything we’ve achieved. But we couldn’t have done all this without each other. We know just how much more you can achieve by working together,” said Mohammed, a fisherman-turned-businessman in Tanzania.

When it comes to successful business partnerships, Mohammed and Maua are an exemplary team. Married and living in Ushongo on Tanzania’s northern coast, Mohammed sells fish. On average, he nets about $4 a day in profit. Maua’s tea stall — a small but popular spot on the family porch — provides about one dollar of extra daily income.

Yet it’s the business they run together that has led to their biggest financial success. In 2002, USAID helped introduce the basic concepts of seaweed farming to their community. Mohammed and Maua saw their chance, and with the support of a private seaweed development company, C-Weed, they began farming seaweed seriously, with a joint commitment to succeed.

The couple, used to planning their activities day by day, struggled to make their part-time seaweed investment pay off. And while many of their friends abandoned their seaweed business, Mohammed and Maua persevered. Thinking back to the training he received with USAID’s support, Mohammed commented, “Before, we used to farm but didn’t think about, or even really understand, things like ‘profit margins.’ But the training enlightened us. Now we calculate things and work towards targets.”

Mohammed and Maua used their first seaweed profits to build a second home. Now, they rent out their first house and use the rent to support their children’s schooling. Their next target is to use the $22 from seaweed income they make each month for electricity and a freezer. With the wiring in place, they expect to turn on their lights soon. As for the freezer, they optimistically reply, “We think we’ll have saved enough by next month.”

The electricity will allow Maua to add a juice stall to her porch, and with the freezer, Mohammed can store bigger catches of fish for longer. Their next big goal is to buy a motorbike, so that Mohammed can get to work faster. He has been cycling for two hours each day to the local market along sand roads for the last 15 years. With a motorbike, he will carry more fish and cover more markets. For Mohammed and Maua, the days of subsistence thinking are long gone.

The Success Story of August in Ghana

Jessie is a 58 year old divorced woman with three children. The first two who are 38 years and 33 years are both married while the last who is 18 is in the Senior High School. She hails from Bukom in the Greater Accra Region. She was however born and bred in Kaneshie, Accra. Currently, she lives at Bubuashie but sells at the Kaneshie market where she has her shop.

Jessie used to sell cosmetics but later changed to the sale of cloth-ing since she felt she will make more profit. She usually opens her shop at 7:00 am and closes at 5:30 pm.
Her second child settled in the United States. He used to regularly send her money that she could invest in her business. But as he got married, remittance stopped immediately, which crushed her plan to expand her business. As she discussed about her situation with a friend of hers, she was introduced to ID-Ghana.


After making contacts and receiving our Credit Officers at her business place, she qualified for a first loan and received GH¢ 300 in October 2007. She again received GH¢ 500 and GH¢ 700 in April and November 2008 respectively. Currently, she is a Front Desk partner and her fourth loan of GH¢ 500 is being used to expand her business.


With the support from ID-Ghana she has been able to significantly diversify her business: with time, she included panties, braziers and scarves. Before taking the loan, her sales were ranging between GH¢ 10 and GH¢ 20 daily. Today, her sales range between GH¢ 30 and GH¢ 100 daily! Besides her savings of GH¢ 100 with ID-Ghana, she is also saving with UT Bank. Currently, she is able to meet her financial obligations without any headache. She is happy she is able to pay her last born’s fees without difficulties; she even withdrew some money from her savings for this purpose. Her greatest dream is to build a house for her children. She is confident she will be able to realise this dream since she is actively saving towards it!

SME Receives K2.1 Billion

A small enterprise dealing in the production of hardware for the construction industry has qualified to receive K2.1 billion from the Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) with the help of the Zambia Development Agency’s Medium and Small Enterprise (MSE) Division on how to come up with a viable business proposal and apply for the funds for the expansion of its business.

Kechas General Dealer (KGD) based in Kabwe, qualified to receive the funds from CEEC at the end of Match after consulting the SME Division at Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) on how to meet the CEEC requirements for the acquisition of the empowerment funds. With such funds, KGD graduated from being an SME to a medium enterprise and can now apply for an investment licence from ZDA.

And KGD director, Kemmy Chande describes the funding as a full package that would bolster the operations of KGD to satisfy the vast market for the construction industry in Kabwe and the whole Northern region and beyond. “CEEC is providing KGD with machinery for the plant and raw material as well as funds for operations. It is basically a full package that will hasten KGD’s expansion projects,” Mr Chande said.

He said CEEC helped KGD acquire machinery such as fork lifters and others as well as raw materials, in order to create operational base for the enterprise. He added that the enterprise was only waiting for Zambia Electricity and Supply Company to connect appropriate power voltage to the plant as the machinery in being transported to the site.

Mr. Chande said KGD has already advertised for an initial 20 job opportunities at the plant to enable the enterprise begin operations. He said the enterprise will be mainly producing corrugated roofing sheets among other materials needed in the construction industry.

The ZDA MSE Division helps SMEs apply for the CEEC funds because most of them do not know how to write business proposals and how to apply for the empowerment funds entrusted with CEEC for disbursement.

Meanwhile, the ZDA has approved 10 certificates for SMEs worth K5.4 billion for enterprises located in various parts of the country. The investment is expected to create 53 job opportunities. The applications were from enterprises located in Eastern, Copperbelt, Western and Lusaka provinces that have invested in business activities such as trading, information, communications and telecommunication, engineering, meat processing and milling.

This indicates that SMEs are now venturing in more complicated areas of manufacturing and engineering, a development, which is as result of enabling policies put in place by Government to stimulate the growth of commerce, trade and industry.

Catherine Gwambie

Catherine Gwambie and her husband Hawzi Mwmami are a very entrepreneurial couple from Tanzania. They had dreams of being successful shop owners in Dar es Salaam. They farmed in their native Kigoma, growing and selling maize and beans to save enough to open a shop selling household supplies.

The shop was reasonably successful, but it did not generate as much income as they needed to support their family. Mr. Mwami decided to buy land to raise chickens and for Mrs. Mwami to start growing and selling vegetables. It was a good business but difficult because irrigation with a bucket took a lot of effort.

Early 2007 Mrs. Mwami heard an ad for the Super MoneyMaker on the radio. She excitedly told her husband about this new pump that was affordable and made irrigation easier and quicker. Mr. Mwami was not convinced. Mrs. Mwami insisted and since she was using her own money she would make the decision. Together they went to the Kariakoo market in Dar es Salaam to buy a Super MoneyMaker at the shop owned by Mama Songa (another KickStart Success Story).

The pump worked so well Mrs. Mwami increased her production. She expanded with another plot to increase her business. She employs her daughter (left in the picture above) and young sister (right). They have three young children and they plan to send them to good secondary schools now that they have money.

The Mwami’s have plans to build a nicer house for their family.

Mr. Mwami freely admits that his wife was right about the pump, and between their two businesses, they see a bright future for their family.

Call for help to self help

In any economy, a vibrant SME sector is essential for sustainable job creation, poverty reduction and private sector development. It plays a catalytic role in the development of any country. All accept that poverty-elimination in Africa can only come about through investment-driven economic growth. The key to sustainable economic development is the strength, health and competitiveness of small businesses. Africa needs more entrepreneurs which mean more enterprises, and more enterprises will mean more jobs.

In an attempt to help facilitate a further development Futureafrica have established a blog for sharing SME success stories that already exists across Africa. Futureafrica's web site and blogs are visited by thousands of people every week, with this new initiative the hope is that we through this knowledge management tool can help an increase in innovation and start up of new businesses. We invite all small and medium sized businesses across Africa to share their success stories so far with our readers for the benefit of many. All you do is to forward your story in no more than 500 words directly to lars.stork@futureafrica.eu using word document format. Every month we will select the story that we believe would benefit a further development of the SME sector in Africa and other emerging markets.

A symbolic price of US$ 200 will be awarded every month to the story of the month. Futureafrica will in addition liaise with institutions such as the IFC who together with Fututureafrica can assist turning the idea into reality.

A project of the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, the SME Toolkit offers free business management information and training for small businesses / small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on accounting and finance, business planning, human resources (HR), marketing and sales, operations, and information technology (IT). The SME Toolkit offers a wide range of how-to articles, business forms, free business software, online training, self-assessment exercises, quizzes, and resources to help entrepreneurs, business owners, and managers in emerging markets and developing countries start, finance, formalize, and grow their businesses.

Please contact Futureafrica on the web site: www.futureafrica.eu for more information.