In South Sudan, sorghum is a popular cereal crop that provides a rich source of nutritious meals. However, due to the shrinking length of growing seasons, sorghum farmers have experienced decreased yields.
Akari Development Association (ADA) was founded by smallholder sorghum farmers in Kapuri Village in Central Equatoria State in 2011. ADA works toward socio-economic development and purchases sorghum from members and processes it into sorghum flour and clean grains for sale in local markets.
Prior to receiving financial and technical support from USADF in 2018, ADA faced several challenges, including an acute shortage of milling machines, a lack of funds to purchase enough seeds to cultivate large areas of land, inadequate capacity to train farmers, and insufficient storage capacity. The $99,000 USADF grant, awarded for a two-year period, helped ADA improve its managerial capacity, double its sorghum production capacity, and train farmer members.
As a result, ADA expanded its operations to include sorghum milling and flour production, increasing its nearly 470 farmer members' incomes. By the end of 2020, ADA doubled its profits as a cooperative and was on track to increase its membership to 1,000 members.