The following conversation that QTCA had with a female farmer is exemplary: 

One of the households we visited is Mrs. Nguyen Thi Loan's family. When we came, she was busy solving consequences of the flood which had damaged a lot of farming products. She invited us to drink water and talked with us. She said: "we  mainly live from agricultural production, but the climate here makes it difficult for us. Luckily we learned how to grow crops in the modern way, before we used the traditional way, which was less efficient and productive."

From our view and her saying, we saw that loss after harvesting is a big deal for farmers in Quang Tri. When she was asked about the supporting activities from the project, she said "we are a farming family, our main income depends on agricultural production, so the technical support in farming is very meaningful to us" and she continued "it has changed our awareness,  improved rice production and intensification capacity for households like us. Before, with the traditional way of farming, we ploughed the soil with buffalo's power, planting rice by hand and working hard to make enough food for our family; since the project, many positive changes has come to my family and other farmers”. Some examples she mentions: "I had the chance to take part in training courses on planting and husbandry techniques organised by QTCA. We now cultivate the soil by machine which is provided by the cooperative, we plant rice seeds using a row seeder, etc. These tools released farmers, especially women from hardworking, therefore the rice productivity and quality has been increased and the income for my family now is higher and more sustainable than before, we even have some small money to save."

We continued our conversation and asked her where they sell the rice, after they stored the rice for their own consumption. She said "before, traders came to each family to buy or we brought it directly to market to sell. But now, the cooperative has established a service group that buys the rice for a good price. Besides, the cooperative has invested in milling machines, polishing machines, rice drying machines and started to make business on farming products. Thank to these services, farmers just focus on the production of agricultural products, the cooperative is responsible for linking with market and selling the products."

She hopes that farmers and the cooperative continue  to upgrade and upscale in terms of capacity, making farming products business plan and taking part in market chain to create the added value for agricultural products.

Mrs Kommala Ramana is member of the executive committee of CKO.  She is also president of the Adarsha Mahila Rythu Club, Kalwala which is affiliated to the CKO. She wants to share her new knowledge with other rural woman farmers in her country. About the exchange visit she writes:

Though the trip lasted only for seven days, it gave a lot of enlightment in the fields of the Dutch dairy system, silage system, IRIS, I&R, dairy management, milking robots etc. I acquired sufficient knowledge with regard to the management of dairy farms and how to run them profitably. 

It is too early to say that the purpose of the visit has been fully served. But I am confident that the very purpose of the visit with the sole aim of getting acquainted with the various scientific methods that are widely in use across the country, has been primarily served. Now I am determined to put all these practices into action at my native village with active financial support as well as moral boosting from the both CKO and Agriterra.

Mr Theo van den Berg (CRV, enterprise in cattle improvement) was our host during the visit. When visiting the CRV headquarters in Arnhem the big statue of Sunny Boy caught my attention. I tried to know the history of this big bull. I was astonished to learn that this bull produced 23 lakh (a lakh is a unit in the South Asian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand) doses of semen and that he gave birth to 10 lakh baby cows by using it's semen through artificial insemination system.

We visited several farms, like the one of the Willemse family. The farmer told that he had 8 cows in the year 1956.  He had increased this number up to 28 just in a span of a decade and he now has over 120 cows for milk production. This shows his dedication and commitment to the dairy farm. He explained to us many things pertaining to the separation of cattle from cows, tag system and feeding system. In the milking parlour 16 cows could be milked at a time.

The next farm was a joint one of two farms, combined by marriage. All cattle are now in one farm. The farmer looks after the land and the cow farm. He started with 12 cows and his two robots are now milking 120 cows. The sight of milking robots was marvellous. The lady farmer takes care of the young calves and runs the other farm where no animals are housed. This farm has been rebuilt for conferences and leisure. She showed us the feeding with milk bottles and told us how to prepare warm milk replacers for the calves. Also she told us about her very busy life with 3 children to look after and all the labour required for the calves care and the conference / leisure premises care, but she enjoys it.

The next day we visited another dairy farmer, with as many as 120 cows.  We had elaborate discussions with him. He shared his views regarding the quality of a cow, which gives high quantity of milk a day. He stressed the need for construction of high sheds. This keeps the cows cool and with fresh air and light . It also contributes to the good health of a cow. 

The people of the Netherlands are famous for their cow breeding. There is low interest in buffalo breeding as it does not generate high income levels. The net financial return is low in comparison with cows. However, there are now 8 buffalo farms in the Netherlands.

We further visited  the museum of cattle breeding  and Qlip, a private company with for dairy quality improvement, where we learnt that  33% of the milk produced is consumed by the people of Netherlands and the rest is exported to other countries.
In short, we learnt a lot during our study trip to the Netherlands and will surely implement and exchange these lessons learned.

Merlita is the eldest of six children and is the only one with a college degree. Like most Filipinos who face limited employment opportunities, she decided to emigrate to Manila to look for work. Later, she worked as household help in Laguna and Bulacan for almost 7 years. During these years, she earned about USD 45 a month. 

After saving some money, she decided to return home. She started a small sari-sari/ convenience store beside her house. In 2004, Merlita joined PASAKA, a local organisation of coconut farmers advocating agrarian reform and livelihood development. Now, seven years later, she is part of the PASAKA board of directors, and the overall-in-charge of PASAKA's multi-purpose cooperative's copra trading business. In this capacity, she handles finance, marketing, and even oversees delivery and logistics.

As a young member of the organisation, Merlita was chosen to be part of an international exchange program. Probably one of her most exciting adventures, she was sent to Netherlands for a week to learn more about farming technologies.
Before she joined PASAKA, Merlita has to depend on her own savings, and sometimes loans from her parents. Fortunately, she received a cow and four chickens, as part of PASAKA's livelihood programs for its members. As beneficiary, she is required to take care of these livestock and pay back by returning some of the animal's future offspring.

July 2011 Merlita was able to sell at least 10 chickens. A kilo of chicken costs P130/kilo. This translates to P2,650 (about 61,84 USD)  in sales, and at least P 2,100 (49 USD) net income. She sells her chicken to her neighbours who are mostly Muslims, the reason why the sales peak during Ramadan months. The eggs she sells at her sari-sari store or she uses them for breakfast.

This steady stream of additional income, including the various trainings she has received makes Merlita very grateful for PASAKA. Since she joined PASAKA, she built her own house, expanded her sari-sari store business, and sent her nephew to a vocational school. She also provides support to some of her relatives who have bigger families. She now pays for her parent's utility bills.

Merlita's story proves that with enough training and support, and an entrepreneurial attitude, one can achieve a better life. Opportunities need not be too far from home. As for her future plans, she is very ambitious: "I want to grow my poultry business and become rich."

Mr Tes Sarorn lives in Knol Kangthbong village, Svay Ang commune, Svay Chrum district, Svay Rieng province in Cambodia. He has seven sons and daughters including his son in law. Five of them are garment workers in Phnom Penh and the other two are staying at home to help him run business. Mr Sarorn used to work partly as farmer and partly as business man in the village. Here he worked as machine repairer and he has a paddy thresh rental. He has 40,000 square meters land for rice field.

He used to grow rice only in the rainy season and was not used to grow vegetables or other crops in the dry season even if there was enough water and land for vegetable growing. Previously, he grew only a few types of vegetable such as kang kongs, and ridge gourds by using traditional techniques because he did not have the knowledge and skills. The vegetables were often destroyed by insects. He spent a lot of money buying vegetables for family consumption.

As there is now an increasing number of machine repairers and paddy thresher renters in the village his income decreased from day to day. In order to increase his income, he considered growing vegetable as an option to get more money. Being a member of the Cambodian Farmers Association Federation of Agricultural Producers (CFAP) he was one of the selected farmers to join CFAP-trainings for small farmers groups aimed at improving their market access through rural economic activities in vegetable and rice production and marketing. Mr Tes Sarorn was very excited and he hoped that he would get more knowledge and skills to grow vegetables.

In the training he studied on bitter gourd growing techniques and at his house he did eggplant trials by using mulching film techniques on a 150 square meters trial plot compared with a 50 square meters normal plot. From the trial results, he learnt that the eggplant with the mulching film produced a lot more than the normal plot. The normal plot did not grow very well and faced insects.

Based on the trial results, he has decided to expand his vegetable growing area in the dry season by changing his rice field to a vegetable field. He plans to grow many types of vegetables such as tomatoes, cucumbers, wax gourds, bitter gourds, pumpkins and long beans on 2,600 square meters of land. Until now, at least 8 villagers around his house are trying to copy the techniques from him. They also asked the knowledge support from him.

Mr Tes Sarorn is a model farmer, showing that the CFAP trainings sort effect and that it is possible for smallholder households to increase their incomes substantially from improved vegetables production and marketing. However, the true success lies not in the model farmers, but in other villagers seeing this and starting to learn and applying these new techniques. Early signs are that this is starting to happen and the coming growing seasons will tell whether this will truly happen.
 
The first farmer field school has trained 31 farmers in 8 communes. As a result, the large majority was very interested and expanded their growing area. A lot of people in the village approached and visited the trial plots of model farmers in order to check to see the facts and learn.    

During the farmer field day in the village with around 50 participants, all the participants were very interested in the new techniques and had a lot of inquiries related the growing techniques and market. Most of them were willing to follow and join the training.

Moreover, with the whole value chain system, the expectation is that there will be an increase in number of vegetable producers and a gradual build-up of contacts with middlemen and traders to meet the demand in the market.

The model farmers like Mr Tes Sarorn are the key person to disseminate the new knowledge and experiences to other farmers for the group members and non-group members in the village. So it is very important to select the right farmer to do the experiment. It is easy to convince other farmers to follow if they see the result because most of them do not dare to do first and very often wait to see result.
 
Hard skills are more popular than soft skills. Farmers want to see quick result. Long term investment is hardly convincing to farmers who need quick income for their urgent household needs.

Innovation is a new area for Agriterra, one in which farmers' organisations work on entrepreneurship according to the three p's: people, planet, profit. Maintaining the countryside in a liveable form for future generations is one of the main aims. The youth has an important role here. Agriterra wants to stay as close to the ground as possible while making a concrete contribution. One way for it to do this is to encourage enterprising farmers' groups that want to produce and sell food in sustainable ways. Agriterra has a special innovation fund to stimulate enterprising and innovative organisations of young and female farmers.

The team focuses on customers who have renewing courses in mind and customers who need our support for result-oriented advocacy. Because we cannot manage this on our own, Agriterra consciously chooses for cooperating with other organisation like Agri-ProFocus and IFAD.

Contact: belangenbehartiging&innovatie@agriterra.org
Composition of the team: advocacy and innovation
For more information, please check the pdf-document below.

At Agriterra, the term 'agribusiness' means a company where the involved farmers have control either directly or indirectly. This control comes either because it is a membership organisation with farmers as members or because agricultural organisations hold the shares and participations.

Agribusinesses - usually cooperatives - lend their services to primary agriculture. They become clients of our team because they need knowledge, means or capacity to realize their ambitions and plans for growth. A strong, competitive market position is therefore the aim to which team agribusiness makes its contribution.

This contribution mainly consists of advice and technical aid in the field of entrepreneurship, business planning, financial management and day-to-day management. This way, companies become bankable: ripe for investment. A further step is that agribusiness advisers with Agriterra, working in the region, approach investors and banks in order to ensure the success of the investment plans.

Contact: bedrijven@agriterra.org
Composition of the team: agribusiness

For more information, please check the pdf-document below.

Agriterra helps setting up local groups that will establish good relationships with one another and with their surroundings. We focus on enterprising farmers who produce a surplus and want to take it to the market. Those farmers often have to find answers to a number of questions, like how do I react to the demand, how do I ensure better quality, how can I increase my production, how do I get access to different sales channels and how do I obtain necessary financing?
Challenges the grass-roots entrepreneurship team faces in providing advice to farmers are as numerous as the questions. Because good leadership and a healthy organisation are needed for local economic activity, the team also invests in leadership and organisation development. In all activities, the team pays particular attention to female entrepreneurs.

The linking to and knowledge of the Dutch agricultural sector plays an important rule herein. Advice from (female) farmer to (female) farmer is therefore characteristic to this team.

Contact: ondernemerschap@agriterra.org
Composition of the team: grass-roots entrepreneurship
For more information, please check the pdf-document below.

Ms. Sao Savoeun lives in Tachey village, Kampong Chamlang commune, Svay Chrum district, Svay Rieng province. She and her husband have two children; both of them are studying in grade 5 in the commune. Her mother is living with her family. They own 20 000 square meters of land where they grow vegetables, rice and fruit crops.

Her mother is a broom maker and her husband worked as construction worker in Svay Rieng province in the past two years. Before Sao Savoeun joined CFAP, her family income depended on her husband and her mother. Her husband worked in Svay Rieng and earned 10 000 riel (USD 2.45) per day with his construction work. "My family often had to spend money on food, medicines and so on which the family income did not cover. At home, we grew only a few traditional types of vegetables such as kang kong and bottled gourds. Because we did not have experiences nor knowledge we did not expect to get more income from vegetables" she said.    

Ms. Savoeun is now a model farmer. She joined CFAP in March 2010. Shortly after her registration, she participated in a farm field school and training in entrepreneurship, marketing and business planning. In the school she studied on Chinese kale growing techniques and at her house she experimented with long bean trial by applying new growing techniques on 200 square meters.

From the trial results and the trainings, she gained a lot of skills in both theory and practices. Also her mother and especially her husband learned a lot, because she usually taught and showed her husband what she has learned at school. "Previously my husband did not know how to grow vegetables technically. He always applied only traditional knowledge but now he can grow very well",  she said. He quit his job and now is the main person in the family for vegetable growing.

They are confident that they can make more money from vegetable growing so they decided to expand their vegetable growing area to 7,000 square meters. They grow a lot of types of vegetable such as cucumbers, spinaches, wax gourds, long beans, tomatoes and bitter gourds. During the harvesting period of bitter gourds and spinaches she can earn at least 20 000 riel (USD 5) per day and she really hopes that she will get more and more income when she harvests other vegetables.

Her mother, who often stayed away from home a few weeks per month to buy broom materials in other provinces, now decided to stay at home to help Sao and her husband to grow vegetables because this will generate more income for the family than working as broom maker.

Ms Chakriya lives in Svay village, Sankat Chek, Svay Rieng province. She has four children, three sons and 1 daughter, two of whom are studying in grade 7 and 11 in Svay Rieng province. Her other two sons are working in Phnom Penh and Kratie province. Her husband, a three-wheeled vehicle driver (cyclo driver), is working in Phnom Penh. Only her two children who live with her help her on the field. Sometimes her husband also helps her when he visits her.

Ms Chakriya became CFAP member in July 2010. Before that, she always grew Sambar cucumber (Trasak Srov) and produced rice using traditional techniques resulting in very low yield. During the three months training, she learned about the technical steps needed for cucumber production as well as how to calculate her cost benefit from this through record keeping. 

During the course, she did a cucumber experiment at her farm using plastic mulch techniques on 150 square meters trial plot compared with 150 square meters normal plot. The inputs cost of the trial plot was 104 900 riel (USD 26) and normal plot was 70 000 riel (USD 17). After the experiment the net profit on the trial plot was 19 5000 riel (USD 47) while the normal plot was -50 500 riel (USD -12).

After the experiment she decided to expand her vegetable growing area to 1400 square meters. She took a chance to invest her own money, which was 326 800 riel (USD 80) in improved seeds and mulching film. Now she grows different types of vegetables such as bitter gourds, cucumbers, ridge gourds, eggplants and tomatoes by using mulching film and techniques that she learnt from the course and experience of the previous experimentation. During the period of harvesting cucumbers and bitter gourds she earns 41 000 riel (USD 10) per day.

Her husband decided to return back home from Phnom Penh to help her expand the vegetable business because they can make more income from this than with him working as a cyclo-taxi driver.

Now at least 30 villagers who have seen the results of Ms Chakriya's business want to learn from her and ask her questions such as why you decide to expand your vegetable growing? What did you learn? Why are you not afraid of losing your money? and so on.

According to Kiwanuka Richard Ntambi the business is moving on well. "We have had tremendous developments since December 2011 in terms of more purchases (stock), more customers and publicity - on radio and local newspapers -  and the impact is now being noticed. Actually, we have now gone into wholesale dealership since we can now buy with cash from leading importers or manufacturers of agro-inputs in the country. I have held several meetings with some executives of these companies to get their products at discounted prices since we are purchasing in bulk. Our aim is to supply to small input dealers who are close to farmers in the villages. We believe this will reduce the rampant prevalence of counterfeit products on the market because most of these small dealers are unable to travel to Kampala and purchase these products and hence resort to either buy fake product or tamper with them by dilution or change of content", so Richard Ntambi says.
 
Now the preparations for the next planting season (late February to April) are in full swing. In this period demand for inputs normally is high, so Mbadifa expects business will be vibrant then.

Richard: "The local news papers wrote a lot about Mbadifa winning the award. I have also been interviewed on radio and in talk shows where I could promote our business. The impact is positive and promising. Winning the business plan contest and the prize money has given us good business leverage, and I believe Mbadifa shall reach to greater heights."
 
Want to find out how Richard Ntambi won the challenge? Check this youtube video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEt70b6RBv0&feature=plcp&context=C3b96d37UDOEgsToPDskLHKyZvDKVW_UUKbF0h98sL. During the Finance Market Place in Rwenzori region (Uganda), Richard explains how he won the 'Farmers in Business Challenge 2011' and why it is important for farmer entrepreneurs to formulate professional business plans.

A group female farmers explains that a lot has changed since they have received services from QTCA. One of the most important changes was that 5 - 10 years ago they used to sell all their rice when it was still growing in the field, resulting in permanent shortages of cash. Now they learned through courses by the QTCA to get a higher yield from the land by using better seeds and fertiliser. They now only sell after harvest and drying, this way they receive a higher price for their rice. This has increased their income, so they can better provide for their families.

With the income out of the harvest they first pay QTCA for the seed and fertilisers, then they repay their other debts and buy goods for the household. If any money remains they buy gold jewellery to save something for a rainy day. Only few farmers have a bank account and they have no experience in saving money.

It seemed that farmers who run a more specialised farm, e.g. in products like blue bean (bean sprout) and rice noodles, earn more and have a higher standard of living. A farmer of a blue bean farm said she learned in trainings of the cooperative how to improve her produce and about what is essential to run a good blue bean farm.

In front of their house they built a small restaurant where they serve authentic food from the area. Mrs. Kim Niên is a very good cook. Meat, fish and vegetables they buy from their neighbouring farmers. Sometimes, when the farmers don't have the products they need, they buy it on the local market. Their income has increased so much, that they can send their son to school (now 9th grade). They can even save a little bit for later and for the education of their other son. Mr and Mrs Kim Niên plan to build a larger restaurant with a good bathroom. Mr Kim Niên currently is local chairman of the Farmer Union.

Before they started the restaurant, Mr Kim Niên hired land to grow rice on. During the flooding season Mrs Kim Niên sold fish at the market. She also had a small business selling fruit in front of their house. Those products were bought from other farmers. For both it was hard labour and they did not earn much with it. They lived a simple life, but it was hardly enough to live from.

Now, with their authentic restaurant that attracts lots of tourists, they are a good example for other farmers in the area. Their life improved and they contribute to the livelihood of other farmers in the village by buying their products which they need for their restaurant. 

The parents of Mrs. Van are farmers, producing rice and vegetables. Mrs. Van lives with her parents, she is not married nor has children. Together with an older sister and her brother with his wife and child they live in one house. Her older sister and her brother have their own income. Her brother is a weaver and has his own business. The family has for subsistence about 0.60 ha with rice and 0.30 ha with vegetables.

Mrs. Van studied until 11th grade (final year of secondary education). Then she started working in a food company for two years, but her income was not stable. She joined an one-year training for tailor. By practicing she improved her skills. She started her own business as tailor, specialized in traditional clothing for women. She also raises chickens. The eggs are for home-use and for selling on the market.

Supported by the An Giang Farmers Union she started a home stay, where tourists can stay overnight and get a meal. She is eager to learn from the tourists. She developed her skills; for example she speaks a little bit English and has a good eye for body-language. She is motivated to share her knowledge with others and wants to join a training programme to become coach. She pays a contribution to the agro-tourism centre for promoting agro-tourism activities and professionalising the services for the members.

In her spare time she makes little cuddly animals of rest parts of the clothing she makes. She was very pleased with the advice of the agro-tourism centre to use those animals as a give-away to her guests with a business card tied on. On the card she can make promotion for her business.

Before she her agro-tourism activities she had just enough money to live from, but she had no money to support her parents. Now she is able to maintain her parents and she can even put some money in the bank. From that money she gets interest. Part of the money she saves for her pension, because she has no children to support her when she is not able to work anymore.

Ms Khenh and her daughters produce fine quality silk handicrafts. Her work is particularly appreciated by buyers from Cambodia and Thailand where it is in demand for weddings and festivals. Ms Khenh set up a silk weaving business, providing work for 125 Khmer women in her commune. They spin, dye and weave the silk that is bought raw in Tan Chau, An Giang. Ms Khenh makes all the export arrangements with the neighbouring Cambodian traders who trust her quality control and place orders for the handmade pieces from the commune.

Each piece takes two weeks to produce and sells for VND1m (about USD 50) each, so the weavers' income can be VND2m per month. Ms Khenh her daughters weave every day, except during the rice harvest. Then they help the sons-in-law, how normally take care of the farming activities on their own. 

As member of the An Giang Farmers Union (AGFU) she joined training in silk selling, marketing, trading etc.  She learned how to buy and sell the silk fabric. She joined the Handicraft Cooperative and learned how to make links with the markets. Tourists started visiting Van Giao village and her Vietnamese-style Khymer silk weaving became more popular with tourists.

Now international and domestic visitors increasingly come to the village, brought by the AGFU tourism centre as well as travel agencies. Ms Khenh organises the work and teaches the women weavers in the village, only ten of whom are as skilled as her. Ms Khenh likes having tourists visit her house to watch her weaving as long as they don't come too frequently. AGFU are planning to open a small showroom in 2012, which will help relieve the visitor pressure and organise the commune's local sales.

The turning point came in his life when he joined the Vinh Chau Farmers Union where he learned about mango propagation from study tours to other provinces. With the new knowledge he improved his crops and yield. At the same time he had a friend in the agricultural bank that lent him money to enable him to buy more land. 

From the Farmers Union he learned how to link his produce with the market. He understood that mangos are a key product for the Nui Sam temple as they have to be included in every fruit offering to the Lady Xu goddess. The annual festival in April attracts over four million pilgrims. Throughout the year the goddess attracts visitors, pilgrims and tourists. From all over Vietnam they come to visit Mr Giau's orchard to celebrate his mangos. He now also keeps cocks to fight, to eat, and for the tourist to enjoy looking at. Thanks to his success he was invited to join the prestigious businessmen association. Many of his neighbours are still growing rice.


Mr Giau says he did not need to learn about tourism as "tourists came to him" and his fame has spread by word of mouth. Recently he got angry with a tourist guide escorting some foreign tourists who tried to bargain him down on the price of his mangoes. He now refuses to allow that tourist agency onto his farm. He doesn't want too many tourists anyway as his family only consists of four, so they are busy enough.