The She Entrepreneur, a non-governmental organisation has urged women in agri-business to seek more information in the sector that can boost their businesses.
She Entrepreneur co-founder, Precious Nkanduluba explained that it is important for women in agriculture to learn more and expand their knowledge in the agricultural sector in order to increase production of their farm produce.
Ms Nkanduluba said this at Asmara’s Hotel, where the organisation hosted a seminar of over 30 women participants who are involved in agriculture business such as small scale farming, poultry, crop production and aquaculture.
Ms Nkanduluba explained that it is vital for women who are involved in agriculture to access information on agriculture that can help them increase their value addition to their crop produce and create a market for their products and in turn add to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
‘’We are here to help the women who are in agribusiness realize their potential and expand their knowledge on how best they can plan and strategy to increase their value addition to their farm produce,’’ she stated.
And Market Connect Chief Executive Officer Duniya Mupeso encouraged women in agriculture to increase their value addition of their farm products and seek assistance from market Connect on how they market their products.
She explained that women in farming need to learn more strategy on farming and processing of their products, so that their business can be viable to large markets and commercial level.
Ms Mupeso further advised women to engage various stakeholders who can educate them on farming and accountability and management of their farm products.
“As Market connect we will work with you to grow your business and find the right market for your products through sharing knowledge on planning and setting goals in your agribusinesses,’’ she said.
These are allowance driven experts. The problem is access to a good market. You can’t talk about value addition when many small scale farmers are failing to find a good market for their raw produce. It’s the processors of bee honey that have access to chain stores and not the primary producers. We have farmers that are stuck with onion yet hotels and chain stores are pushing for imports. We need to establish an efficient data base and supply chain as that’s what will motivate small farmers to improve on their production. 000s of seminars have been held over time with little or nothing to show. Don’t just sign for allowances and disappear till the next funding, make follow-ups to ascertain whether you’re getting the desired results
Perhaps let me add that another serious challenge is that most farmers in Zambia grow crops whose sales price isn’t known at production. How do you plan? And it seems our agronomists have failed to solve this challenge