Walisha implements integrated market access initiatives targeted at seamlessly linking East Africa’s smallholder wheat producers to modern value chains in a manner that unlocks their full potential while minimizing post-harvest losses. Our programs take a systematic approach to tackling the multiple obstacles that these farmers face across storage, distribution logistics, contractual relationships, supporting infrastructure, information asymmetry and financial constraints.

Specifically, we promote community-managed storage systems like warehouses, silos and hermetic bags to aggregate harvests and allow farmers to sell grain in a phased manner when market prices are favorable, rather than flooding markets and suffering losses right after harvest. We facilitate the establishment of farmer cooperatives not just for collective bargaining power but also to jointly invest in cleaning, grading and packaging equipment to meet buyer quality specifications. Via these groups, contract farming arrangements are forged with major buyers in the food industry to provide guaranteed outlets, stable pricing and the incentive to raise productivity.

Cognizant that deficient rural transportation infrastructure hampers market access, Walisha uses its access and program success leverage to advocate for governments to rehabilitate key feeder roads and bridges that links farmers to transportation providers. We also promote small mechanized equipment at the village level to speed up post-harvest handling. Digital tools likewise ease bottlenecks by supplying farmers real-time information on prices, weather and production tips while enabling direct linkages between producers and buyers. Finally, we administer innovative inventory credit products using stored grain as collateral to ease the perennial cash flow constraints for smallholders during the critical post-harvest period as well as enable digital payments for the farmers.

By holistically tackling these limitations through our market access programs, Walisha empowers smallholder wheat farmers to significantly raise their incomes in a commercially-oriented, sustainable and resilient manner.