IPS|By Stephen Leahy

How’s this for short-sighted: A billion people go hungry every day, food prices have climbed 30 to 40 percent, climate change is reducing agricultural production – and for the past two decades, the world has slashed investments in publicly-funded agriculture until it is a pittance in most countries.

“Moral outrage is needed. We must abolish this… It can be done. It must be done,” Ismail Serageldin, director of the Library of Alexandria, Egypt and a former World Bank economist, told nearly 700 World Food Prize laureates, ministers, scientists and a few representatives from development and farmer organisations at the first Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) last month here in southern France.

“This is the launching pad to transform hunger in our time,” Serageldin concluded.

The “rocket” on the launching pad is a major transformation of the 500 million dollars of public funds for international agricultural research carried out by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an alliance comprising some 8,000 researchers in 100 countries.

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What can sustainable livelihoods approaches and pro-poor market approaches learn from each other?

Similarities and complementarities between SL and PPM include:

• They are both multidisciplinary, in that they draw on political economy, social analysis and economics to generate insights into the way these influences affect the livelihood processes and outcomes.
• An emphasis on sustainability is critical for both approaches, although pro-poor market approaches prioritise the economic and financial aspects more than the environmental and social.
• Both approaches refer to institutions, in themselves complex. The greater focus on understanding market institutions of PPM approaches, has unpacked the ‘policies institutions and processes’ box contained in the SL framework that often went unexamined.

Differences between them include issues of scale and empowerment: PPMs are seeking to realise impact at a scale that SL approaches have failed to achieve. They seek to influence whole market systems to ensure benefits for poor people.

Specific interventions are needed to build people’s confidence and self-esteem and encourage them to engage in market-based livelihood activities. Social differences clearly create barriers: better understanding is needed of how systems of exclusion operate and how pro-poor market approaches can overcome them.

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The Department of Agriculture (DA) of the Philippines is setting up multifunctional freezers across the country in keeping with government efforts to provide farmers and fisherfolk with easy access to state-of-the-art postharvest facilities that will considerably shave their production plus marketing expenses and thereby boost their incomes.

A project of the DA’s National Agribusiness Corp., the government is acquiring this year 98 multi-functional ice-making machines using a relatively new brine immersion freezing (BIF) technology that will allow fisherfolk, for example, to store their fish in standard Styrofoam boxes for two to three days without using ice and still retain their fresh quality and taste, according to Nabcor spokesperson Kathyrin Pioquinto.

By first freezing fish or meat items in these BIF freezers using the liquid quick freeze (LQF) method, users can then store these commodities in conventional freezers or refrigerators for as long as six months to a year and still retain their quality and taste, Pioquinto added.

continue reading about RP Gov’t Providing Farmers, Fisherfolk with State-of-the-Art BIF Freezers here…

“In Davos, I intend to show business leaders how linking smallholder farmers to the private sector is key to building the economy of developing countries. The private sector is increasingly crucial to drive economic growth in the developing world,” emphasized Nwanze, “IFAD will continue to be the voice of smallholder farmers because they are fundamental to transforming the agricultural system and bringing about economic growth”.

“Agriculture, irrespective of the size of the farm, generates business. And every entrepreneur, whether it is a smallholder farmer or a large commercial farmer, needs or wants to make money. We have the responsibility to transform smallholder agriculture into smallholder businesses,” Nwanze said.

Continue reading here about how Agriculture makes good business sense….

The CRS has partnered with the Province of Nghe An to promote a territory approach to agro-enterprise development. This means that the project needs to 1) be implemented through the Government administration structure; 2) improve the skills and knowledge of government staff in promoting market oriented production; 3) promote ownership and sustainability; and 4) aim for policy improvement for poverty alleviation through agro-enterprise development.

Following the 5 processes/steps for agro-enterprise development, the project has strengthened the ability of government agencies in promoting agro-enterprise development and project management. It has also contributed to more diversified agricultural products and improved the lives of target communities (through more jobs, value-added, increase incomes and reduced environmental and health issues)
Continue reading the CRS Experience – Support to Agro-Enterprise Development in Nghe An Province (Vietnam)….

Mr. Guarin introduced the Upland Marketing Program and related about its nearly twelve years of experience in selling directly to supermarkets. He said that direct selling to supermarkets is inevitable given the worldwide trend of increasing rate of grocery sales due to various factors, such as the modernization of procurement, increasing incomes, and the growing preference of buyers for safety and convenience which the supermarkets can offer. He explained about the three waves of supermarket diffusion and noted that increasingly, supermarkets are adding more and more carts of fresh produce , fully allowing retail purchases for such just as the public markets would. More and more have flocked to the supermarkets instead of the usual public wet markets, as the latter has stricter standards for food safety and product quality.
Continue reading the Mechanisms for Product Quality and Food Safety: Tips for Entry into the Supermarket….

A market research scanning on calamansi that was done revealed important statistics and information for any farmer or group of farmers interested in producing and marketing. It was found that the production of calamansi in the country has been increasing, with major supplies coming from Central Philippines (although it can only be produced there 4-6 months in a year because of typhoons) and less but more consistent (all-year round) supplies coming from Southern Mindanao. A minimum of half a hectare is required to make calamansi production successful and it costs around 4 Philippine Pesos (Php) or 9 US cents to produce one kilo of calamansi. Potential returns are estimated to be about US$2000/year for one farmer.

The value chain actors are comprised of the farmer, the assembler or distributor (who brings the calamansi to the capital of Manila), the retailer (markets that make the calamansi accessible) and the consumer. The price increase from farmer to consumer is almost 1000%!
Continue reading the Value Chain Analysis of Calamansi….

He added that small farmers are much weaker now than 15 years ago due to many changes such as changes in the global agricultural market, changes in national government, increasing urbanization, emergence of new market segments, and the ever-increasing challenges of economies of scale. He enumerated the various types of small-farmer commodity organizations, their roles and functions, and some of the specific challenges (for instance, the investment requirements governing cooperatives) that each of them might soon have to address.

Continue reading the Overview of Challenges Experienced by Small Farmers in Engaging with Markets….

Philippines
Mr. Luis Caballero Jr., Vice Chairperson of Zamboanga Sibugay High Value Marketing Crop, presented their community’s experience in maintaining food safety and quality standards for calamansi. In terms of maintaining product quality, this involved the processes before planting, the maintenance requirements during planting season, as well as the safeguards during picking, sorting, and storage. Mr. Caballero enumerated the following issues and challenges: (1) Some farmers / pickers do not follow the guidelines in size and maturity of calamansi during picking; (2) Branches dry out due to excess water and fungi; (3) Regular monitoring of an accredited agriculturist is needed; (4) An official monitor is needed during sorting; (5) Some farmers, especially those who live far from farm-to-market roads, tend to go back to old farming practices.

Cambodia
Mr. Noun, chicken producer from FNN, presented Cambodia’s experience in marketing dressed chicken. He related that chicken feed during the dry season are not sufficient. They also experience difficulty in transporting the product given the great distances of markets from the farms. Because of these, the traders are able to really push down the price. They buy live chickens and slaughter them after three days. This situation has led to questionable claims about hygiene and safety that affects the credibility of dressed chicken as a product.

Vietnam
Representatives from Vietnam reported the following issues and concerns with regard to their product, tea: limited farmers’ access to knowledge and information about food safety and product quality; poor processing techniques and equipments; limited quality management and limited access to product quality certificates; and difficulties in trade market development.

Indonesia
Mr. Haryono, explained that their organization consists of 60 cooperative groups of farmers in the forests of Sumatra that have 30 member-households each. The cooperatives help in the marketing of ten tons of organic rice per month by ensuring that market demands are met and by lending to farmers in need. Since they process rice manually, the main obstacle is in drying seeds especially during the wet seasons. As small farmers, they face obstacles in marketing and product quality, and would like to have some information on the practices in food safety and product quality in other countries. They also have 50 farmer-members who are into honey production. This could be expanded to include a greater number but the organization’s capacity to organize them is limited at the moment. They are now starting to market the honey to Binadesa outlets even as the product quality is not yet fully developed.

Much of the problems in the agricultural sector exist because we do not understand what is going on. That is why we need to understand what are agricultural chains and how these are linked to the market.

In a simple marketing system, there is the producer and the buyer. Goods are transferred from one to the other and it is through information and communication that a decision to buy/pay for a product is made. In reality, however, things are not as simple because of intermediaries in between. Products pass through these intermediaries and value is added to the chain where products take on a different form, e.g. from raw coconut to desiccated coconut or copra. The more intermediaries or participants there are in the chain, the greater chances for problems or distortions to happen. Farmers can also decide to add value (join the chain) if they determine that this will be more profitable for them. Otherwise, because of lack of the right information, they will be unable to benefit from the agricultural chain.
Continue reading Understanding Agricultural Chains towards Enhanced Market Access….