Regional Markets

Regional Markets for Local Development
of the food produced (rice, fruits and vegetables) remains within the local community,
directly improving the availability of food on the local market.
NGOMA places a premium on food security; however, it approaches food security
issues from a price perspective (access), rather than from a production perspective.
Inadequate group cohesion and representation is thought to result in smallholder farmers
lacking the ability to engage in group marketing. Individual marketing results in
low prices for milk and maize, which can threaten food security.
Those cases that deal with non-food crops, such as cotton in Zimbabwe and coffee in
Tanzania, also discuss food security more specifically as resulting from higher prices and
increased income similar to the food crop cases, though the role of the market (in an abstract
sense) is larger and so are the risks, e.g. price volatility and (other) external influences like
tariff barriers and trade defence mechanisms. Likewise, risk mitigating strategies will differ
(such as diversification with market system integration, as is seen below). In Zimbabwe,
it is assumed that higher cotton prices will improve access to food, and in Tanzania the
proceeds from coffee are expected to do the same. However, the Tanzania coffee and the
Fairtrade cases also describe crop diversification efforts, which are used as a backup strategy
for food security by small farmers. Hedging strategies are used, so if the market price of
the main crop collapses, other crops can be sold to offset the impact. Often staple crops are
used for diversification, which gives households the option to either market the produce or
to retain it for household consumption (a direct improvement of food security).
Clearly marketing has a major role to play in food security in these cases. It increases
household income, thereby improving household food security in general. Most cases
in the writeshop focused on conditions at the production level, with little information
regarding the other levels further down the chain. Contacts with customers still
seem to be more focused on spot purchases at local markets rather than on establishing
long-term relationships, with more formalised commitments and agreements between
producers and buyers. RUDI is a clear exception, as it explicitly focused on building
strategic partnerships and strong business associations, especially within farming communities.
Building relationships within the value chain seems to be just as important
as improving quantity and quality, when it comes to food security. Thus, strengthening
positive relationships between value chain actors is a good approach to promoting food
security at the level of producers. It is important to strike a balance between the interests
of the different actors involved and thus transform the value chain from a hierarchical
to a more network-based.
The question at the beginning of this section inquired to what extent food security
is guiding value chain development in regional markets. We saw that the availability
and accessibility of food for local, poor producers are important considerations, though
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