
“Our new teams of Entrepreneurs for Rural Access or ERAs, who are just starting on their entrepreneurial journey, gained a boost of motivation from this collaborative environment for progress and innovation,” said Karine Rakotoniainasoa, Access Agriculture Entrepreneur Coach for Madagascar, describing the success of the First ERA National Meeting that was held in December 2024, in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
During the meeting, members of 10 ERA teams engaged in meaningful interactions to share their experiences and perspectives for the upcoming year. “The meeting offered an excellent platform for fostering collaboration among the ERA teams. The old ERA teams, who are experienced entrepreneurs and have built a good relationship with the local farming communities, were a source of inspiration for the new ERAs,” Karine added.
Most of the ERAs presented their business activities and plans in the form of a Business Model Canvas (BMC), which is a strategic tool for entrepreneurs that helps map out a business's key actors, resources and activities. The ERAs took turns to share their insights and strategies learned from their business as well as challenges and successes.
Rommel Denis Zafindrakiky, ERA from the Ambato-Boeny district in north-west Madagascar, inspired the other ERAs by recounting his success in training farmers in his federation – consisting of 46 farmer organisations – in organic soya bean production and storage using Access Agriculture videos.
He then shared his plans for processing of soya beans and producing soya oil in 2025. “We submitted a proposal to GIZ ProSol and received a soya processing machine. Our goal for the next 3 years is to process 100 t of organic soya into 20, 000 l of oil.” He added that their total land for soya bean production is 125 ha, all owned by the smallholders belonging to the 46 farmer organisations.
“The National Meeting was enriched by such interesting experiences shared by the ERAs,” said Karine. “We are happy that the session helped strengthen their team cohesion and bonding, and most of them have requested to hold the event at least once a year for team building and experience sharing.”
The ERA National Meeting followed the official launch of the Global Programme for Small-scale Agroecology Producers and Sustainable Food Systems Transformation (GP-SAEP) project in Madagascar, in which Access Agriculture is a key partner. The launch was co-organised by the Malagasy country forum for Rural Advisory Services (FCA) and the Action Intercoopération Madagascar (AIM).
The official launch was attended by all project stakeholders and implementing partners, including Master Trainers, Rural Advisory Service (RAS) providers, Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD), Access Agriculture, ERAs, the Technical Agroecological Center of the South (CTAS) and AIM, along with representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the project implementation regions (Melaky and Menabe), agriculture research institutions (FOFIFA, CIRAD), extension organisations, GIZ, FAO, IFAD and Belgian Development Cooperation, among others.