The role of informal microfinance institutions in saving

combinations: private sector, government, development partners, not-for profit
organizations, etc.
For this to be effective, the following has to be considered:
• Enough accessible land, which does not rely on rain for agriculture should be
available.
• It would be useful to identify a much larger land than the initial incubator,
because one the cluster of commercial firms is functional, other people will
be attracted to the area. New entrants can start developing farms whiles
staying with friends or associates in the established cluster or even in a
campsite within the established cluster. They will need access to good land.
Hence the initial incubator and cluster should be seen only as a nucleus to
enable a much wider area to be exploited commercially.
• There should be deliberate moves to connect the incubator with the related
value chains, including providers of finance, training, equipment and inputs
as well as markets.
The following benefits would be derived from this kind of incubation
• Graduates, retirees and other people will be attracted to work in the farm
sector in rural areas.
• Farmers can learn from each other
• Farmers can readily organize themselves and have their collective voices
held.
• Farmers can aggregate their outputs and do joint marketing for
economies of scale and realize better prices in the market.
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