By articulating national farmers' organisations in developing countries with researchers and consultants, the ESFIM programme will strengthen the capacities of national farmers' organisations in developing pro-active policy proposals. Proposals that will be adapted to their specific national context, but enriched with the experiences of other farmers' organisations inside and outside their country.

This ESFIM research and policy development programme focuses on successful and replicable regulatory policies and institutional arrangements that can empower smallholder farmers in markets. It will have the farmers organizations in the driving seat: for identifying research priorities and for learning and reflecting on research outputs. ESFIM will build on the outputs of other research programmes like Regoverning Markets, GFAR - LSFM, and research in the ECART Institutes.

The project originator is IFAP - International Federation of Agricultural Producers; and the Research Partner is ECART-EEIG - European Consortium for Agricultural Research in the Tropics.

"Producer Organisations and Market Chains: Facilitating trajectories of change in developing countries" Published by Agri-ProFocus, Wageningen UR and Wageningen Academic Publishers. Editors Giel Ton, Jos Bijman and Joost Oorthuizen. 2007.

This book presents different approaches towards support for producer organisations in terms of providing economic services to their members, focusing on developing countries. Markets are increasingly fragmented in value chains that link farmers with specific processors, retailers and consumer segments. Several contributions in this book analyse these dynamics in specific value chains, such as the fair trade and organic agriculture and their potential to provide market outlets for smallholder farmers

by Andrew Shepherd (FAO), 2007

This Occasional Paper examines experiences of linking farmers to markets, in order to reach some tentative conclusions regarding success factors. It mainly considers examples of linkages promoted by outside organizations such as NGOs. Issues discussed include the choice of markets, the capacity of the linking organizations, and the relationship between the private sector, NGOs and farmers. Linking farmers to new markets invariably involves farmers organizing into formal or informal groups. Experiences with group organization are reviewed, as is the question of finance. Problems faced by farmers in maintaining linkages are examined and sustainability and scaling-up of linkage activities considered. A check-list of issues to address when planning market linkages is provided as an annex. The paper also considers the enabling environment that governments must provide if linking farmers to markets is to prove successful.

The paper is aimed at staff of NGOs, both those working at the policy level and in the field; at donor organizations and the projects they support; and at ministry of agriculture policymakers and extension services. It should also be useful for private sector companies seeking to develop linkages with small farmers.

UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION (UNIDO)

By John Humphrey and Olga Memedovic

Abstract

This paper is about agriculture and poverty reduction in the context of globalization.

Agricultural growth is central to poverty reduction in rural areas, and one opportunity for such growth lies in increasing exports of agricultural products from poor countries to global markets.

Global agricultural markets have become increasingly complex because of concentration at all points in the value chain and the increasing scope and complexity of food standards, particularly those relating to food safety. Therefore, realizing the potential benefits of agricultural export growth for poverty reduction requires careful analysis of trends in global markets and the policies that will unlock the potential for growth and poverty reduction.

An UNCTAD expert meeting entitled "Enabling small commodity producers in developing countries to reach global markets" was held from 11 to 13 December 2006 to discuss how to help such producers obtain market information and financing, work out logistics for selling and transporting goods, and understand and comply with more complex regulations.

KIT BookKIT | Faida MaLi | IIRR |

This is a book of hope for Africa's smallholder farmers. It shows how they can earn more from their crops and livestock by taking control over the value chains they are part of - chains that link them with consumers in Africa's towns and cities, as well as in other countries.

The book describes two basic strategies that groups of farmers can use to improve their incomes: vertical and horizontal integration. Vertical integration means taking on additional activities in the value chain: processing or grading produce, for example. Horizontal integration means becoming more involved in managing the value chain itself - by farmers' improving their access to and management of information, their knowledge of the market, their control over contracts, or their cooperation with other actors in the chain.

This book contains 19 case studies showing how groups of farmers throughout Africa have adopted one or both of these strategies to improve their incomes. It shows how development organizations have helped them do this - how they have succeeded, and how they have sometimes failed. It shows the need to invest in improving the quality of existing products, developing new products, establishing market linkages, and building farmer organization and capacity.

The book provides numerous insights for those striving to empower smallholder farmers to develop markets. It will be of particular interest to government policymakers and staff involved in agricultural development, non-government organizations, university faculty and students, trainers, evaluators, and donors seeking ways to promote agriculture in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world.

The book is written in easy-to-understand language and is richly illustrated with line drawings.

Supermarkets have an increasing influence on developing countries, but do they provide beneficial foreign investment by stimulating local production and employment? In this PANOS article, Mildred Mpundu investigates the impact of the South African chain store, Shoprite Checkers, on small local farmers in Zambia.

• Farmers are very unequal partners in the agri-food chain. Millions of independent farm families work at the production level, and they have to face a highly concentrated global retail distribution sector, food manufacturing sector and agribusiness sector, where only a handful of large multinational companies dominate the markets. The result is an international food system that regularly experiences depressed prices for agricultural commodities. This benefits neither farmers nor consumers. IFAP is lobbying for safeguards for farmers against any uncompetitive market behaviour, and IFAP is lobbying for a regulatory environment that facilitates the organisation of farmers in the market. Resources available at http://www.ifap.org/en/issues/industrial.html :

27 April 2006. AT Kearney has published its 2006 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI). This index is designed to help retailers prioritize their global development strategies, by ranking 30 emerging countries based on more than 25 macroeconomic and retail-specific variables. Findings are as follows. On a regional level, Asia reclaimed the lead position from the maturing markets of Eastern Europe. As part of Asia, the Middle East posted the highest retail sales growth globally, led by United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The Mediterranean held steady with mixed results, while Latin America recovered from its economic crises and enjoyed a strong return on the Index. Finally, Africa remains outside the game, but that is not stopping retailers from entering this populous region.

New York Times article December 2004: THE FOOD CHAIN - SURVIVAL OF THE BIGGEST?