Empowering poor farmers as business men
Commercial join venture of 2100 small producers
grouping stocks -
village stocks are grouped in the Union's wharehouse in Dioïla
The ULPC’s business plan in aimed to facilitate the trade of cereal stocks of 2100 small producers.
To reach its goal, the Union identified three strategic axes:
1. establish a performing production and trade network in order to significantly raise the revenue of 2100 families producing dry cereals;
2. strengthen internal technical and organisational capacities in order to produce and sale more and better;
3. build a strategic set of commercial, technical and financial partnerships.
In its 2006-2010 business plan the ULPC will:
 progressively raise its commercialized millet, sorghum and maize volumes from 700 t to 3.900 tons;
 raise the commercialized sesame volume from 4,5 to 30 tons;
 progressively commercialize 6 tons of peanuts;
 sale to its members the necessary seeds and fertilizers
 raise the accumulated net surplus from 125 000 Euros to 477 000 Euros
 durably secure 80 % of its clients
The Business
ULPC'S business is simple: buy, from our members, and group a sufficient quantity and quality of dry cereal, produced in a excess in order to penetrate local and international markets. Families get more revenue based on a very good buying prices and by redistributing surplus from very good saling prices.
ULPC also offers diffrents services to its membres :
- represent and defends socioeconomic interest of the members;
- broadcast technical information and train members in order to produce more and for a better quality;
- education and continued training in order to improve organisationnal and trade capacities;
- develop multiple commercial, technical and financial partnerships;
- manage a guarantee fund placed in a decentralized financial institution that will offer pre negotiated credit to the members
- facilitate institutional visibility and marketing strategies
Our main clients are consummers association or traders in zones that do not poduce enough cereals in Mali, or large poultry farmers.
Samples are regurlarly sent to traders and poultry farmers. ULPC participates to collective sales organised by the ULPC itself or by other organisations. The executive abstract of our business plan is also bradly diffuse among our partners and friends.
Our potential competitors are other private traders using a collectors network, United Nation food program and government food security stocks. ULPC members are well informed in order to keep their stocks for the union which give them better prices. ULPC also develop direct commercial relationships with wholesalers in zones with high cereal demand. Government can also be an ULPC client in order to secure its food security stocks.
ULPC already obtain some funding directly from local donors based on the quality of the business plan (ICCO and Dutch Embassy in Mali) and we are in contact with Oikocredit in order to negotiate long term credit that does not exist in Mali. That is the main bottleneck for the implementation of our business plan. That is why such economic project still needs subsidies in order to start-up.
Development
ULPC created four non peasant employees and plan to crate two more. Its main mission is to raise 2.100 small farmers' income by offering a very good buying prices (when buying their stocks) and by redistributing surplus to the members when sale prices were good enough. Village cooperatives also invest some of their collective revenue into social insfrastructures such as schools and nurseries or in collective environmental activities such as reforestation.
Family revenues from cereals will be potentially multiplied by five fold in 5 years.
ULPC activities also reduced rural exodus and brought more local security.
ULPC will plan to grow from 50 villages to 65 until 2010
