AIA Farms is an aggregation business with a nucleus farm for grain production. The core of the business is production and aggregation of rice, maize and groundnut. It operates mainly in Nanton District in the Northern Region. The company works with 12 out-grower lead farmers, and each of these supports and works in partnership with an average of 50 smallholder farmers. Women farmers reached with credit services for the current year constitute about 36% of total outreach. These out-grower farmers receive various services and support in the form of input credit, tractor and transport services. The partnership with MADE started in 2015 and since then, AIA Farms has aggregated 5,000 MT of maize.
MADE interventions
- Recruited, trained and deployed two Farm Enterprise Advisors, who have assisted in the distribution of inputs, training and the monitoring of farmers’ fields.
- Provided tractor and produce transport services.
- Provided demonstrations and training as an effective means of transferring knowledge to farmers.
- Facilitated relationships with other MADE partners such as Tamanaa Enterprise, which supplied AIA Farms with improved seed.
Impacts
- Increased access to output markets through established links with large-scale produce buyers.
- Increased understanding of good agricultural practices through consistently promoting the practical use of improved seed to farmers.
- Facilitated timely application of inputs.
- Increased yields of maize and rice from 3 to 10 bags (100 kg) per acre through the introduction of new, improved seed.
