The Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) of the African Agriculture Fund (AAF) announced a grant of €200,000 to SNV Netherlands Development Organisation for the implementation of the TAF Smallholder Support Scheme in Cameroon. This 20-month project will support 200 smallholder farmers in Mbanjock to increase their income from maize and soya production.

The project aims to achieve the increase by enhancing the capacities of smallholder farmers in production and marketing, as well as facilitating sustainable access to farm inputs/equipment. The project is being implemented in collaboration with West End Farms (WEF), that is providing a market as well as technical support to the out growers.

WEF is a mixed farming enterprise, producing and marketing maize and soya to local agro-industries, located 80 km from Yaoundé. In late 2012, the AAF small- and medium-enterprise fund, a sub-fund of the AAF, concluded an agreement to invest in WEF.

In 2013, WEF was supported by the Agro-poles program, which is a sector development program by the Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Regional Development of Cameroon to improve food security and modernise agriculture.

The TAF Smallholder Support Scheme will build on the success of the Agropoles program, which ended in June 2014.

In line with its social mission, WEF has previously engaged in leasing farm equipment, sourcing agro-inputs on behalf of and providing technical support to surrounding smallholders to support them to commercialise their farms.

The TAF project will help WEF to scale up these efforts and ensure that the smallholder farmers being supported are sustainable given the end of the Agropoles program.

The project also benefits from a multipartite partnership between SNV, WEF, Rural Development Consultant (technical partner), KAFINVEST and MITFUND (financial partners).

Together these partners aim to improve the agronomic and business skills of farmers, enhance sustainable access to farm inputs and equipment and strengthen smallholder farmers’ organisations to boost farming as a business (FaaB) among the smallholders.

The TAF project aims to build a win-win business relationship between WEF and the neighbouring smallholder farmers in Mbanjock. This inclusive maize and soya supply chain development is expected to significantly contribute to increased incomes, growth of smallholder farms, and employment in the local communities.