At Sprout we're building a powerful ecosystem to empower small-scale farmers across Africa
Sprout's catalytic ecosystem and platform provides high-quality, farmer friendly decision support tools and
personalized services to empower farmers, build resilience and improve livelihoods.
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Content & Service Organizations / CSOs
Sprout partners with local, regional and global organizations to provide expert and scientific content and real-time services to improve small-scale farmer productivity, incomes, and resilience to climate change. Partners that contribute expert and scientific content and real-time services to the Sprout Platform.
Farmer Facing Organizations / FFOs
Farmer Facing Organizations (FFOs) refers to entities or institutions that directly interact with and serve small-scale farmers. FFOs are dedicated to supporting and empowering farmers by providing them with various services, resources, and assistance to enhance their agricultural practices and improve their livelihoods.
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The primary objective of FFOs is to bridge the gap between farmers and the resources or opportunities they require for sustainable farming. They act as intermediaries, connecting farmers with technical expertise, training programs to improve productivity, and other agriculture-adjacent information and support including financial services, market linkages, and other essential support systems.
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By leveraging the Sprout Open Content and Services Platform, FFOs are equipped to enhance their capacity, capabilities, and financial stability by delivering customized expert and scientific content, dynamic services, and relevant resources, and enabling farmers to make informed and better decisions about their farming practices, strengthening their productivity, resilience, and livelihoods.
Small-Scale Farmers / SSFs
Small-scale farmers / SSFs as those who own or operate less than 2 hectares of land. Small-scale farmers are the backbone of the agricultural sector in Africa, and they play a vital role in food security and poverty reduction.
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According to the most recent report by IFAD, "An estimated 3 billion people – around 40 per cent of the global population – live in rural areas of developing countries. Most depend on small, family farms for their income and sustenance.
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Smallholder farmers grow the food that feeds their nations, accounting for up to 80 per cent of production in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia.
These farmers understand firsthand the challenges of growing food in a changing climate and can offer the world independent diversified farms and food products. But these farmers are also often extremely poor.
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Eighty per cent of the women, children and men living in extreme poverty live in rural areas, not cities.
The cruel irony is that the people producing the world’s food often go hungry themselves and are bearing the brunt of climate change and the degradation of natural resources.
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With greater support and investment, smallholder farmers have an important role to play in feeding their communities and future populations. "