Researchers’ Field Days bring useful insights – and good business

Why do smallholders take certain decisions? How can rural agents help them buy and sell more successfully? SAF Africa’s Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) project is closely involved in finding out.

The Busara Centre for Behavioural Economics (BCBE*), through the Enabling Market Intelligence and Building Engagement (EMBE) project is conducting a study to examine the role of agents in farmers’ purchasing decisions. Among these agents are the SAF Farmers’ Hubs who are agri entrepreneurs. BCBE recently organized two Farmer Field Days in Bungoma, Western Kenya on 25th – 26th August 2025.

Development partners, private sector players, farmer associations, Small and Medium Enterprises, farmers and government agencies were invited to the Farmer Field Days. They were all able to showcase their activities, products and services as well as do business and offer advisory services.

Phanice Ilamwenya (front left) – holding African Leafy Vegetables (ALVs) and Margaret Atulo showcasing and selling their agroecological products at the NICE tent during the Farmer Field Days in Bungoma, Western Kenya on 25th – 26hth August 2025.

Agri-entrepreneurs supported by the Sustainable Agriculture Foundation (SAF) – Africa through the Nutrition in City Ecosystems (NICE) project offered a wide range of value-added products from the three nutrition sensitive value chains selected for Bungoma – African Leafy Vegetables (ALVs), groundnuts and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes. The products included both fresh and solar dried vegetables that had been produced using agroecological techniques, crisps, crackies, mandazi treats and chapati from orange fleshed sweet potatoes and nutritious porridge, fortified with ground nuts.

“This event has been a great opportunity for creating more awareness for the agroecologically produced vegetables which I aggregate from the members I serve at my Farmers’ Hub. I sold everything I carried to the field day and made useful contacts!” says Phanice Ilamwenya, the leader of Phanice Farmers’ Hub from Misikhu in Webuye West.

Her counterpart, Margaret Atulo of Atulo Farmers Hub from Matulo in Webuye confirms this business sentiments, “I was able to sell all my mandazi and chapatis as everyone who tasted them said they are so delicious and wanted more!”

BCBE aims to share its study results with partners once the analysis is done. These findings should help agri-entrepreneurs to expand their own businesses and increase farmer incomes.

*BCBE is a Kenyan research and advisory firm dedicated to advancing and applying behaviuoral science in the Global South. It helps clients to understand human behaviours and design solutions to overcome barriers and scale up products, programs, and policies.