Inclusive Agribusiness: Why we need to work together!

 “There is immense power when a group of people with similar interests gets together to work toward the same goals.”

― Idowu Koyenikan, Wealth for All: Living a Life of Success at the Edge of Your Ability

This quote resonates in the agribusiness space as various interests come to play in having constant supply of food on the table. From the Farmers right to the consumer, there are various actors within the value chain of each commodity and the synergy between these various linkages is very key for sustainability. So how do we achieve this simple but yet complex inter and intra relationships.

Businesses today are moving from the traditional capitalist approach to a more social oriented approach. To operate businesses in most countries, laws are enforced to ensure corporate social responsibilities by such organizations. The very core of Eweko concept is centered on Inclusive business; bringing in the different stakeholders within the fruits and vegetable value chain to achieve seamless integration flow of processes for continuous business operation.

“An inclusive business is a sustainable business that benefits low-income communities. It is a business initiative that, keeping its for-profit nature, contributes to poverty reduction through the inclusion of low-income communities in its value chain. In simple words, inclusive business is all about including the poor in the business process be it as producers, entrepreneurs or consumers.”

http://businessfordevelopment.org/insight/what-is-inclusive-business/

The 2SCALE project has facilitated the formation of a cluster in Epe, around a commodity (chili pepper), to leverage on the strength of the different stakeholders identified within the value chain.

The ultimate goal of the cluster formation was to increase productivity and subsequently improve the livelihood within the communities and far beyond. The cluster has been able to reduced cost of production and increase competitiveness through

  • Bulk purchasing
  • Bulk transportation
  • Capacity building
  • Better bargaining power
  • Collective resolution of challenges
  • Access to structured markets
  • Adopting market2farm approach

So meet me, on the next blog post to read more on how the Epe Agribusiness cluster, eweko concept and the 2SCALE project engaged different stakeholders in their quest for inclusive agribusiness.