Market Access for Smallholder Farmers in Nepal

Project goal:

The aim of Market Access for Smallholder Farmers is to reduce poverty amongst smallholder dairy farmers in Nepal by sustainably increasing the income of 10,000 small producers in Chitwan, Dhading, Tanaha and Gorkha districts. The project seeks to leverage its work with these farmers to impact the wider district and national level dairy market systems. To achieve this, the project is working closely with key private sector service providers, district Chambers of Commerce and Industry, and relevant government line agencies to achieve lasting changes to the input and services market, the value chain and the enabling environment of the dairy sector.

Opportunities were identified to work with leading national dairy sector companies to develop and provide appropriate services to smallholder farmers in the project working area and beyond. This is a key pillar to achieving transformations in the market systems at district and national levels that will benefit smallholder dairy farmers at scale. To date the Practical Action has joined forces with Nimbus Agri business Enterprise, a leading national agricultural-based input company to improve the dairy service market for the mutual benefit of smallholder farmers and Nimbus’ business.

A number of other private sector partnerships are close to public anouncement. This page will be updated when further partnerships are announced. For more information contact:

Deepak Khadka: Team leader of the Practical Action Markets and Livelihoods programme in Nepal: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Alison Griffith: Head of Practical Action’s international programme for Markets and Livelihoods: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Alexis Morcrette: Research assistant in Practical Action’s international programme for Markets and Livelihoods: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Project Timeline: 2010-2012

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Small holder certified flowers, Kenya

Project Goals:

• Link very small-scale farmers with one of the most demanding markets through a locally owned intermediary.
• Analyze and improve the inclusiveness of the chain’s business models, expand to other products and measure impact on livelihoods and trading relationships.

Led by the International Institute for Environment and Development, this project has built on ASDA's commitment to increase sourcing from Africa by developing the world's first smallholder outdoor flower supply chain to be certified by Rainforest Alliance. Rainforest Alliance certification both ensures sustainable production practices and helps communicate the positive story to customers.

Project Partners:
ASDA, Rainforest Alliance, Wilmar Naturegrown, IIED, SFL

Publications about this project

ASDA Press release

READ PROJECT INFORMATION HERE

Fine Flavor Cocoa, Ghana

Project Goal: to increase growers’ capacity to grow high-quality, fine flavor cocoa and develop a super-premium brand of cocoa that is recognized worldwide and to work with buyers to develop a transparent supply chain that delivers much of the premium back to the growers.

“Ghanaian cacao farmers are some of the best growers in Africa. By bringing superior cacao clones to Ghana, and teaching Ghanaian farmers to grow them, they will increase their income with a sustainable crop, while we will get a reliable supply of excellent cacao. Everybody wins.” John Scharffenberger

Project Partners: Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, now a brand of The Hershey Company, Agroeco-Louis Bolk Institute, CIAT, Sustainable Food Lab, Cocoa REsearch Inst of Ghana (CRIG).
Additional expertise has been provided by Ed Seguine, Mars Chocolate and the ICCO Fine Flavour Committee Chair, Dr Darin Sukha of the Cocoa Research Unit at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad & Tobago, and Chloe Doutre- Rousel, Chloe Chocolat, France.

Project Timeline: 2007-2011

Publications about this Project:

Farmers and Industry to benefit from fine flavour cocoa project. C&CI, March 2010
Ghana Fine Flavor Cocoa: A business development opportunity.  July 2010

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Cocoa West Africa

Project Goal: to increase demand and supply in West Africa for Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa and to test whether voluntary certification with sustainable practices provides a net benefit to small holder cocoa farmers that can be sustained by the value chain without ongoing subsidy. This project has assisted over 17,000 farmers in West Africa to achieve certification to date.

Rainforest Alliance is innovating new business models through this project to increase the access of farmers to the certified market while piloting group certification through traders and rural input stores.  These innovations are focused on reaching the non-organized farmers who do not belong to an operating cooperative.  These farmers comprise a large percentage of the cocoa farmers in West Africa. 
Project Partners:  Rainforest Alliance, AgroEco-Louis Bolk Institute, Sustainable Food Lab

Project Timeline: 2007-2011

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White Pea Beans Ethiopia

Project Goal: The new business model supports smallholder producers and is focusing on a flexible approach to chain-wide development that improves relationships among value chain actors. In addition to facilitation in linking producers with buyers, the project supports upgrading of the bean value chain through interventions aimed at increasing productivity and improving quality of product and trade relationships.  White pea beans (navy beans) have long been an export crop from Ethiopia.

The project has closely partnered with ACOS, the largest exporter with a significant processing facility in country, to invest in new varieties and training to improve productivity and quality, to improve links between farmers and intermediary traders and to develop a chain wide support system that enables communication, traceability and builds confidence from end-to-end in the chain.

Project Partners:  ACOS, Catholic Relief Services, Sustainable Food Lab

Project Timeline: 2007-2011

Publications about this Project:

Pea Beans In Ethiopia: Challenges of Creating New Business Models for Sustainable Livelihoods.  Seville, Systems Thinker, Vol. 19, April 2008.

Review of the role of commodity exchanges in supporting smallholder farmer market linkages and income benefits. Peter Robbins, July 2010.  
  

READ THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS HERE

READ A REPORT OF THE PROJECT HERE

Frozen Vegetables, Guatemala

The Guatemala Highland Value Chain Development Alliance brings together world-class expertise on sustainable agriculture, poverty alleviation and agribusiness with market demand and technical assistance to improve small scale vegetable production and benefit rural communities in the region of Sololá, Guatemala. 

This innovative partnership focuses on building transparent and equitable business relationships between transnational corporations and small-scale producers. Farmers and buyers alike face complex challenges to stable farms and supply chains, such as the effects of climate change, eroding soil fertility and volatile global markets. 

The project works with the existing 3000 smallholder supply base while expanding opportunities for new producer associations in the highlands of Guatemala.  Through this engagement, the farmers expect to increase productivity, gain access to stable markets, diversify production, and increase participation and leadership of women. 

Project Partners:  Oxfam GB, SYSCO, Superior Foods, SUMAR, SFL, CIAT, ADAM

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Fresh Produce, Dominican Republic

The project goal is assisting agricultural communities improve economic profitability, environmental soundness and social equity of food and farming systems as practiced by small-scale and limited resource farmers in the northwest Dominican Republic.  This is accomplished through expanding opportunities that link fresh produce grown by small-scale farmers to high value markets, both export and domestic (i.e. tourist hotels and restaurants and supermarkets).

SYSCO in partnership with Agrofrontera, a local Dominican NGO, lead the project introducing certified GAP production practices.  The project is developing and piloting a new form of commercial intermediary for the packing and grading.  The intermediary is commercially nimble, transparent and fair to its farmers.

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http://www.agrofrontera.org/proyectos.html

Oxfam/Unilever Smallholder Sourcing, Azerbaijan

In 2007, Oxfam Great Britain made an unusual move in their effort to engage the global private sector in addressing rural poverty. Rather than critiquing how companies work (or don't) contribute to poverty alleviation, Oxfam asked the Sustainable Food Lab to facilitate a learning journey to bring the some private sector colleagues to rural Honduras where Oxfam had been working with marginalized farmers.  Together they walked through numerous remote farming systems, met with farm leaders, saw local market access initiatives, and brainstormed about how Oxfam and the private sector could partner more together to bring about economic opportunities.  

This journey inspired Oxfam GB and Unilever to look for ways to integrate small - scale farmers into Unilever's supply chains in ways that maximize the potential development impact.  Through a program of joint activity, Oxfam and Unilever are exploring ways of involving more smallholder farmers in Unilever's global supply chains as part of integrated development efforts that also work on local markets, gender issues, and food security. A project to source dehydrated vegetables from smallholders in Azerbaijan is now underway. 

"We believe that securing our supply of raw materials can go hand in hand with economic and social development in rural areas, providing better incomes to smallholder farmers and agricultural workers." ---Jan Kees Vis, Unilever

More at: 

Unilever - Sustainable Living Plan

Oxfam - Business Models for a Better World