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poor road access, lack of power and inadequate marketing facilities. Under institutions,
challenges included weak institutional structures, often compounded by little contact or
conflicts between stakeholders. In addition the absence of, or poor farmer organisation
meant that producer organisations were often unable to take the initiative. Poorly developed
markets, again poor infrastructure, high cost of inputs and low producer prices compounded
these problems. Under support services, challenges included poor access to inputs due to lack
of finance and market facilities, a lack of or poor access to knowledge and poor extension
sometimes associated with inappropriate research. Consequently challenges to improving
farming systems included use of unsuitable varieties, pests, diseases and poor management
practices, resulting in low or declining yields and hence low incomes for farmers. These
challenges are summarised in Figure 3, and detailed for each case study in Table 4
Figure 3: Challenges identified
A comparative analysis of the case studies 83