About the Model
The Inclusive Agribusiness Model is an innovative approach aimed at
- Setting up a profitable large acreage farm that acts as a nucleus for small holder farmers surrounding it within a 50km radius
- Extending planting and post-harvest handling know how, access to quality inputs, mechanization, storage services and premium markets to participating farmers
How it works
- ACL selects a suitable partner with a large land holding that is un-utilized that is committed to working with ACL using our profit share model
- In agreement with the partner, suitable cropping enterprises are identified, land clearing is conducted, farmland cultivated, produce harvested and sold. Surrounding farms that are interested are engaged and supported through the large farms which serve as demonstration sites
- The partner and his/her team are trained on how to run a profitable agribusiness venture in preparation for the time when the farm management will revert into their hands and upon the expiry of our farmland management contract.
ACL invests both financial and technical resources in the nucleus farms. ACL will leverage existing structures and will build new structures when called upon to do so. New structures built by ACL will automatically revert into the hands of the partner upon the expiry of the contract.
We have signed forward agreements with a number of global produce buyers and we seek to meet the supply demands of these produce buyers by linking them to stable supply lines.
What it means
The inclusive agribusiness model lends us the opportunity to put unutilized farmland to productive use. What this means for us is that we get to invest in setting up a productive and profitable nucleus farm that can serve in a community as a demonstration farm.
We then work through this demonstration farm to train small holder farmers on good agriculture practices. Through this nucleus farm, we link surrounding small holder farmers to the same agro-input dealers that supply seeds and fertilizers to our nucleus farm and the surrounding farmers have access to our storage facilities upon harvesting their produce and they also have access to the same markets that buy our produce.
What this means is that farmers can earn a higher income as they become more productive and earn more for their high quality produce. Therefore, our nucleus farms working in partnership with surrounding farms give us the opportunity to build an ecosystem of highly productive and market focused farmers.