The Kayonza Growers Tea Factory Limited (KGTF) is a success story of how a farmer-owned organization can create positive change in a community. KGTF, based in Kanungu District in Western Uganda, has been working to improve its members' livelihoods through increased tea production, bulking, value addition, and access to tea markets. However, in its early years, KGTF focused solely on export markets, neglecting the local demand due to a lack of tea packaging machinery.
In 2017, USADF awarded KGTF a US$250K grant to purchase machinery for packing tea bags and sachets, construct a state-of-the-art tea processing facility, and acquire a van to transport their products. These strategic investments paid off tremendously, with farmers' incomes from tea sales skyrocketing to US$11.5 million within three years. By the time the project concluded in March 2020, KGTF's total sales had surged to an impressive US$22 million.
KGTF achieved even greater success by utilizing the USADF's Mastercard Farmer Network (MFN) platform project to digitize marketplaces, payments, and workflows within the agriculture sector. With this new platform, KGTF could pay farmers for their produce digitally and in real-time, eliminating cash transactions and reducing risks for farmers and KGTF.
The success of KGTF illustrates how organizations can collaborate to bring about positive change. By utilizing the USADF grant and the MFN platform, KGTF was able to increase its profits and expand its reach while also improving the livelihoods of its members. This demonstrates how investing in farmer-owned businesses like KGTF can lead to growth and positive change in communities globally.