It takes two to trade: Understanding and improving farmer-firm relations in Africa
This book (PDF) from AgriProFocus focuses on understanding and improving relations between farmers and firms. The book presents an approach – comprising an analytical framework, a practical assessment tool and suggestions for action – that can be used to analyse, assess and facilitate the relationship between supplying farmers and their organization on the one hand and buying firms on the other. This approach is called “It takes two to trade” (abbreviated as “2-2 Trade”) because farmers and firms need each other if their relationship to perform wel. The book presents an action-oriented facilitation tool (Chapter 4) that can be used to facilitate understanding, assessment and improvement of existing farmer-firm relations. Farm-firm relations are defined as trade relations where both parties collaborate and coordinate activities with each other, with the aim of doing business with each other over a longer period of time. The approach and accompanying tool were developed using 25 case studies and in intensive dialogue with farmers, firms and development practitioners. The book features 12 of these case studies and illustrates the diversity of farmer -firm relations and the usage of the tool. On the website of AgriProFocus more documents from the 2-2 Trade approach can be found, like a factsheet and a workbook.