Regional Markets

Regional Markets for Local Development
group of large farmers, who are already well-connected and benefiting from the value
chain). Understanding the challenges and working with smallholders in the framework
of food commodity value chains can bring substantial benefits and can significantly
contribute to achieving the goal of pro-poor development.
Regional food commodity value chains for development
This publication sought to examine the challenge of designing alternative agricultural
value chains that meet sustainability goals in developing countries, particularly in
Africa. We turned our attention to the neglected area of the study of regional (food)
commodity value chains, contrasting them with export-oriented value chains, which
have received so much attention over the years. This shift in focus towards regional
(food) commodity value chains yielded additional questions regarding the impact on
poor smallholders:
• Are regional food commodity value chains systematically different from the export
oriented value chains?
• Do regional types of chains have a different impact on the dimensions we have identified,
such as pro-poor development, gender, food security and others?
• What do the specific benefits of food commodity value chains imply for the design of
intervention strategies?
Throughout the study—especially in the careful consideration of the case studies—we
have examined the difference between the two value chain types, and sought to distill
the main lessons which we have reflected upon and tried to translate into the following
recommendations.
Recommendations
• The needs of smallholders—and women farmers in particular—can be and need to be
at the centre of agricultural development policies and decision making.
• Careful consideration of the situation on the ground is needed, in order to adequately
understand the needs at farmer household level, even when an intervention is focusing
on only one of the farms products (a cash crop).
• Attention should be paid to capacity building, especially improved organisation of
small-scale farmers, in order to address power imbalances between producers and
processors and social/economic injustice and exploitation in the value chains.
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