Vegetable business networks – some lessons from implementing the approach in West Africa

The World Vegetable Center has been implementing a business model to enhance employment and income opportunities for women and youth in the vegetable sector – vegetable business networks – with coaching as central for capacity development and knowledge transfer to network members. Coaches play a crucial role, providing training, and connecting them with input suppliers, financial services, and new market opportunities. The model has been piloted in West Africa in the SafeVeg project, which improves vegetable consumption in local food systems through interventions in both demand and supply. The SafeVeg project has established more than 200 vegetable business networks across Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali, to increase income and employment through sustainable and inclusive vegetable businesses.

Now after four years, it is possible to share some insights from implementing this business approach.

Vegetable business networks include actors who pursue a common business goal, of increasing income through sustainable wealth creation and equitable redistribution. In all three countries, the approach has successfully facilitated collective access to vegetable markets on a contract basis. In Mali for example, the Jekabara network supplied 31 tonnes of chili to local consumers, earning 9 million West African Francs (XOF) (US$16,000), the Alima network sold 40 tonnes of cabbage for 4 million XOF (US$7,000) and 5 tonnes of African eggplant for 1.5 million XOF (US$2,000). And another network sold a staggering 60 tonnes of tomato and 15 tonnes of chili to local traders and consumers for a total of 41 million XOF (US$72,000).

The vegetable business network approach has also been effective in facilitating access to additional finance, as banks are more confident in providing credit to the networks than to individuals, using a form of social guarantee in which all members are responsible for repayment. For example, the Goulossodji network in Benin secured a substantial loan of almost 17 million XOF (US$29,000) to install irrigation for strengthening off-season vegetable production. In Mali, the Pagnon network secured a loan of 2.5 million XOF (US$4,250) from a rural bank to intensify tomato production.

Thanks to support from 102 trained coaches across Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali, the network approach also strengthens collaboration among actors by enhancing trust and facilitating better access to inputs and new market opportunities. And here, several farmer members of vegetable business networks share some of their experiences.

Athanase, a farmer and network member said that by using collective marketing, they can sell more pepper and tomato than if they worked alone. “SafeVeg is a great initiative. The coaches help us to produce better, look for loans to help us invest and to find outlets for collective marketing of our harvests. With support from our business coach, we have managed to get credit without a guaranteed deposit. Often, banks require proof of ability to repay or collateral before providing credit to farmers. We used part of this loan to build irrigation facilities for easy off-season production.”

Another farmer, Soumaila from Segou in Mali explained, that “even though we only just started out network, we already see a solid foundation for improved vegetable production to meet market needs, we buy inputs at better prices and quality to maximize profits. The VBN also enables access to more interesting outlets, by pooling our efforts for the group marketing of our vegetable harvest.”

The approach has created jobs across various segments of the vegetable value chain, and 215 network champions expanded their businesses by connecting with more than 10,000 vegetable farmers who now generate substantial employment within rural households. But implementing the network approach also faces challenges that affect the approach’s effectiveness. In parts of Mali and Burkina Faso for example, governance failures combined with the threat of violence from armed groups, deter farmers from cultivating and traders from transporting goods to distant markets, causing significant startup problems. Also, not every network successfully secures loans to expand their business, and some farmers hope to receive more concrete inputs or equipment.

Or as the coach Calmette explained, “Our major concern here is access to equipment. Our cooperative has access to markets, but we are struggling with production because we lack irrigation facilities. There is no water near our farms. We dug a borehole a while ago. It was expensive, and we even tried a solar system, but we could not afford it. We would have done better if the SafeVeg project could help with irrigation equipment.”

It became clear that there are limitations of relying solely on coaching as a game-changer, and it is evident that financial constraints hinder network transition. Therefore, the project helped the networks establish strategic alliances to address some gaps not covered by the work of coaches. For instance, network implementation partners secured US$120,000 from Japanese cooperation for irrigation and postharvest equipment. But nonetheless, the vegetable business network has proved to be very successful in the three target countries in West Africa.

This research was carried out with funding from the European Union and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands through the project “Safe locally produced vegetables for West Africa’s consumers (SAFE VEG)” – ID-4000003936, part of the DeSIRA program and implemented by the World Vegetable Center, Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement CIRAD and Wageningen University & Research (WUR), and national partners, the Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du Bénin (INRAB, Benin), Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA, Burkina Faso), and Institut d’Economie Rurale (IER, Mali).