Vegetable business networks are creating jobs in Ethiopia and Kenya, including for women and youth – Results from a case study

Between 2020 and 2025, WorldVeg and the Dutch NGO SNV are implementing the Veggies for Planet & People (V4P&P) program in Ethiopia and Kenya. This case study delved into the vegetable business network model used by the program, that was based on the iCRA agribusiness cluster approach. By December 2023, 139 networks had been established in Kenya and 80 in Ethiopia (219 in total). In Kenya at that time, 73% of network members were women and 27% were youth, while in Ethiopia, 33% of members were women and 49% were youth. In Kenya, the program is on track regarding regenerative agriculture and job creation, and in Ethiopia it is on track for sales of produce and job creation.

To achieve these impressive results, the program employed different interventions. These include capacity development, mentoring, and linking youth to service providers such as finance, input suppliers and traders, support in marketing, linking to similar youth networks and platforms for mutual learning and support. Access to finance was a crucial part the strategy, which combines encouraging members to integrate village saving and loans associations into the network structure, and links to financial institutions or equipment service providers having debt facilities built into their sales models. Certain finding do however underscore the need for continuous refinement of data collection methodologies, tailoring interventions to local contexts, defining roles within the value chain, strengthening market linkages, and embracing digital solutions for sustainable agricultural development.

Maintaining the sustainability of the impacts is intricately woven into project design, implementation and the exit strategy, with four central features. These are (i) empowering and capacity building of network coaches, (ii) transforming coaches from mere facilitators to independent (business) service providers, (iii) forging partnerships with local institutions, agribusinesses, and government agencies to further bolster commercial ventures, and (iv) embedding service costs into a mixed model of partner investments and payment by farmers. Regarding the scalability of interventions, V4P&P believes that the vegetable business network approach can serve as a model for replicability across different regions and crops. However, the project found it challenging at times to convince farmers to move beyond more traditional to regenerative, agroecological practices, and scaling adoption remains a significant challenge due to factors that are explored in this case study.

To read the full report:

https://amea-global.com/veggies-4-planet-and-people-in-kenya-and-ethopia-case-study/

AMEA, World Vegetable Center, SNV, 2024. Veggies 4 Planet & People in Kenya and Ethiopia. Case study report. AMEA, World Vegetable Center and SNV. 14pp.

Veggies 4 Planet & People is implemented by the World Vegetable Center and SNV Netherlands Development Organization, with partners including CABI, Shujaaz, ODI, the governments of Kenya and Ethiopia, NGOs, business mentors, seed companies, and local policy makers. The project thanks IKEA Foundation for its generous financial support, with co-funding from Biovision Foundation for the Greener Greens project.