Agro-entrepreneurship
57%of jobs in Africa are in agriculture
20%of the African population suffers from malnutrition
1first program in Senegal
Entrepreneurs du Monde prioritises agriculture in all its programmes. It develops agricultural training, provides loans adapted to the harvest cycle, storage bins and generally seeks to strengthen agricultural sectors. It enables local adaptation to climate change and food security for all.
To test and develop further ambitious leverage, Entrepreneurs du Monde has created a fourth stream dedicated 100% to agro-entrepreneurship. A first program, Fawrou Remobe, has been set-up created in Senegal.
The agricultural problems in Africa
The farmers in African countries south of the Sahara encounter the following difficulties :
- climate change : extreme heat, drastic reduction of rainfall that is concentrated over a smaller number of days, which leads to erosion and soil leaching, etc.
- rampant desertification, where the Sahara advances every year;
- poor quality of the seeds frequently used;
- excessive use of chemical fertilisers and poor control of production techniques, which have led to the leaching of arable soil and to low agricultural yields;
- difficulties in financing both agricultural beginners and investments
- problems of transporting agricultural products to market
- lack of conservation infrastructure or processing facilities, leading to huge product
For example, in Senegal, the national production of onions only covers 5 months needs, the rest of the year is covered by onions imported from Holland. Senegalese producers lose between 20 and 70% of their onion production every year due to a lack of adequate storage facilities.
In Casamance, fruit producers also lose 70% of their production. Despite a very large production of fruit and vegetables, the processing units, which are mainly owned by women, are forced to stop their activities for a good part of the year because they have been unable to store the harvested product.
Entrepreneurs du Monde’s agro-entrepreneurial solutions to help strengthen small producers’ sovereignty
Farmers in African countries south of the Sahara face great difficulties that explain their low yields and incomes. These small-scale producers are the first to suffer from undernourishment and/or malnutrition.
The team sought solutions to help strengthen the small producers’ sovereignty and chose to prioritise its actions. It has therefore :
- Designed and built storage facilities with an adapted and sustainable architecture;
- Set up quality seed nurseries;
- Set up forest nurseries to slow down desertification and improve food security;
- Mobilised Entrepreneurs du Monde’s social microfinance programmes to offer loans adapted to agricultural needs;
- Trained facilitators to provide technical agricultural advice, in the use of environmentally friendly and soil-friendly techniques.
In the medium term, Entrepreneurs du Monde is in the process of creating a farm-school so that small producers, men and women, can learn about agro-ecology, agro-forestry, small ruminant breeding and fish breeding ponds
All these actions converge towards better food security, in a preserved environment, a better quality of life for families and new jobs for young people.