This report summarizes the work done by NIRAM Ltd under the NAEB contract on “Mentoring and Coaching 20 Cooperatives/SMEs on production plan implementation, market led production, business oriented production and product marketing on access to markets”.

 

To achieve this, NIRAM and NAEB team organized a meeting to discuss on the key activities for coaching and agreed on assisting 20 cooperative producers on developing their seasonal production plans and key promotional material focusing their flyers and business cards for their key staff to empower those cooperatives to shift from basic production to profitable, market-driven businesses oriented production. This will enable farmers to aggregate produce, meet strict quality standards, implement standardized farming contracts already signed between cooperatives and buyers, and successfully negotiate with other large-scale buyers like supermarkets, processors, exporters, hotels and restaurants.

 

During mentoring and coaching, NIRAM Ltd developed a template on production plan including activities, budget and work plan as well as key information on producer and buyer (if any), which was electronically shared with 20 supported producer cooperatives for their review and comments. After their inputs into the template, the final Production Plan Template was shared with NAEB team for their inputs and comments. Then, a field visit was organized for each of 20 supported cooperatives with 2 times within one and half day as planned to assist farmer’s representatives to fill in this Production Plan Template and discuss on key information to be put on flyer and business cards. At the end of each last day of coaching, each of 20 supported cooperatives signed on its Production Plan to confirm its implementation and received its flyer and business card for visibility and promotional material.

 

An agricultural production plan is a strategic roadmap outlining what will be grown or raised, the methods used, and the resources required. Core elements include crop selection, a production schedule, resource allocation, pest and nutrient management, and financial projections. The analysis on the production plans developed by 20 supported cooperatives shows that 19 of 20 supported cooperatives have signed farming contracts to be implemented starting from the growing seasons B 2026 (for only 2 producers) and season C (for 18 producers) with a total production area of 468 ha including 221 ha planned for onions, 169 ha for passion fruits, 77 ha for tomatoes and 1 ha for avocadoes. They are planning to harvest around 6,689 tons with 4,244 tons of onions, 1,134 tons of tomatoes, 887 tons of passion and 10 tons of avocadoes. Among the total production of 6,689 tons planned to be harvested, only 1,110.7 tons (17%) are committed to be sold through signed contracts and the remaining 83% of total production requires the new formal buyers. They are estimating to have income from their sales totaling 3,644,000,000 RWF with total production cost of 2,360,788,679 RWF and net income totaling 1,856,595,316 RWF with average production cost per 1 kg estimated at 318 RWF for avocadoes, 356 RWF for onions, 480 RWF for passion fruit and 347 RWF for tomatoes. With a profit estimated at 35%, the proposed average minimum prices per 1 kg are 429 RWF for avocadoes, 481 RWF for onions, 648 RWF for passion fruits and 468 RWF for tomatoes.

 

A highly customizable agriculture cooperative flyer template was designed by NIRAM Ltd and shared with NAEB and 20 supported cooperatives for their inputs and comments and a final version was shared to attract local farmers and stakeholders. Then, the 20 supported cooperatives were assisted to fill their related information in this template to clearly communicate community ownership and shared benefits. The key elements of those flyers include a marketing word, an overview of cooperative, cooperative vision, mission, objectives, achievements, location and addresses with nice pictures showing their added values. All 20 supported cooperatives were assisted in developing their own flyers and the final version were received by each of them waiting for its multiplication.

 

At least two representatives for each of 20 supported cooperatives was assisted to design his/her business card for promotion and visibility material increasing trust, sustainability, and professionalism especially during market linkages events. They highlight both the individual's role and the strength of the collective cooperative.

 

This report also highlights some key challenges identified by cooperative members that may interrupt the implementation of developed Production Plans. Those include, climate Change reported by 80% of participants, not enough Market reported by 50%, high cost of agro inputs including seeds and chemical fertilizers as confirmed by 50% as well as lack of storage facilities, crop diseases, limited capacity building and price fluctuation not fixed by government as other some crops. Also some infrastructures such as lack of Cold room and bad roads as well as lack of Capital, poor seed quality and lack of Insurance were mentioned.

 

The report recommends to continue to assist supported cooperatives in market linkages with good prices as mentioned by 65% of participants, capacity building in Good Agriculture Practice as recommended by 55% and capacity building in climate change adaptation and mitigation technologies and practices  as mentioned by 55% of participants as well as support from Government in Price fixation, advocacy for involvement of buyers and other value chain stakeholders in providing agro inputs, equipment and capacity building with also support in infrastructures such as cold room, stores, dryers, sorting areas, reducing post-harvest losses without forgetting to advocate for having good quality seeds on good prices and  insurance for some crops including tomatoes and onions with government contribution.