AGRICULTURE
The focus on Smallholder Agriculture aims at accelerating an agriculture transformation through agricultural development initiatives that are designed to facilitate market access, enhance agribusiness competitiveness, increase productivity and improve access to inputs and finance for value chain actors.
BRITEN strength is its facilitative ability in transforming farmers and creating a paradigm shift for the beneficiaries mainly small and medium sized farmers by integrating them into the value chains and working with the other market actors and services providers to streamline their engagement with the smallholder farmer.
As part of its facilitative role, BRiTEN uses trainings to consistently promote the agriculture industry as a successful, sustainable and responsible industry, with a diversity of challenging and rewarding careers that needs more skilled labour.
Competitive market access by smallholders through market led selection of crop varieties that have the characteristics that are demanded by the market and collective action of bundled services through farmer organizations have been the key levers in BRiTEN’s success to smallholder inclusiveness into value chains.
Supply Chain Development is a critical component of enabling access to services. BRiTEN facilitates, mentors and supports actors and service providers within the input and output supply chains to ensure sustainable and competitive business relationships
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
BRITENs principle objective of Entrepreneurship development is in understanding the market failures that lead to a lack of growth of small and medium enterprises by identifying the systemic gaps in the supply and demand within the value chains. BRiTEN facilitates market development and livelihood interventions that overcome these market failures and enable the SMEs to take advantage of the existing business opportunities within the value chains
We work at building strong sustainable businesses in the rural areas that will lead to more inclusive equitable income distribution and employment through strengthening their core business processes.
Our approach is in identifying the weak links within the value chain, improving the flow of resources (financial and human), improving the skills and knowledge, improving the linkages between the market actors and developing alternative linkages that create sustainable market efficiencies.
BRiTEN considers partnerships a critical component of entrepreneurship development in creating sustainable business consortia that enable access to capital, a greater range of technologies and services that address one or more critical weaknesses in the value chain and lead to market efficiencies. These partnerships enable increased income, employment and livelihood outcomes.
BRiTEN uses capacity building interventions that enhance an enterprise’s ability to manage their cash flow, develop basic financial reporting skills and to communicate their value proposition to their clients that will lead to expanding their business.
INCREASED RESILIENCE
BRiTEN works on enhancing Increased Resilience for the rural communities that have limited asset base to fall back on when shocks strike, limited capacity and tools to manage risks, and weaker institutional, infrastructural and service networks and in some cases are individuals who experience various forms of marginalization based on age, gender or ethnicity. These communities do not have adequate access to public services such as microinsurance, microloans or training opportunities to diversify their income sources, and are affected by unequal distribution of wealth and land, limited opportunities for earning an income, and climate change.
BRiTEN works at identifying innovations that enhance the rural communities resilience by providing business development services that elevate women and youth through private sector partnerships, promote of agriculture entrepreneurship with sustainable integration into the local, regional and national market systems, promoting group savings, promoting diversification of economic activities, improved nutrition security of rural producers especially women and young people, risk management through access to insurance, development of new financial products that help with smoothening cashflows,
BRiTEN explores Innovations for sustainable intensification of agriculture that are most acceptable to farmers when they involve minimal risk or reduce risks. BRiTEN values its partnerships with research institutions, private sector, development partners and the public sector to promote plant varieties adapted to specific production environments and sustainable agricultural practices, resistance to specific pests and diseases, promotion of diversification of production by smallholder farmers and enhanced capacity to adapt to climate shocks through interventions like water harnessing and aonservation agriculture are key interventions in increasing resilience to climatic shocks.
