In the above photos, Bonny Okello has been a soybean farmer that also farms vegetables off the season. So when Home Harvest made entry into his village in early Feb 2022 he easily connected given the similarity of enterprises.  Being a member of the Obangamio farmers group, Aromo sub-county Lira district, he was nominated to become an Inoculation agent. Bonny has since been an accelerator of the last mile input supply chain as envisioned by HH in this market expansion activity.

Here is his story. ‘I participated in a training by Teddy (Home Harvest’s field agronomist) in which she introduced the idea of rhizobia as a biological yield enhancer. I picked interest. I have been farming soy bean for the last seven years but had never used any yield enhancer. I immediately decided to try the Makbiofixer for my own garden. By the time I met Teddy, I had already planted three acres. I used the Makbiofixer on the remaining 15 acres of the soybean. I wish I had known of the inoculant earlier. Even now the difference is clear in the crop vigor in the garden. Despite the unnecessary long spell, I can see the inoculated section is doing better. Now my garden is working as a demo garden since it’s near the road. My sub-county (Aromo) is a soybean hub and almost every family farms soybean. And being over 40 km from Lira city, I have become a supplier of the Makbiofixer and other quality inputs from Home Harvest to my neighbors. I sold 225 pieces of rhizobia and made a profit of 1,000 from each. Even the farmers who bought are very happy with the initial results in their fields. I made sure I supported each of the farmers in the seed treatment process before planting. This is a new input in the area and farmers needed practical knowledge. I didn’t want any complains later. Teddy had also taught us about the storage of the Makbiofixer, keeping it slightly below room temperature as inoculants such as the Makbiofixer are made of living bacteria. I bought a big pot to keep it.

From the performance of the soybean in the first season for those who tried the inoculant, there is more demand even for the second season. I anticipate selling more in the second season and thousands in the next year unless another agent comes into the village. From the experience with the Makbiofixer, farmers are also getting interested in other Home Harvest inputs such as vegetables. I have already aggregated demand from 10 farmers who want both cabbage and tomato. I personally want to grow two acres of their Redking onion variety. From being an agent, I plan to establish a proper agro shop to serve this distant community. I see so many possibilities working with Home Harvest not just for me but also for other farmers in my sub-county. This is just the beginning!’