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Three-quarters of the world’s 1.2 billion poor people live in rural areas. Many are small-scale producers who depend on agriculture and natural resources for their livelihoods. International markets have been seen as a way out of poverty and food insecurity for small-scale producers. These markets comprise traditional food and fibre commodities, but also new markets for quality products, biodiversity conservation, and mitigation of climate change.
Increasing volatility and stringent requirements in these markets, as well as international trade agreements, present smallholders and their organizations with multiple opportunities and risks. Higher value has to be weighed against the costs of meeting international standards and certification for quality products and the imbalance of market power when trading with large companies. Imports can push small producers out of their home markets. The roles of producer organizations, governments and big business in making global and regional markets work better for development are all disputed. Each organization has its own set of assumptions and recommendations about the risks and opportunities for small-scale farmers. Should producer organizations and their federations focus on rights-based approaches that recognize farmers’ rights as citizens, or market-based approaches that recognize the entrepreneurial nature of smallholder agriculture? Should government revive its traditional role in the regulation of markets in the face of uncertainties in the global economy? Can international companies change their business models to include small-scale producers in fair and equitable trading relationships? For smallholders and their organizations to position themselves and make effective choices – in other words, to build agency – in the face of this complex agenda requires knowledge and capacity to organize their interests and take effective action. But it also requires a widening and reshaping of the debate. These are the core objectives of the Knowledge Programme “Small Producer Agency in the Globalized Market,” run by Hivos, IIED and a global learning network. The Programme has set out to map, elicit and integrate knowledge on the dilemmas confronting small-scale producers in global, regional and national markets. It aims to work with different actors to bring new voices, concepts and insights into the global debate. It thereby seeks to support the development community, policy makers, producer organizations and businesses in their search for better informed policies and practices.
News
Book on Value Chain Finance
In large parts of the world, small-scale farmers, traders and processors are constrained in their business operations due to a lack of finance. Farmers want to be paid immediately, but traders do not have the ready cash to buy their produce. Traders need working capital so they can buy and transport produce, but lack the collateral to get loans. Processors cannot get the money they need to buy equipment or ensure a steady supply of inputs.
Presentation by PhytoTrade @ Hivos
On Monday, February 15th, Gus le Breton, CEO at the Hivos partner PhytoTrade Africa gave a public presentation on a new biobased produce that PhytoTrade wants to bring from the very rural areas of Africa to the world market: Baobab Superfruit. The meeting was attended by about twenty people from various academic institutes, companies and organisations that are all active in the promotion of sustainable economic development and the access of the poor to the market.
KP “Smallholders Agency” goes Asia
After having visited Latin America and East Africa, the initiating team of “Smallholders Agency” (from Hivos, IIED and Mainumby) went to India from 1-7 February to focus on the Asian continent. The objectives were to identify Asian members for the KP’s Learning Network, to find out how the knowledge program may become embedded in India and to initiate the multi-stakeholder exploration of key topics for the knowledge programme.
KP small producer agency goes to Asia
After visiting Latin America and Africa, the KP on small producer agency is now going to identify Asian candidates for its global Learning Network (LN). A Round Table with potential LN candidates from India, Indonesia and other countries is organized by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in Bangalore on February 4. Moreover, through the regional Hivos office, a separate consultation meeting with Hivos partners is organized in Hyderabad on February 1. One specific objective of this meet...
ILEIA focuses on Family Farming
One of the pillars in the global network on sustainable farming is ILEIA based in Netherlands. ILEIA is best known for its magazine that was recently renamed into Farming Matters, produced in 50.000 copies in six languages.
KP “Smallholders Agency” lands in Africa
The initiating team of “Smallholders Agency” (from Hivos, IIED and Mainumby) went to Uganda and Kenya from 20 to 28 November. The aim was to find out how the knowledge program can become embedded in East Africa and to find African members for the Learning Network.
Value Chain Financing, a concept of consequence
I lived for some time among the farmers in the uplands of the Philippines. Most of them grew hybrid maize, destined for the pig industry around Manila. A major feature of dally life was the constant indebtedness of the farmers with the local traders that supplied the farmers with credits for the seeds and fertilizer, in return for a high interest rate and obligatory delivery of the whole yield to the trader. Some farmers were trying to escape from the debt trap by returning to white maize, a...
New! Participatory Guarantee Systems newsletter
The market for organic foods is an important opportunity for farmers in developing countries. But how can consumers be assured that what they buy is indeed organic? Certification systems exist to give the answer. Most of these systems are ‘top-down’; they define the conditions that farmers have to comply with and ensure external inspectors do the checking. This increases the costs of the products.
Learning groups can have big impact
The Knowledge Programme on “Smallholder Agency in the Globalised Market” is at present building a Learning Network as its core instrument. This network will be a group of some 15 persons from Africa, Latin America and Asia that will focus on the commissioning of innovative studies, the exchange of ideas and the diffusion of the results into the global debate and the capacities of civil society.
Accelerating sustainable trade
What will the world look like in 2050? The long-term trends of population growth, climate change and increasing consumption per capita are not likely to change any time soon, resulting in accelerating pressures on natural resources such as soils and forest. Current increases in agricultural production are mainly based on the expansion of agricultural area – a process that causes great damage already and moreover will have exhausted its possibilities in the very near future. Sustainable inten...
