Empowering Smallholder Farmers

ETG’s connection with smallholder farmers is symbiotic. Through its vast logistics network spread across the African continent, thousands of small-scale farmers have increased access to quality inputs and a guaranteed market for a wide range of commodities that they produce. This relationship is consolidated through ETG’s development arm, the ETG Farmers Foundation (EFF), whose central focus is to enable farmers to have at their disposal the tools, technologies and training required to improve their yield, and their socio-economic status. In Tanzania, information sessions organised by EFF and delivered by ETG’s agronomists teach farmers about the correct application of fertilisers and agro-chemicals. Through discussions with ETG’s sesame division on price, quality and grading, farmers within EFF’s ecosystem have been encouraged to produce the higher quality Lindi White 2002 sesame. Furthermore, ETG, through collaboration with EFF, facilitates farmers to switch to alternative crops, linking them to national and international markets, and protecting them from risk when the market for certain commodities drop. In Zambia, EFF supports ETG in a large scale cashew revival project involving 60,000 farmers, half of whom are women. In many other ways, ETG continues to weave the interests of smallholder farmers through its business operations, ensuring inclusivity along the value chain and sustainable socio-economic development of rural communities.