smallholder farmers

This article in the World Development Journal studies the effect of livestock gift program in Zambia on household food security. Smallholder livestock ownership has potential to enhance food security by raising incomes of the poor and by increasing the availability of nutrient-dense foods. »

This report by the Evans School Policy Analysis and Research Group (EPAR) and commissioned The Rural and Agricultural Finance Learning Lab, reviews and summarizes the existing evidence on the impact of access to financial services/products on measures of production, income and wealth, consumption and food security, and resilience for smallholder farmers and other rural customers and their households in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study covers four main types of financial products/services: 1) credit; 2) savings; 3) insurance; and 4) mobile money and digital products. »

This article analyses the effect of specialty coffee certification on income diversification of smallholders and questions the benefits of this certification for them. Smallholder coffee producers are responsible for 80% of global coffee production and need farm certification to access specialty coffee markets. Although rural households are known to depend on more than agricultural production alone, the literature on specialty coffee and certification has rather narrowly focused on coffee income and production. In this study, broader impacts are explicitly taken into account. »

Time and resources from the Food & Business Knowledge Platform, CTA and the Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen UR have made possible a Trainer’s manual and a Trainee workbook for a short course on Inclusive Business for SMEs. »

This report (PDF) by Farm Africa, highlights how support to small and medium agriculture businesses is key to driving rural economic development in East Africa. These ‘first mile’ businesses play a vital role in connecting small-scale farming to wider markets by buying their produce or supplying goods to them. This report maps the various financial instruments that should be provided for agricultural SMEs’ needs, enabling them to grow. »

At the end of September 2015 some 120 senior practitioners came together for a 2-day workshop: they are all at the forefront of inclusive approaches in SE Asia to engage smallholder farmers in value chains . This Roundtable on Inclusive Agribusiness in Southeast Asia was held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on September 23 »