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USAID and AGRA Provide Support to Improve Access to Input and Output Markets for Smallholder Farmers

Lusaka, Zambia. 27 January 2013 - Today, the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) launched a multi-partner initiative - Strengthening Agricultural Input and Output Markets in Africa (SAIOMA) - aimed at improving smallholder farmers' access to markets, in order to increase their earnings and improve their well-beings and the livelihoods of their families. The initiative, which is a three-year Global Development Alliance between USAID, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is also being implemented in Kenya and Malawi.

The SAIOMA initiative will benefit 35,000 smallholder farmers, 468 agro- dealers, and 30 Small/Medium Enterprises, and will be implemented in six districts in East and Central provinces in Zambia. The Nutri-aid Trust (NAT) will lead a consortium made up of Frontier Associates, Farmer Organization Support Program (FOSUP) and Women in Agribusiness in sub-Saharan Africa (WASSA).

Zambia's Permanent Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock, David Shamulenge, who officially launched the programme, noted that access to inputs and output markets for agricultural commodities remains a key challenge for rural farmers who continue to face major challenges in the agricultural sector. "Although our agricultural sector has been growing at 7% per annum in the recent years, this has not resulted in increased incomes for rural households who depend on agriculture," said Shamulenge adding that limited access to improved and certified inputs, inefficient input and output markets are among the challenges contributing to this slowdown.

"As the Government of Zambia, we welcome and support the initiatives being promoted by SAIOMA. Our policy as a government is to promote private sector participation in agricultural input and output markets and agricultural development," he said adding "it is also commendable to note that the SAIOMA project does not only seek to improve production and productivity, but to link farmers both input and output markets as well."

Input and output markets constitute an important component along the value chain for smallholder farmers. Unfortunately, these have been a major challenge for millions of resource-poor rural farmers across Africa. By strengthening agricultural input and output markets for these farmers, the SAIOMA initiative will create a conducive business environment for farmers to have value for their produce, increase their profits, and build on their capacity to produce more to contribute to and complement food security efforts being made by governments and development partners.

"The SAIOMA initiative is timely because it addresses a felt need in the agriculture value chain - that of ensuring that farmers have access to inputs to raise their productivity and are facilitated to sell their produce profitably to increase their overall earnings from improved agricultural practices. It is a win-win for all partners involved," said Dr Anna Toness, Economic Growth Team Leader, for USAID Zambia. "The SAIOMA initiative complements AGRA's other market access initiatives and in Zambia we aim to work closely with government representatives in the eastern province in alignment with their own agricultural growth priorities" said Anthony Ngosi, SAIOMA Program Lead.

The project components include: farmer organization mobilization and training, productivity enhancement, financial management, produce aggregation and linkage to markets, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting.

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About USAID: The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States. As stated in the President's National Security Strategy, USAID's work in development joins diplomacy and defense as one of three key pieces of the nation's foreign policy apparatus. USAID promotes peace and stability by fostering economic growth, protecting human health, providing emergency humanitarian assistance, and enhancing democracy in developing countries. These efforts to improve the lives of millions of people worldwide represent U.S. values and advance U.S. interests for peace and prosperity. www.usaid.gov

About AGRA: The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) is a partnership of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Bill and & Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development (DFID) working with African governments, other donors, NGOs, the private sector and African farmers to significantly and sustainably improve the productivity and incomes of resource poor farmers in Africa.

About the Bill and & Melinda Gates Foundation: Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and Co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.