About Suzy-Farms Corp

History of Suzy-Farms Corp

Field Survey Oct. 2013 (Dr. Nvenakeng Suzanne Awung)

We are grateful for the opportunity to have met and worked with 41 local communities around Mount Cameroon National Park (MCNP) during our research field survey from October to December 2013. Our project was focus on assessing the level of community involvement in the MCNP REDD+ conservation projects. Results showed that food insecurity, malnutrition, land grabbing and poverty were some of the factors preventing full community engagement in MCNP interventions. Providing alternative livelihoods to generate new income streams (animal husbandry and aquaculture) and inter-spacing fruit trees in crop farms were highly recommended to enhance food security and local adaptive capacity to climate change threats. Our research will be useless if we cannot lead the changes recommended in our own publications. Suzy-Farms agri-aqua inclusive business is aim at addressing these issues of food insecurity, poverty, malnutrition, well-being, employment and provision of alternative livelihoods to enhance local adaptive capacity to climate change threats and engagement in conservation initiatives.

Executive summary

Suzy-Farms LTD is an inclusive agri-aqua corporation situated in Bonduma, Buea, Cameroon. It is involved in the primary, secondary and tertiary production and transformation of agri-aqua products or various types, investment and development or farming and breeding techniques to encourage agri-business. This is aimed at improving community resilience to food insecurity, poverty and climate change threats. We nurse and grow crops and fruit trees like mangoes, paw-paw, oranges, avocadoes, quavers and plums to enhance nutrition. We also breed and rear fishes, birds and animals such as broilers, layers, catfish, tilapia, pigs, goats and rabbits; and supply the market at a competitive price and make profit. We also produce animal feed and add more value to our products by processing them to meet our customer’s desire. Local farmers are train in animal husbandry and aqua-culture to provide alternative livelihood, generate income, eradicate poverty and improve their well-being. Our business plan is executed by our skilled management team of less than 50 workers.

Problem statement

Climate change, population growth and land grabbing for large scale projects have increased the level of food insecurity in Cameroon. The government also banned the importation of chicken in 2005 and this led to further shortages of animal protein. The mostly cereal-based diet is also deficient in proteins and often leads to malnutrition. To address these issues, Suzy-Farms engages in agriculture, animal husbandry and fishery.

Mission

Suzy-Farms seeks to become an inclusive leading provider of food in Cameroon and most especially in the South West Region. This will be accomplished by selling our products (meat, fish, eggs and fruits) at a competitive price while exceeding customer’s satisfaction. We aim at addressing socio-economic and environmental challenges within our communities.

Objectives

Our objectives are to;
·    Enhance food security as leading provider of fruits, vegetables, food crops, chicks, fingerlings, catfishes, tilapias, chicken, eggs, pigs, goats and rabbits in Cameroon.
·   Include low income groups along our value chain by integrating local farmers as producers, consumers, distributors and employees in our venture.
·    Alleviate poverty by generating profit for multiple stakeholders along our value chain through the provision of new income streams for local farmers.
·   Create an enabling ecosystems around our business to ensure economic viability and sustainability of our venture by sharing knowledge and technology with local farmers.
·  Enhance community’s adaptive capacity to climate change through the provision of alternative livelihoods for local farmers.
·     Deliver an innovative and effective end-to-end business model to alleviate poverty and enhance viability, social impact and scale potential of our venture.

Keys to success

Suzy-Farms adheres to four instrumental keys to success

• Strict financial control to maximize our production efficiency.
• Putting the need of our customers at the core of our value proposition. Our low production cost is easy to adapt and has a higher impact on the low-income group.
• Optimum health of our animals and birds (vaccines, medication, feed quality, aerated housing) to ensure a low mortality rate.
• Our 100% customer satisfaction philosophy ensures that our customers’ needs are met on time at their satisfaction to enhance our business profitability.

Business model

Bomana community participants

Our business model is design to create, deliver and capture values for our customers. Our proximity design enables us to work directly with our customers, listen to their challenges and develop our products and services from their perspectives. This will generate a mutual and trustworthy relationship. We seek to understand the challenges of our customers (end-user insight) and provide services that allow local farmers to pool their resources together, learn from experts, exchange best practices and effectively market their product (functional benefit). Local farmers are included in the value chain and their capacity are continuously enhanced to enable them grow as entrepreneurs (emotional benefit). We provide a win-win situation by empowering local farmers to become more entrepreneurial and continue expanding their business while using our services and products (reason to believe).  Thereby, enabling our entrepreneurship more desirable, profitable, impactful and more viable than traditional employment (key payoff/tagline). Low-income groups are often the most costly customers to serve because they often live in remote areas with irregular cash flows. Our innovative business model generates new income streams for them and deliver high quality product to low-income consumers through barter trade system. 

Our Products and Services

We breed/rear layer hens, broilers, local fowls and ducks in deep litter system, battery cages and free range; breed and rear pigs, goats, rabbits, snails, tilapias and catfishes; nurse and grow fruits, vegetables and food crops and also train local farmers. “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” Local farmers work in our farms during their six weeks training period without payment, thereby ‘learning by doing’. This is a win-win approach for both the business and the farmers. Some will be retained as employees and others will become local entrepreneur in their communities.

Revenue streams

Suzy-Farms has twelve main revenue streams (chicks, fingerlings, meat, fish, eggs, animal feed, farm equipment, fruits, vegetables, food crops, processed and cooked food.) and four main customers groups to whom we sell our products. Local entrepreneurs, retailers/supermarkets, hotels/restaurant and the general public are attractive customers due to their consistent demand in these products.

•    Local entrepreneur – We supply them with chicks, fingerlings, animal feed and farm equipment. They also buy our meat, fish and eggs for consumption and/or sell to the end consumer and make extra profit for themselves.
• · Retailers – these are mostly supermarkets and small shops owner who purchase our products for retail. They are the main distributors for our products.
• ·  Hotels and restaurants – They buy our products, cooked them and sell to end consumers.
• ·  The general public – Our customers buy directly at farm gate, shops and open markets.

Target population

•  We target to include the rural population in Cameroon as producer, consumers, distributors and employees. 
•  Supply our customers with products at a competitive price.
•  Train about 25 local farmers in animal husbandry and/or aqua-culture each year.

Competitive edge

Our venture has local competitors and external competitors practicing backyard poultry, piggery, goats rearing and feed production. There is no local competitor in aquaculture in Buea. About 20% of these competitors have good technical skills in farm management. More than 80% of them self-managed their farms and about 40% prefer administering vaccination themselves. Most poultry farms rear between 50 - 500 birds and sell at the local markets. The buying patterns of different customers are often based on the price, availability, consistent delivery and health of the animals/fish. Our competitive edge is our ability to consistently produce healthy products at a competitive price. Our competitive advantages are the high level of technical skills, large scale production, low mortality rate and new market accessibility. Our employees are made up of specialists in animal-husbandry/fishery, financial manager, sales agents, and trained employees to ensure effective and efficient management of our farms. Our sale strategy seeks to become a stable supplier to customers that need a steady supply streams.
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Environmental and social-economic impacts

Our venture involves low-income groups (local farmers) as consumers, producers, distributors and employees. We target local communities and focus on enhancing local livelihoods, well-being, food security, poverty alleviation and climate change adaptability. We train local farmers on animal-husbandry and aquaculture, and encourage them to plant fruit trees in their crop farms to enhance biodiversity and increase food yield per unit area of land.

This inclusive agri-aqua business venture provides socio-economic benefits to communities by providing local employment, food security, alternative livelihoods, better nutrition, well-being and health. Local entrepreneurs will generate new income streams to alleviate poverty. Education will be enhanced as parents are able to make money and pay for school fees and healthcare of their family.  The emergence of alternative livelihood will enhance farmers’ adaptive capacity to climate change threats, reduce vulnerability, restores ecosystems and biodiversity as their dependence on the forest will keep reducing gradually, and provide commercial returns. All these are geared towards meeting up with the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement and the National Adaptation Plan. 

Our Management Team

Conclusion

Poultry meat, eggs, fish and small animals are the most consumed animal protein in Cameroon. Animal husbandry and aquaculture are also very lucrative because of the favourable climate, good temperature (24°C – 30°C), low cost of heating, water availability, high demand and cultural acceptability. By selling our products and sharing our knowledge on climate-change resilient agriculture, we join local farmers to enhance food supply, improve their livelihoods, generate income and eradicate poverty. A combination of local and modern agro-techniques, and livestock rearing have the potential to substantially increase food productivity and feed the growing population. We can use our passion and enthusiasm to lift others on our way up and ensure food for all by 2030.