
By Jeff Kapembwa
Three Zambian agribusiness Small Medium Entrepreneurs have received a US$90,000 fillip to implement climate-smart agriculture projects to assist farmers, women, and youth joining the country’s quest to enhance food security.
The grants from the World Bank in collaboration with various partners including the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and facilitated under the second cohort of the Accelerating Impact of CIGAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) Zambia Agribusiness SME Accelerator is to support agribusinesses.
The ultimate is to scale up climate smart agriculture innovations and climate information services as Zambia shores up anti-climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives.
The science-driven accelerator, the loan-grant financing launched three years ago, offers solutions for SMEs and investors alike. It displays how science acts as a catalyst to financing climate-smart agriculture for ultimate meaningful change in businesses through value chains and with farmers and communities in various locations.
The earlier financing by AICCRA, launched in June last year, based on its success, prompted the call for fresh applications to extend the grant assistance to more beneficiaries.
This resulted in three SMEs, Prebemu Enterprises, FeedNat, and Lupiya loans to be selected for eligibility to access the US$90,000 grants out of 150 agribusiness SME competitors.
Speaking in Lusaka, David Chikoya, the Director for Research for Development IITA-Southern Hub and Zambia CCIR Zambia country convenor said the gesture was a culmination of the AICCRA Zambia in partnership with national incubators and the private sector nurturing innovations to provide accelerator grants for SME’s working in CIS delivery and CSA technology.
The initiative was intended to assist derisk scaling innovations and enhance climate resilience of value chains, social inclusion, and sustainable use of land and water.
AICCRA said the financial gesture by the Word Bank was a good initiative, and it would accelerate the efforts underway by agribusiness SMEs to enhance knowledge, promote Climate Smart Agriculture technology, and strengthen partnerships.
The grant provided will help to scale up research innovations and catalyse private financing into the agribusinesses and ultimately increase their impact on the food system while having greater gender lens bearing.
And Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises Elias Mubanga lauded AICCRA project for accelerating climate-smart agriculture in the country since its inception, hinting that the intervention had secured three partners with a total of seven agribusinesses emerging under different climate-smart agriculture and climate information service initiatives, illustrating how science-driven innovation can spur economic growth.
“This model shows how science can drive investment into climate smart agriculture, leading to real change in our agribusinesses,” the minister said in a speech read on his behalf by Bernadette Mwakacheya, the small and medium enterprise Director.
She acknowledged the risks associated with climate change prevailing in the country chiefly agriculture, which is at high risk because of variances in temperature, shorter growing seasons, extreme and frequent droughts, and increasing water shortages.
All these headwinds pose a greater challenge to agribusiness, mainly Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs), yet critical for agriculture and economic growth.
The Government in its resolve to sustain economic and agriculture sector growth, reiterates its resolve to support agribusiness in adopting climate resilient practices through the promotion of farming blocks as a way of collaborating between larger and small-scale farmers, seeking to enhance food production and sustainable practices.
Solar-driven irrigation schemes and alternative energy solutions have been introduced through the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission, among other various stop-gap measures adopted to mitigate the challenges posed by climate change and support agricultural mechanisms.
Rural enterprises are underway to increase access to affordable finance, technology, and market linkages are intended to empower rural agribusinesses and enhance their participation.
Grant recipients remain optimistic that the assistance rendered through the cohort would assist them in delivering the projects and ensure the outcomes benefit the intended end-users, including women, youths, and various smallholder farmers
The three recipients are Agriculture water management and mechanisation, integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems and the one biased towards addressing drought through climate-smart seed varieties, and led by FeedNet, which all seek to undertake its project in collaboration with Ubu-Buntu finance and Mulimi Farmers.