Established in 2006, Limu Inara Private Limited Smallholders Farmers’ Multipurpose Cooperative Union (LIFMCU) is a farmer-owned, profit-driven entity dedicated to boosting the agricultural sector. It provides essential agricultural inputs (e.g., fertilizer, seeds, and agrochemicals), produces certified seeds, creates market access, offers technical support, and delivers farm-mechanization services, ultimately leading to improved livelihoods and community development. The Union focuses on market-oriented production, supporting smallholder farmers in cultivating high-value crops like coffee, honey, poultry, soybean, and maize.

Operating in Limu Kossa woreda of Jimma Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia, LIFMCU was initially established by 11 cooperatives and 3,086 smallholder farmers with a starting capital of 158,000 ETB/£1,975. The Union has expanded its outreach to ten woredas. Now it has 127 primary cooperatives and serves over 53,000 (6,311 women) smallholder farmers, with capital growing to more than 95.3 million ETB/£1.2 million.

With a staff of 47 (9 women), LIFMCU helps smallholders tap into emerging lucrative markets, enhancing their bargaining power and ensuring better returns. The Union plays a crucial role in fostering community development by facilitating access to finance, enhancing productivity through improved farming techniques, and promoting sustainable agricultural practices. It also emphasizes education and capacity building, organizing training programs and workshops for smallholder farmers.

Moreover, LIFMCU is committed to social responsibility and community welfare, engaging in various social initiatives such as supporting local schools, healthcare facilities, and infrastructure development projects. Through these efforts, the Union strengthens the agricultural sector and enhances the quality of life for its member smallholder farmers and their communities.

Contact: Mr Nasir Abagidi Abasimbo, Deputy Manager, LIFMCU (photo) Email

Enhancing Limu Inara Cooperative Union’s Soybean Marketing and Access to Finance to Support Smallholder Farmers

Running from December 2024 – December 2025, the project will significantly contribute to strengthening access to improved soybean seed, other agricultural inputs, and farm mechanization services for SMEs and other actors. It will also enhance Public-Private Sector Business Dialogues and capacitate system actors on the Market Systems Development (MSD) approach by providing embedded services to contracted smallholder farmers through primary cooperatives under the Limu Inara Smallholder Farmers’ Cooperative Union. This Union has been chosen as a key partner for CASA to implement this pilot project due to its substantial production capacity and its ability to support a significant number of producer smallholder farmers with input and output marketing services.

The Union is committed to improving access to quality seeds, offering farm mechanization services, and facilitating input finance for producer smallholder farmers to enhance soybean production, productivity, and quality, and access bank loans for bulking. This initiative will enable the Union to increase bulking, ensure a reliable supply, and establish sustainable supply linkages with processing companies. CASA and Limu Inara Smallholder Farmers’ Cooperative have co-designed different CSA-related interventions to ensure an eco-friendly and environmentally responsible project that will contribute to International Climate Fund Key Performance Indicators (ICF-KPIs).

The Union plans to engage 3,600 member smallholders through their affiliated cooperatives (targeting 30% women, including women in male-headed households) by providing access to quality seeds, rhizobium innoculant, input finance, CSA focused/sensitive production and post-harvest training, and quality extension services support during the first year. Projected annual amount of additional income per farmer is £132.

In the second year of the intervention, the Union aims to scale up to 5,600 smallholder farmers (an additional 2,000 new target smallholders). It will continue expanding as the model proves successful and the Union becomes more familiar with the business. The strategy is designed to secure a sustainable supply of soybeans in the required quality and quantity. The lessons, experiences, and successes of this pilot program will be thoroughly documented and replicated in the Union’s working areas for other commodities. This will also be upscaled in the region and extended beyond the region through collaboration with the Government and other development actors.

The Union will play a pivotal role in coordinating and facilitating forward and backward business links with actors such as input suppliers, producers, buyers, financial institutions, and other stakeholders within the oilseed sector. The Union will collaborate with CASA to facilitate such linkages, thereby reducing the time, financial burden, and technical skill shortcomings associated with the successful piloting of the proposed project. This facilitation role is particularly challenging in the initial stages, requiring substantial time and resources until all actors develop trust and see the value it brings to their business. The Union plans to pilot the new business practices with a manageable number of actors in the supply chain, including smallholder farmers, cooperatives, buyers, and input suppliers, gradually scaling up each year.

The CASA Programme’s partnership with the Limu Inara Smallholder Farmers’ Cooperative Union aims to overcome obstacles in soybean aggregation, supply chains, and internal capacity development, as well as enhance the Union’s service delivery to smallholder farmers to ensure quality production.

CASA contributed £29,987 in technical assistance and a grant, of the total project cost of £51,652.

The Union’s business objective is to increase member productivity and profitability by expanding access to high-quality inputs, technical support, and market opportunities, and to enhance the Union’s financial strength and operational efficiency. Its growth strategy includes broadening its membership base and service areas by attracting more primary cooperatives and smallholder farmers, investing in advanced agricultural technologies and diversified product offerings, strengthening partnerships with market players to secure better returns for members, and focusing on training and capacity building to ensure sustainable development and resilience.

Updated: March 2025