Agro-input companies are large organizations whose operation involves the manufacture, production, distribution, importation of one or more of the following; hybrid seeds, fertilizers, greenhouses, vegetative planting materials, pesticides, Animal feeds, vaccines, bio-stimulants, acaricides, knapsack sprayers and farm implements.
Are agro-input companies doing enough to promote agricultural production among the small farmers? This is a question of great interest to agricultural policy analysts. Various corporates have initiated efforts to assist farmers, for example Amiran Kenya is equipping farmers with knowledge on greenhouse production.
Sygenta has started an insurance policy in collaboration with insurance companies to minimize losses to farmers, Kenya Seed Company conducts field trials in collaboration with farmers during various times of the year- among others.
First, there is some effort to reach farmers, but more needs to be done. This is so because the amount of investment in farmers’ education is so small, compared to the numbers of farmers and their requirements. The information direly needed by farmers is on the; use of agrochemicals, fertilizers, proper choice of seed varieties, animal husbandry and post harvest technologies.
Secondly, according to Kenya government records, it is estimated; over 80% of Kenya’s population resides in the rural areas. Over 70% of them participate in agriculture as their main economic activity. Majority of these farmers are small scale with farms averaging 0.2-0.3 hectares.
They contribute 75% of agricultural output and 70% of agricultural produce. This means that agro- input companies have a huge customer base to reach, thus the investment they put in is a drop in the ocean. Kenya’s population currently stands at 40 million; meaning that agro-input companies have a potential client base of 15 to 20 million farmers. These companies have barely scratched the surface.
Some years ago a Massai herdsman went to an agro-vet shop to buy an acaricide for controlling ticks. When he reached home, it happened that his brother who is a farmer has bought Di-methoate for spraying his crops. They all placed the chemicals on the same place. Sometime later, the one who was to spray cattle decided to spray his animals.
Since, he did not know how to read and write; furthermore no one was near who could do so. He decided to pick one of them and give it a try anyway! Though he was not very sure which chemical he bought, little did he know of the impending disaster. He sprayed his 15 cattle with the wrong chemical and by end of the day, all his animals were dead!
Such stories abound in several parts of Africa, especially among rural farmers. There have been cases of children drinking agro-chemicals, birds and fish being poisoned, farmers applying excessive fertilizers-only to lose their entire crop, farmers spraying herbicides thinking they are foliar feeds. These cases would not have arisen if the farmers were properly informed.
The panacea for the predicament of small scale farmers has been identified in various researches as; collaboration between the government and private sector with the aim of educating farmers. Without doubt agro input companies have a major role in ensuring food security. They have the responsibility of doing more than selling their products to farmers; through active involvement in innovating, importing and distributing technologies of crop production, pest management and good agricultural practice.
Many of them have not been able to suitable develop programs that address the needs of rural farmers; the greatest need being increasing their knowledge base. Most of them have taken the trodden path of using showground’s, using radios, and normal advertising channels to reach farmers but these methods are proving to be unable to sufficiently reach farmers
In this case we will discuss briefly how Agro-input companies are involved in the dissemination of appropriate technical skills especially to small farmers and whether their efforts are sufficient. There are various categories of agro-input companies all who have a specific mandate thus the need to identify the categories of agro-input companies in Kenya.
CATEGORIES OF AGRO INPUT COMPANIES
(a) Those who supply products that are geared towards crop production e.g. Sygenta Kenya, Semenis Kenya, Mea fertilizers, National cereal and produce board, Athi river mining company.
(b) Those that supply products that are geared towards animal production e.g. Coopers Kenya, Unga limited.
(c) Those that supply products for both crop and animal production e.g. Twiga chemicals
(d) Those that supply products for crop and animal production, industrial chemicals, irrigation equipment and greenhouses e.g., Amiran Kenya, Hygrotech Kenya, Osho chemicals
The Kenyan agricultural scene is dominated by leading farm input companies in the world like Semenis, Twiga chemicals, Paanar Seed Company, Osho chemicals, Amiran Kenya, Hygro-tech, coopers Kenya, Sygenta, Unga limited and local companies that collaborate with international companies. Unfortunately despite their enormous experience, their impact has been minimal in the country. Because of a myriad of reasons that revolves around the strategies employed by the companies in reaching farmers.
HOW AGRO INPUT COMPANIES REACH SMALL SCALE FARMERS
Knowing how agro- input companies reach the farmers is important because; it will enable us to know the numbers of farmers reached, the information passed is improving their production and whether or not they are effective in the strategies they employ.
The principal strategy used by agro-input companies to reach small scale farmers has been, and will be; having stockists in their distribution chain, known as agro-dealers. They act as an intermediary between the agro- input supplier and the farmer.
ROLE OF AGRO- DEALERS SHOPS IN ENHANCING FARMER’S KNOWLEDGE
Agro-dealers are traders who stock goods of several companies like fertilizers, hybrid seeds, animal vaccines, animal feeds, irrigation pumps and any other agricultural inputs. The popularity of this strategy is indicated by its employment by virtually all the Agro input companies.
This is observed by the variety of goods stocked by the shops from different companies. Secondly Agro-dealers are found in almost all towns in Kenya where farming activities take place. Their countrywide distribution makes them suitable conduits for Agro input companies disposing their products to small scale farmers.
This method makes it possible for the agro-input dealers to reduce their marketing costs. The shop owners simply order the goods and they are delivered to their shops or they visit the factories where these goods are manufactured and pick the goods and bring them to their shops.
The idea behind this approach of selling to agro-dealers as opposed to farmers is; to bring products in proximity to the farmer at minimal expense to Agro-input companies, farmers and to provide agricultural information.
A study conducted in western Kenya in 13 districts by Chianu et al titled “Farm input marketing in Western Kenya: Challenges and Opportunities” is a pointer of the dilemma farmers face in accessing farm inputs and the gap that agro-input companies need to fill.
It was noted that the number of Agro-dealers was increasing at the rate of 16% every year; unfortunately most farmers were not able to receive their services. This indicates that demand is growing and more should be done to sustain it.
However, the Agro-dealers cited high cost of transport as a major problem coupled with low demand and high costs of inputs. Rockefeller foundation is funding programs in three sub-Saharan countries that are aimed at developing the rural agro-input stockists.
The program is meant to encourage agro-dealers to organize themselves into purchasing groups to as to achieve economies of scale in sourcing and transporting fertilizers and other farm inputs. Group members provide joint collateral to guarantee supply by agro-input companies.
Agro input companies should be more proactive in adopting the development of afore said strategy. For instance, they can use the internet to collect information of every agro-vet in Kenya and their contacts.
They can then use this information to develop a system that will encourage the agro-dealers to make orders using the system, payment of goods through mobile money transfers, distributing products specific to the various agricultural zones.
Agro-input companies can stimulate demand through conducting intensive farmer education, encouraging farmers to form groups and support in marketing of their produce. With regard to education, it can be achieved by involving community based organizations and NGOs that have a reach in the grassroots in their marketing plan.
If an agro-input company chooses a specific focus area that produces a crop; say maize, he should encourage the formation of ‘product pools’ through the cooperation of community based organization, farmers groups, and other stakeholders.
These pools will be the collection points of the produce for bulking for potential buyers and ease of marketing. The uptake of input use cannot be enhanced if farmers produce does not find a market.
Secondly, using this strategy will increase the array of products that he can sell to farmers. For example to produce maize you need inputs like seed, fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides and preservatives.
Farmers have in the past been duped by some organizations to plant a particular crop, adopt a certain process to boost their production. After they harvest a bumper crop, the organization disappears leaving farmers with produce; which at times lacks local demand.
This is because the initiating organization lacks the financial ability to buy or market such produce. As an agro- dealer adopts the strategy of helping farmers in marketing; he should focus to empower farmers to be independent of external assistance.
CHARACTERISTICS OF AGRO-DEALERS
A study conducted in Uashin Gishu and Machakos district revealed that 58% of the owners of this business have a college education and only 13% have a post secondary education in an agricultural field.
It was also observed that 44% of these owners managed their business on a full time basis, while 46% on a part time basis and a further 10% did not participate in managing their business at all.
It was also noted that 67% of the owners employed regular workers whose average age was 27 years. Out of the workers only 40% of the workers had a post secondary education.
Uasin gishu was chosen for the because it is a high potential area receiving over 1200mm of rainfall annually, while Machakos is much drier receiving between 750-1200 mm of rainfall. Though the study was conducted in only two districts, It was assumed that the two districts will reveal the nature of agro-dealers since the two districts represented the extreme climatic areas where agriculture is practiced.
The results indicated though owners of agro-dealers have high levels of training, their skills may not maximally benefit farmers since less than half of them are involved in day to day running of the business.
HOW AGRO-DEALERS INFORM FARMERS ON EXISTING AND NEW AGRICULTURAL INPUTS
The Agro-dealers advertise the products of the Agro input companies by hanging posters of various products inside their shops. The posters are obtained from agro- input companies as the stockists purchase their requirements. These posters have the following information; a photograph of the product, its trade name and name of the company that supplies the product, where it is used i.e. on plants or animals and the purpose of the product for example controlling powdery mildew, ticks.
Other details are left out thus a farmer may not know the dosage of the product to use and other details at a glance, unless he first buys the product and reads the information on the label. In my opinion, it is the technical details that matter most to the farmer like: dosage, the suitable stage of plant growth for product use and side effects.
The other way is when the sales person working in the store relays this information to farmers as they purchase various products. This is effective when the salesperson has undergone training in an agricultural institution and is conversant with various challenges facing farmers. Unfortunately, less than 40% of the sales people have this knowledge.
It’s sorry to say most farmers do not have knowledge on suitable agrochemicals for the crops in their farm, how to use them effectively, which diseases or pests controlled by various products. Most of them are semi-literate; they are not able to know the components of chemical. The way the various agrochemicals are branded also confuses the farmers and the Agro-dealers.
LIMITATIONS OF USING AGRO-DEALERS AS A WAY OF PASSING INFORMATION TO FARMERS
Weak regulations of agro-dealers have resulted to doubts on their ability to deliver. It has been established that, owners of the shops may have knowledge on agriculture; however they employ assistants who lack agricultural knowledge, secondly a small percentage of them run the business full time, therefore farmers are not able to benefit from the knowledge of the owners.
Also, weak regulation of Agro-dealers by the Agro-chemical Society of Kenya, Kenya plant health inspectorate unit and pest control products board, results to counterfeit products being sold to farmers. These institutions are mostly concerned with regulating big industry players but fail to monitor the agro-dealers scattered throughout the country. Furthermore various studies conducted in the country indicate that the institutions are underfunded and can’t be able to fulfill their role effectively.
OTHER WAYS USED BY AGRO-INPUT COMPANIES TO REACH FARMERS
USING SALESMEN
Sales is achieved in 2 ways
Agro-input companies need only to employ salesmen who target the agro-dealers as opposed to the farmers. This sales strategy is used where farmers are; scattered in the countryside thus reaching them is difficult and expensive, or where there is a diversification of crop production such that it would be impractical to address the challenges faced by farmers.
Secondly by targeting farmers directly- this strategy is employed where large numbers of farmers grow the same crop or closely related crops meant for commercial purposes. For example farmers in Kirinyaga district practice horticulture for the exports market. They grow crops like French beans, mange tout and cucumbers among others. Because of the high level of organization of farmers, it is cheaper for salesmen to directly sell to them.
The salesmen are properly trained, most of them have a college education so besides availing products to farmers and they also provide extension services. This proves to be more effective than agro-dealers in dissemination of agricultural technology to farmers compared to agro-dealers.
However the impact of the salesmen is localized in major towns, and market centers surrounding major crop production centers where the salesmen can easily meet their targets.
THROUGH FIELD DAYS IN VARIOUS FARMERS FIELDS
During such sessions, the Agro input companies are able to advise the farmers on suitable seeds for their specific areas, proper agro-chemical use etc. This is a good strategy where Agro input companies can meet the farmers. Unfortunately there is a weak follow-up of the programs hence minimizing the impact.
AGRICULTURAL SHOWS AND CONFERENCES
In this method, the agro-input companies have stands in agricultural shows through which they reach farmers. Various products are displayed and the farmers have an opportunity to ask questions and seek advice. However shows have proved to be ineffective since such they are seasonal, majority of those who attend are city dwellers who are not involved in farming and are losing popularity among the masses. They also organize conferences where various industry players attend to discuss which are aimed at attracting professionals.
ADVERTISING ON THE PRINT AND ELECTRONIC MEDIA
The disadvantage of this is the high costs of advertising hence its minimal use to reach farmers. TV is the most versatile due to its audiovisual properties but the target is limited to those with a source of electricity. Newspapers are not able to reach farmers who are illiterate
CONCLUSION
Agro-input companies need to intensify their efforts of reaching small farmers. The strategies they employ have been effective in various ways, but have not been able to reach many farmers as required. There is need to think outside the box!