Q&A series- Stephen Muchiri: Farmers are the major consumers of research outputs

Stephen is a trained professional horticulturalist with a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT –Kenya), and he oversees the Eastern Africa Farmers Federation (EAFF) as the CEO. His role has centred around implementing EAFF’s new strategic plan for 2013-2020, focusing on farmer entrepreneurship through strengthening the role farmers have along value chains. To achieve this, he works to build important partnerships between the EAFF and other partners, including the regional private sector, regional governments, regional research organizations, and international NGOs.

What motivated you to be part of the steering group of AgriFoSe2030?

Most of the time farmers are left out of discussions held by researchers which regard their own work- yet, they are the major consumers of the research outputs! To be part of the steering group is an opportunity for me to present the views and inputs of farmers on some of the projects AgriFoSe2030 is involved in. Hopefully, some of these inputs will lead to improved engagements with targeted farmers and assist in contributing toward achieving sustainable project outcomes.

How do you view the potential impact of AgriFoSe2030?

With a focus on the end-consumers, the farmers, I believe the research projects being undertaken are well thought-through and tailored to the target regions. There is always the need to adapt project activities to the realities on the ground. So, as long as the projects are responding to a demand or solving a prioritised problem, then my expectations is that these developed ‘solutions’ will result in their expected impact.

What challenges do you believe have to be overcome for the sustainable scale-up of smallholder agriculture?

The challenge for smallholder agriculture can be summed up as stemming from inherently poor organisation (and aggregation) of value chains, especially when they regard “low value” crops. Smallholder farmers are usually the weakest link in any value chain partnership ecosystem. By aggregating farmers into businesses, these challenges can be overcome. This way, they can achieve increased production, which will also allow for better information flows and enable training opportunities.

In such an aggregated system we are also able to generate a lot of data. This form of organisation will in time be attractive to other upstream partners in a value chain such, e.g. logisticians, financial services, researchers, etc. These upstream actors, bring value to the partnership and this is instrumental for medium- and long-term sustainability of the smallholder farming systems.

What is your favourite crop and why?

Tomatoes – it is an easy crop (or fruit) to propagate. Production of the tomato fruit commences within a year and production can last for 6 years and more, which entails that you get a regular income from the plant! It also has an established domestic market, where the demand is still higher than the supply.