Increasing on-farm storage: innovation, prizes and public mechanisms that benefit small farmers

Post-harvest losses of grain in the developing world lead to lower incomes among smallholder farmers and reduced farm-level food security. This problem is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa where post-harvest losses are estimated at US$1.6 billion per year. Moreover, insufficient on-farm storage solutions often lead farmers to sell soon after harvest and receive lower prices when the market is flooded or, even worse, to buy back grain later in the season at a higher price. Private-sector solutions to post-harvest losses exist, but companies often see low-income farmers as a risky and unattractive market. Smallholders do not understand the benefits, nor feel they can afford the solutions. AgResults’ Kenya On-Farm Storage Project uses prize competitions to incentivise the private sector to bridge this gap and enter into the market. This project is one of six innovative prize competitions of the AgResults Initiative, a partnership between the governments of Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prize competitions offer an innovative method for the public sector to use funds effectively and efficiently to engage the private sector. In the case of Kenya, the prize encourages companies to design, develop, market and sell new (or redesigned) on-farm storage devices to smallholder farmers. This presentation describes AgResults’ prize competitions, the Kenya On-Farm Storage Project, its impact and its sustainability. It discusses how prize competitions offer the development community an efficient and affordable mechanism to finance development programs in the future.