• Home
  • IFAD website
  • Subscribe to posts
  • Subscribe to comments

Profitable goat enterprises lifting poor farmers communities out of poverty. Kenya Learning Route, Case 5

Posted by S.Sperandini Friday, March 16, 2012 2 comments

By Elaine Reinke and Silvia Sperandini

“Efficient breeding accounts for 30% of goats’ productivity, the rest is appropriate feeding and proper management”, was one of the key messages our “Ruteros” got from the Meru Goat Breeders Association (MGBA) we visited in the Eastern province of Kenya at the last stop of our Learning Route. The case was truly impressive as an example of sustainable development cooperation where a project designed and implemented by FARM-Africa is proving its economic, social and environmental impact eight years after its official closure.

Field visits to producers revealed the success of the project when local smallholder farmers proudly explained how they were able to move from below the poverty line into the middle class of their community thanks to the profitable goat enterprises and services introduced by FARM-Africa.

At the heart of this model is the approach to improve the productivity and economic returns of goats kept by families on small farms through enhancing the management, health and breeding of the animals. Breeding is improved by the genetic upgrade of local goats with a superior exotic breed, the Toggenburg. The result is the Meru Goat, a 75% Toggenburg, which proved to be more adapted to hash environment, to the locally available fodder, more resistant to diseases and more productive, giving 4 liters of milk per day compared to the local breed with 0.5-1 liter. The Meru Goat is a valuable asset, growing faster than local goats and yielding three times the monetary value.
Over two days we spent with the Meru Goat Breeders, the Learning Route participants understood how forming farmer groups has been critical for the sustainability of the project. The role of the association includes the organization and management of all necessary support services and inputs (from veterinary services, breed registration and inspection to quality control and processing milk and milk products), all instrumental to maximizing returns from the goats enterprises.

One of the most discussed issues was the introduction of the zero-grazing approach and its benefits in a context like Meru where the population density is high and land is limited. Farmers confirmed that housing goats in pens keeps these animals secure and healthy, also reducing their exposure to parasites from grazing on common land contaminated by other livestock - which is one of the biggest health problem of goats in Africa.

The case showed that which appropriate technical support, farmers were able to become very efficient breeders, sharing the genetic resources as a community. Associations like MGBA serve as support centers for the adaptation and uptake of new technology (genetic and husbandry improvement) and livestock marketing (guaranteeing high quality standards). Today, the Meru goats are exported to Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. Farmers have gained good knowledge on goat husbandry and forage development, and the high quality manure collected at the goats’ houses is fertilizing a rich vegetable production to generate additional incomes in the Meru Country.

With this case, the Kenya Learning Route on Innovative Livestock Marketing comes to its end, while the good practices and lessons learned will now travel with our “Ruteros” back to Sudan, Somaliland, Ethiopia, Madagascar and the US to benefit other communities and prove once again that livestock really plays a critical role for the livelihood of poor rural families.


PS. Picture of how innovations travel and view the photo story of the route: http://www.slideshare.net/ifad/lr-kenya-photo-story-ii-compressed

Rome UN agencies celebrate rural women and girls as agents of change

Posted by Timothy Ledwith Friday, March 9, 2012 0 comments

Yvette Azane Ngwemetoh, from north-
west Cameroon, speaks at IFAD on
International Women's Day.
At least two things are certain about the millions of women who work as smallholder farmers worldwide. First, they are among the hardest-working people on the planet, and second, they are woefully under-appreciated and under-compensated for their daily, uphill struggles.

For most of those women, and the daughters who work alongside them, yesterday was probably just another day of rising early and tending their fields or herds. But their achievements and challenges were in the spotlight at IFAD headquarters, where the three Rome-based UN food and agriculture agencies – IFAD, FAO and WFP – jointly celebrated International Women’s Day.

The event illustrated the complex dynamics of gender, food security and poverty. As various speakers pointed out, women and girls do more than 40 per cent of all farming and virtually all household work in rural areas. Yet they don’t share equally with men in the resources needed for productive agriculture. Research suggests that women’s crop yields would increase by 20 to 30 per cent if they had access to such resources. In turn, the number of hungry people in the world would decline by 100 million to 150 million.

Participants in yesterday’s event focused on how rural girls and young women figure into this global equation. The question at hand was how they can fulfil their potential as agents of change. In broad strokes, the answer was starkly simple: Give rural girls and women access to the right tools, and they will change the face of agriculture.

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze started off the discussion. Dr. Nwanze called gender equality and rural development “inseparable,” adding that “women hold the key to food and nutrition security” by virtue of their untapped capacity for higher yields. FAO Director General José Graziano da Silva followed, announcing the launch of his agency’s new gender-equality policy. He said the policy cuts across all FAO programmes and “underscores the organization’s commitment to addressing gender and women’s issues to eradicate hunger and poverty.”

IFAD President Kanayo F. Nwanze (right) and FAO
Director-General Josè Graziano da Silva listen to
WFP Deputy Executive Director Sheila Sisulu.
The dialogue continued as a succession of influential women took the floor.

WFP Deputy Executive Director Sheila Sisulu weighed in with an appeal for the Rome agencies to take their lead from the grass roots. “The first thing we need to do,” she said, “is listen to rural women.” Sisulu noted that even in industrialized countries, women are the main processors and preparers of food for their families. Women’s voices, she said, are central to any discussion of food and agriculture policy.

South Africa’s Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga, called for redoubled efforts to educate rural girls, who lag behind boys in school enrolment, especially after the early grades. Motshekga cited the “tremendous multiplier effect” of girls’ education, which generates far-reaching economic and social benefits. Once rural girls gain equal access to the classroom, “the world will never be the same,” she said.

Ertharin Cousin, US Ambassador to the UN agencies in Rome, echoed Motshekga’s call for parity. “A plant doesn’t know if it was planted by a woman or a man,” observed Cousin, who will become WFP’s Executive Director next month. But because rural women and women’s organizations start at a point of material disadvantage, she said, they need technical and financial support to enhance their productivity and to compete in the marketplace.

A lawyer by training, Cousin said history would judge the international community’s liability for continued gender inequality on the basis of three basic queries: “What did you know, when did you know it and what did you do about it?” She argued that the obstacles faced by girls and women in rural areas – such as poor access to land and credit, and a disproportionate burden of household labour – have been well known for years.

From left: Ertharin Cousin, US Ambassador to the UN
agencies in Rome; Angie Motshekga, South Africa’s
Minister of Basic Education; and youth representative
Yvette Azane Ngwemetoh.
“The question is, what are we doing about it?” she asked.

Of course, history is not the only judge. Young rural women themselves are obviously well positioned to assess the pace of progress on gender equality. Yvette Azane Ngwemetoh spoke yesterday on their behalf.

Originally from north-west Cameroon, the young woman just recently arrived in Italy to join her husband. She grew up in the countryside and worked on the family farm with her mother. Unlike many rural girls, she managed to complete her secondary education. She was unable attend university for financial reasons, however, and migrated to an urban centre, where she lived and worked for three years.

Ngwemetoh was soft-spoken but firm in her conviction that farming can and should be a viable livelihood for young women. Given access to machinery and modern technology, as well as adequate rural health and education facilities, she said she would welcome a career as an agricultural entrepreneur.

“The land has a lot to offer,” said Ngwemetoh. “You just have to improve on the land.”

Watch the recorded webcast: 
Part 1: Speakers
Part 2: Panel discussion
Part 3: Experiences from the field

The power of camel milk: the story of the Anolei Camel Milk Cooperative. Kenya Learning Route case 4.

Posted by S.Sperandini Thursday, March 8, 2012 1 comments

By Silvia Sperandini and Elaine Reinke“We are a community of camels”, is how Kalif Abey of the Kenya Camel Association (KCA) welcomed us in Greater Isiolo in the arid and semi-arid low plains of the upper eastern part of Kenya. The majority of the “ruteros” are from Sudan and Somaliland, therefore have extensive experience with camels and been eagerly awaiting to meet the hosts of this case, local camel raisers and members of the Anolei Camel Milk Cooperative.



Through the discussion with these local champions, it became clear that the potential of the camel and its products has been immensely underutilized in Kenya until it was considered a food animal in the current livestock policy passed by the government in 2008. This policy finally recognized the importance of the camel to safeguard livelihoods due to its ability to survive remain productive even under drought conditions in most of the Arid and Semi Arid Land (ASAL) districts.


With the camel raisers surrounded by some 400 Somali camels (Horr and Gelab sub-breeds), we understood the intensity of camel rearing in an environment where water and forage are scarce, and could sense the depth of the relationship between the pastoralists and their animals. We witnessed the milking process, not missing to taste the fresh camel milk, and learned about the efforts of the herders and the cooperative to open new marketing channels for this valuable product.


Camel milk is a natural and essential food item. Compared to cow and goat milk, it is richer in iron, minerals, vitamins and unsaturated fatty acids, while its fat content is lower. The camel’s lactation period is also longer (from 1 to 1.5 years), all year round and under the harshest conditions. Recent researches indicate some medicinal potential such as anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties and positive impacts in cases of diabetes and tuberculosis. The producers therefore proudly pledge that it is much more than simple milk.



Camel-owning cultures traditionally place the men as the camel owners, while women possess and market the milk. Today, this female-dominated business of camel milk marketing contributes KSH 8 billion (US$ 95 million) every year to the Kenyan economy, and the profits are usually managed and controlled by women. Having recognized the marketing potential and growing demand for camel milk, the Anolei women, a pro-active group of Somali women, got organized as a self-help group in 1997 and registered as a cooperative in 2010. They managed to set-up a new, profitable business purchasing camel milk from local producers and marketing it in Isiolo and Nairobi. With some support of the KCA and other partners including SNV, VSF and FAO, the Anolei women upgraded their business processes, improved hygiene standards and herd management. They now collect and transport to Eastleigh Nairobi some 4,000 (in the dry season) to 6,500 (in the rainy season) litres of camel milk per day from producers within a 40km radius from Isiolo. They also run a milk bar where our “ruteros” were invited to enjoy camel milk, tea and meat.


The learning route participants appreciated how this group built a successful business for the benefit of their communities and became an important player in an effective milk marketing chain. Along the way, they faced many constraints particularly related to hygiene and transportation. In response, they introduced aluminum cans and cooling and established pooled transport arrangements. Demand for camel milk is gradually increasing, also beyond the Somali communities in Kenya, but there is need for further improve business process. Women traders are now using M-PESA as a means of cash transactions, increasing security and reducing losses. Bank accounts have been opened and the cooperative is planning to take a loan to purchase their own truck tond improve their transport.


Other challenges remain beyond their control, such as the lack of trained specialized veterinarians in the country and recurrent tribal conflicts in the Isiolo area based on competition over pasture, calling for continued collaboration and partnership among the different actors.


Within their capacity, the Anolei women have significantly increased their incomes and their decision-making power in their households and communities. With their commitment and business skills, camel milk production and marketing has become the backbone of the livelihoods of the Isiolo people.

M-PESA: The power of mobile technology in livestock marketing. Kenya Learning Route, case 3.

Posted by S.Sperandini Sunday, March 4, 2012 4 comments

By Elaine Reinke and Silvia Sperandini

“I don’t need to go to the bank, I have the bank in my phone.” This is what all the actors in the Kenyan livestock and meat value chain have in common: they use M-PESA. On our journey of good practices across Kenya, the learning route participants discovered why this innovative solution has not only revolutionized the Kenyan business sector but also facilitates market access of rural pastoralists and livestock traders day by day.


Since 2007, Safaricom (Vodafone group) leads the way with an electronic money transfer system based on SMS messaging that has changed the lives of millions of Kenyans across all demographic and social segments of the population including the rural poor. M-PESA allows quick, easy and immediate payments from one person to another and from individuals to businesses, from supermarket expenses over electricity bills to school fees and remittances. To exchange e-money into cash and vice versa, customers use M-PESA kiosks to deposit or withdraw bank notes when needed.

For pastoralists and livestock traders in rural areas M-PESA has innovated their way of making business. Even who is miles from the next commercial bank and moving cattle along remote grazing areas and trekking routes can now transfer money back home anytime or easily sell livestock without the risk of carrying cash over long distances as well as reducing debts and delayed payments caused by promissory payments.

The success of M-PESA among pastoralists also links back to the availability of mobile network coverage even in remote areas and prevalent use of mobile phones in pastoralist communities. Thanks to this technology pastoralists are now connected to their family and friends, can quickly find out where to bring their cattle for grazing instead of roaming in search of water and pasture, and communicate with their business contacts at livestock markets while still at rangelands, saving time for other income generating activities and household chores.

Today, 15 million M-PESA customers use about 28,000 agent outlets countrywide for cash disposal and withdrawal. Safaricom’s innovation started as a small pilot project which now transfers more money than all Kenyan commercial banks together.

Designed to reach the poorer segments of the population who are not able to access the formal banking system, it is also becoming important gateway to enter into the commercial banking system since Safaricom in collaboration with Equity Bank introduced M-Kesho. This innovative banking product offers a bank account that includes micro-savings, micro-credit and micro-insurance products. M-PESA customers who join M-Kesho can also withdraw cash from the bank using their M-PESA accounts, save money and obtain small loans using the MPESA e-money as guarantee.

But what is it that made M-PESA such a success here in Kenya, while the uptake in other countries in the region remains relatively low?

This is one of the questions the “ruteros” discussed with our hosts of this case which include local M-PESA agents, maasai pastoralists, livestock and meat traders. Enabling factors which emerged from the discussion are the investment and commitment of Safaricom but also the entrepreneurial culture and readiness of the business sector and supportive government policy.

From pastoralists to terminal market: journey along the livestock value chain. Kenya Learning Route case 2.

Posted by S.Sperandini Saturday, March 3, 2012 0 comments

by Silvia Sperandini and Elaine Reinke

“If you want to understand the livestock value chain, just follow the cow!”, is the first thing that the “Ruteros” learned once we arrived in Kenya. By now, following the cow, we have reached the terminal market of Kiseria, south-eastern Kenya, where the Keekenyokie slaughterhouse is located and where the livestock value chain ends and the meat value chain starts.

During this journey we met various actors of the livestock chain from pastoralists and agro-pastoralists at village level (producers) to different types of traders which include: primary itinerant traders who move cattle from producers to primary markets, middle level traders who sell cattle into secondary and terminal markets, middlemen who operate as brokers, mainly at the market, taking animals from producers, itinerant traders and middle level traders, and negotiating with buyers and transporters.

Interacting with them we learned the tips and tricks of grading systems and pricing mechanisms but also understood that all these actors along the chain face a variety of challenges. Frequent drought periods cause market fluctuation and massive depreciation of stock. High incidences of livestock diseases and pests affect production as well as trading due to frequent quarantine. Poor market infrastructure and absence of organized facilities (feeding, water, vet services, troughs etc.) put animals and humans at risk. Limited capital and scarce access to credit affecting the production as well as trading. Limited livestock transportation mechanisms and continued moving on the hoof to markets affects quality of stock.

Kiseria is the most vibrant pastoralist-managed livestock market in Kenya and the Keekonyokie slaughterhouse is more than an abattoir. It is the gateway to the urban market and offers business opportunities to the pastoral Maasai communities located in southern Kenya and Tanzania. It is an innovative business enterprise that was established by Maasai pastoralist groups controlling the slaughterhouse management to the benefit of their communities.

The most innovative aspect of the business was found to be the IFAD-supported biogas plant to convert slaughterhouse waste into energy and bio fertilizer, reducing the environmental impact linked to its business activity. The company uses the biogas produced to generate electrical power for the meat cold room, processing equipment and heating water for cleaning the abattoir.

The Keekenyokie community has strong ambitions for the future of their slaughterhouse. Apart from expanding the facilities for slaughter, meat processing and biogas generation and storage, the business seeks to improve its hygiene and sanitation in order to meet quality standards for the export market. Packaging meat products with the Keekenyokie branding and selling them directly to supermarkets will further require additional capital to purchase machinery and training on using technical facilities. But the main innovation they would like to introduce is packaging and selling biogas to rural and peri-urban consumers.

The “Ruteros” were particularly impressed with the initiative and business-orientation of the Keekenyokie community, the effective integration of the value chain, as well as the biogas innovation, and gave a wealth of constructive recommendations to their hosts.

Bridging the gap: Connecting Maasai pastoralist communities to livestock markets. Kenya Learning Route, case 1.

Posted by S.Sperandini Friday, March 2, 2012 1 comments

By Elaine Reinke and Silvia Sperandini

“To improve a value chain, you have to be part of it”. With these words Michael Kibue, Director of Agritrade and one of the three PROCASUR Technical Coordinators of this route, opened his briefing to the “Ruteros” before visiting the first case in Amboseli, south-eastern Kenya. Here, in a beautiful natural scenario in the savanna near the Kilimanjaro, the participants met the Siana Masaai Women and Kilitome Market Access Committees (MAC) to discuss the livestock value chain and learn how these pastoral groups gained better access to the livestock market.

Thanks to a partnership between the local Maasai communities, African Wildlife Foundation (AWF), an international NGO, and Agritrade, a private sector company, MACs were created in 2009 to facilitate the development of an efficient pro-poor market chain that benefits livestock producers including pastoral women.

AWF established the conservation areas in which the Maasai groups live, gave a loan to Agritrade under the condition that the private sector player provides start-up trading capital to the Maasai groups and do business with them.
After witnessing and participating in traditional singing and dancing with jingling jewels, the group entered into a lively discussion with the MACs to better understand how they were able to bridge the gap between producers and markets. After many hours of storytelling, role plays and question and answer sessions, the route participants fully immerged into the MAC concept based on an integration of social, economic and environmental aspects through effective win-win partnerships.

The MACs replace the role of the middlemen shortening the livestock value chain and, in combination with value addition through fattening, enable the pastoral communities obtaining better income from livestock marketing. It also offers pastoralists access to urban meat markets, hence higher returns for producers who are typically exploited in the standard livestock marketing practices. In addition, MACs facilitate the transfer of awareness, knowledge and skills that empowers pastoralists to gain profitable returns from their livestock resources.

Another innovative practice that emerged from this case is the Siana women group which successfully ventured into a sector traditionally dominated by men. Given that male community members hold control over family herds and means of production, women occupy a lower status in decision-making processes with limited opportunities for their socio-economic empowerment. Transforming such culturally rooted norms and systems requires the commitment of champions to drive the change.

The Siana women group is leading this change process.With technical and financial support mobilized through the aforementioned partnerships, they are now more experienced in dealing with market dynamics, pasture and livestock management. Last year they also established their own cattle head thanks to a small donation received from the IFAD Help Fund. They are now livestock producers and traders with a stronger decision-making role within their households and communities. The challenges to overcome are still many (such as market and climate instability, animal diseases and poor access to veterinarian services etc.) – but the “Ruteros” believe that with their strong commitment and entrepreneurial spirit, the Maasai groups will continue their journey towards a better livelihood.


What's mine is yours: household dynamics and women's wages

Posted by Hazel Bedford 0 comments


What’s mine is yours: household dynamics and women’s wages
International Women’s Day 2012


“As many as a third of married women in Malawi and a fifth of married women in India are not involved in spending decisions, even about their own income.” [1]

I read that sentence twice to be sure I hadn’t misunderstood it, and then carried on:

“Even in an upper-middle-income country like Turkey, more than a quarter of married women in the lowest income quantile lack control over their earned income.”

©IFAD/Asad Zaidi
Women’s “lack of control” over the money that they themselves bring home shows the deep-seated nature of gender inequality. If we don’t fight that inequality, then enabling women to increase their incomes may only put more money in the pockets of their husbands. 

Similarly, helping them to increase their productivity may put more food on the market – but it may not change the women farmers’ quality of life.

That’s why IFAD’s work to empower women is so crucial to everything that we do. Without that empowerment, inequality will continue to prevent the benefits of economic growth and social development reaching poor rural women.

That in turn hampers development – leaving deep pockets of deprivation and desperation that are handed on from generation to generation.

Even more shocking and revealing are statistics on what women think about domestic violence:

“On average, 29 percent of women in countries with data concurred that wife beating was justified for arguing with the husband, 25 percent for refusing to have sex, and 21 percent for burning food.”[2]

Those are just averages. The country-specific figures are truly shocking – with over 80 per cent of women in one east African nation saying that wife-beating is justified.

Let’s walk the gender talk
There’s a lot of apparent consensus today at the international level that levelling the playing field for women makes economic sense. IFAD President Nwanze is a vocal champion of women’s rights. And Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti went off-script at our recent Governing Council meeting to stress the importance of women’s role and their rights.

Yet empowerment is difficult to do, and it’s difficult to measure. For that reason, one of our commitments to our Members under IFAD9 is to improve the indicators that measure impact on gender equality and women’s empowerment, so that we can better analyse what works and what doesn’t for poor rural women. At the same time, we are committed to promoting expanded economic opportunities for women.

When she visited IFAD last year, UN Women Director Michele Bachelet touched on the importance of gender champions and quotas. International Women’s Day is a good occasion for us to remember her words.

An organization that works to empower poor rural women must have powerful women within it. And it must have powerful men and women who are prepared to stand up and champion women’s rights.

Let’s celebrate International Women’s Day at IFAD with a renewed commitment to fight gender inequality on our doorstep and in the countries where we work.

[1] World Bank: World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development, p. 20.
[2] WDR 2012: p. 83.