ZambiaFresh Lusaka Market brings hope to farmers: small-scale farmers have no influence on market pricing systems

A VISIT to any of the sprawling informal fresh produce markets in Zambia reveals a harsh reality of the exploitation that small-scale farmers are subjected to.

This is chiefly attributable to marketing systems that do not give the farmer a say on the value of their products.

Here, Adrian Mweemba, 69, is a small scale farmer who grows vegetables in Livingstone’s Sinde village.

He too hasn’t had it easy.

Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, he, in the company of his two helpers, brings his vegetables to Livingstone’s Libuyu and Dambwa Central Markets for sale.

Even if he does it, he says it doesn’t add up. He says exploitative intermediaries at various levels of marketing make it difficult for small-scale farmers such as himself to free themselves from the shackles of poverty.

“Firstly, I have to book a light truck to bring these vegetables [tomatoes, rape, egg plants, green beans, green maize and cabbage] here. That, on its own is an expensive venture. However, I do it because I get to sell in large quantities and I to some extent depend on the turnover,” he says.

He continues: “If I can complain about such things, take for instance a farmer that embarks on a trip from Kafue to take their produce to Soweto market in Lusaka, they deal with a lot of things. They have to pay toll fees at a toll plaza, after which the vehicle used for transportation will be charged upon arrival at the market. Additionally, the farmer will be required to pay highly variable, unregulated and unnegotiated fees after their produce is sold.”

He says the farmers also have no influence on the market pricing systems, with little to no transparency and zero fair-market real price discovery system.

“At the end of the day, the farmer is unable to recoup the expenses and charges incurred at various stages of marketing. These are some of the challenges we face,” says Mr Mweemba, a retired teacher.

With this gloomy picture, a Zambian conglomerate, the Savenda Group, has ventured into a project aimed at ensuring that farmers get the full value of their products.

“If you focus on the farmers, everybody wins. If you contrast that with the existing system in Zambia, it is currently ‘Farmers Last’. Farmers get scraps because of multiple layers of intermediaries and the lack of a formal market trading system offering transparency,” says Sean Moolenschot, the chief executive officer of Savenda Capital.

Mr Moolenschot says there are numerous obstacles that small-scale farmers face from the point of production, food safety, storage, and transport to market.

“The current system exploits the farmers. There is no traceability, food safety, or hygienic trading conditions. There’s also the issue of a system of unregulated agents and no price discovery. That is why small-scale farmers remain extremely poor,” he laments. “Women who sell in markets and on the streets are exposed to harsh weather conditions including extreme heat and rain as they sell their merchandise. So, we asked ourselves: How can we intervene in this system to make it better?”

Savenda Group has resolved to come up with the ZambiaFresh Lusaka Market, which is set to be Africa’s first commission-agent and formal fresh produce market outside of South Africa.

Occupying 11 hectares of land in the Lusaka South multi facility economic zone, the ZambiaFresh Lusaka Market will be part of a larger food hub concept, consisting of a fresh produce market and retail shopping area offering complimentary fresh, frozen and dried food products and services.

There will also be a state-of-the art aeroponics facility growing world-class quality salad ingredients, available for purchase in the market facility.

Trading under the mantra ‘Farmers First’, the market, which will be cashless, is to begin operations this year.

Mr Moolenschot says the project will provide a one-stop-shop experience in which all stakeholders stand to gain, with small-scale farmers finally being given the opportunity to reap the fruits of their labour.

The ZambiaFresh Market is a culmination of a study that the Savenda Group undertook to provide solutions to the challenges that small-scale farmers face.

It is also a response to a study that was commissioned in 2018 by Musika Development Initiative and Indaba Agricultural Policy Research Institute (IAPRI).

The feasibility study looked into the formal horticultural fresh fruits market, seeking the best way of transforming the informal horticultural market into a formal one.

The emphatic conclusion of the study was that the most appropriate formal market system for Zambia is the commission-agent system.

Mr Moolenschot says the system is uniquely African, having been developed out of the small-scale supplier base that existed in South Africa over 120 years ago. 

“It is this system that was instrumental in transforming fragmented small-scale growers into thriving commercial farmers and born out of an environment similar to Zambia. The reason why the South African system is successful is that it has transformed small-scale farmers into successful commercial businesses and we believe that this can also be achieved in Zambia,” he emphasises.

Sean Moolenschot

Transforming a fragmented and informal marketing system into a formal one has its own challenges.

These include ensuring acceptable standards, food safety and strict adherence to prescribed market trading rules.

To lead by example in the quality of horticultural crops to be supplied to the ZambiaFresh Lusaka Market, the Savenda Group has set up Palabana Farm.

The farm will also double as a training centre for small-scale farmers to acquaint them with the standards they will be required to meet in order for them to supply to the ZambiaFresh Lusaka Market.

“At Palabana Farm, we will be producing what people eat everyday like sweet potatoes and vegetables in a small-scale manner. We’ll be looking to encounter problems that farmers encounter every day. Then we can show them how to overcome if we do it ourselves,” he explains.

ZAMBIAFresh has also added poultry operations to Palabana Farm with the addition of two chicken houses accommodating 25,000 hens in lay, producing over 800 trays of eggs per day. Efforts are afoot to convert the farm-grown feed production to organic feed which will enable egg production to be accredited and certified organic.

The further benefit of this is that the chicken manure harvested daily will also be organic and used as natural organic fertilizer in the horticultural production. This means Palabana Farm will soon be producing organic fresh produce.

“We will be inviting farmers in big batches and train them on how to change farming methods so that they are accepted to sell in big shops. Only when they have been through this will they be allowed to sell at our market,” says Mr Moolenschot.

At the market, farmers will be represented by Savenda-approved agents who will need to have deep product knowledge and market conditions.

“The agent’s job will be to get the best price. The commission will be regulated; not an environment where agents exploit the farmers,” he reassures.

The manner in which the products are produced, stored, transported and how safe they are for human consumption will be critical, hence the need for a monitoring mechanism.

To ensure traceability, Savenda Group has engaged various strategic partners including RippleNami, a California-based company with the visualization platform that enables enterprises to visually see products from the time they leave the farm.

The ZambiaFresh Lusaka Market will also apply the HACCP concept, an internationally recognised system for reducing the risk of safety hazards in food.

A HACCP system requires that potential hazards are identified and controlled at specific points in the process.

Mr Moolenschot says quality will be the hallmark of the market which will aim at attracting buyers not only from within Zambia but also from the central and southern African regions with a combined population of about 200 million people.

He expresses regret that despite small-scale farmers, estimated to be around three million, doing their best to produce quality products, the benefits are negligible.

“Zambian farmers are great farmers. They produce fantastic quality product,” says Mr Moolenschot.

ZambiaFresh Lusaka Market sits on 11 hectares of land.

However, he adds that it is the informal marketing system that lets them down, and there is no financial reward system for producing comparatively higher quality.

“In terms of quality of production, we are, therefore, starting from a high base, and with ZAMBIAFresh Lusaka Market, we will take the fresh produce sector from good to great. If we can positively affect the lives of three million people and their families, if we can transform their lives and help them develop into commercial farmers, and it is sustainable. What a wonderful thing to do!” he says.

The National Union for Small Scale Farmers of Zambia (NUSFAZ) has also acknowledged the challenges noted by Savenda.

NUSFAZ acting executive director Noel Simukonde acknowledges that small scale farmers, especially those dealing in horticultural produce suffer the most at the hands of many compounding factors.

“Many small scale farmers are into horticulture because it gives them an income. But the challenge mostly is on the marketing component which doesn’t support the farmer. Most of these products are consumables whose shelf life is limited so they end up being exploited in the long run,” he says.

In mitigating the factors, Mr Simukonde says the union is also embarking on mechanisms aimed at flipping the tables.

“We have partnered with a firm called TBK Consultants and developed an application that will enable our members to sell their produce online. That way, the agents and middle men will be cut off and give more powers to the farmer,” he says.

Mr Simukonde is also advising farmers to join unions so that they connect with other farmers to learn best farming and marketing practices that will get them out of poverty.