Egypt FAS Farmers Visit Georgian Farm Service Centers
The Farm Service Center (FSC) model developed more than a decade ago by Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) has resulted in the creation of approximately 200 privately-owned Farm Service Centers (FSCs) — scalable, one-stop shops that provide the inputs, services, training and market linkages that smallholder farmers need to transition from subsistence farming to commercial production.
In little more than a decade, CNFA has facilitated the launch of these FSCs across Georgia, Moldova, Ethiopia and Afghanistan. Depending on factors such as geography and transportation infrastructure, most FSCs may serve anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 smallholder farmers. In Georgia — which has 55 FSCs — a single FSC may serve as many as 50,000 individual farmers, as well as provide inputs and extension, mechanization, and demonstration plot services to smaller associations, cooperatives, and agrodealers.
In November 2019, this well-developed network of mature Georgian FSCs provided seven Egyptian input suppliers with a unique opportunity to tour a diverse selection of well-established FSC operations. The seven Upper Egypt input suppliers received grants from USAID through Feed the Future Egypt Food Security and Agribusiness Support (FAS) project to support the firms’ efforts to convert their businesses to full-fledged FSCs. The FAS project, is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by CNFA.
As part of the FAS project goal to improve on-farm productivity and increase incomes for smallholder farmers, the tour allowed input supplier grantees to learn from established FSCs and gain valuable practical insights on how to integrate quality services to farmers into a sustainable and profitable business model.
The tour group, which also included FAS project staff and a representative from Egypt’s Ministry of Agriculture, gathered information on a wide range of best practices from some of the most sophisticated FSC operations in Georgia. Through the tour, participants were able to learn directly from FSC operators, who shared their experiences and offered insights on how to establish and run successful FSC counterparts in Egypt. The five-day tour was designed to provide the Egyptian guests with exposure to a carefully chosen selection of FSC enterprises which varied in operational size, and which served farmers who focused on a range of different crops. Moreover, it exposed them to the array of services that can be provided by FSC enterprises which the participants had not previously considered.
Dr. Taher, owner of the Egyptian Gezeret Al Arab FSC said, “We had a limited vision when we first started the FSC. The visit to Georgia helped us to learn about new strategies that encouraged us to plan for the coming 10 years. The most important practice that we copied is contracting banks to help farmers with access to finance. Upon our return from Georgia we contacted the Egyptian Agriculture Development Bank to conclude a deal that allows farmers to buy their input supplies from the FSC and to settle their payments on installments to the bank, while the FSC gets the money direct from the bank. This process maintains liquidity for the FSC and encourages farmers to buy high quality inputs from the FSC.”
Gezeret Al Arab FSC received three tractors from FAS project, which will enable the FSC to provide various services to about 800 farmers. The FSC will also decrease the previous cost of services available to farmers in the area by 10–15%, which will result in increasing the income of the farmers.
The group visited five Georgian FSCs, including Agrokartli Ltd., which serves smallholder farmers throughout the Shida Kartli region of Georgia. Agrokartli was established through assistance from another now-completed USAID-funded project implemented by CNFA — Georgia Restoring Efficiency to Agriculture Production (REAP) — to build a state-of-the-art farm service and machinery service center.
The visitors viewed Agrokartli’s dedicated training rooms, digital displays that provide information on local weather and growing conditions, and demonstration plots for corn, potatoes and other fruits and vegetables. The FSC also has its own in-house technical experts and mobile extension agents, as well as an enterprise-wide inventory and accounting management system. The Egyptian participants were introduced to these and other operational elements that allow Agrokartli to provide high-quality service to more than 50,000 farmers.
Study tour participants also visited Nektari, Ltd. Which, which supplies fertilizers, pesticides, veterinary drugs, feed, seeds, and tools to farmers in western Georgia. In addition, it also maintains a staff of 10 veterinarians and laboratory specialists, and operates a mobile veterinary service that can provide farmers with ultrasound diagnostics, artificial insemination, and other services.
Mr. Sameh Hamdy, owner of Abnaa Al Sherif, another Egyptian FSC grantee said, “I was impressed by the great facilities which provide farmers with all kinds of services. I decided, upon my return, to establish an extension to my shop to provide farmers with technical support on modern agriculture machinery and using laser in farming.” Abnaa Al Sherif will receive a tractor and laser land-leveling device from the FAS project to expand its service offerings. The expansion of the FSC’s agricultural mechanization services will mean that 500 farmers in the area will have access to services to which they previously did not have access. The expansion of the FSC will also create four new jobs at the facility.
At the conclusion of the study tour, participants attended a debriefing meeting at which they discussed their experiences. They also shared key take-aways gleaned from the various FSC site visits, which they can now further explore and use to build out their own nascent FSC operations in Egypt.
The Farm Service Center study tour provided new Egyptian FSC owner-operators with a great opportunity to visit and hear directly from already established and experienced FSC operators, from whom they could glean accumulated knowledge and experience on which to establish new enterprises geared to the specific needs of their own farming communities. With each in-kind grant, grantees gain the ability to tap into and leverage the collective experience of the FSC community around the world, including other countries where CNFA has worked.
As the impact of COVID-19 on agricultural markets, including input supplies and services, indicate, the need to move subsistence farmers to commercial production is of critical importance — and demand for food in the world’s less prosperous regions will only grow more urgent. FSCs are a time-tested and market-ready means of making that happen as quickly as possible.
