Patience Samhutsa writing in Practical Action:
If nothing is done, it can be a major cause for inequality in accessing marketsMore hereSmallholder farming households in Zimbabwe, like most in Sub-Saharan Africa, are largely subsistence farmers. They grow just enough to eat. The subsistence mind-set means they rarely invest in production and marketing which means a year-in year-out struggle in poverty.
image courtesy of Practical Action
If they do produce enough to sell, they face a number of challenges in accessing lucrative markets (agro-processors, wholesalers, and retailers). They are poorly coordinated among themselves which makes them weak players in the market, with negligible bargaining power. The volume and quality of their produce is inconsistent. They pay more than ‘the big guys’ for inputs, transportation and finance. This is worse because they live in remote areas with poor road networks, telecommunications infrastructure, no reliable energy sources, poor agro-dealer networks and limited agricultural extension support services. Smallholder farmers need to be knowledgeable and well-organised to plan their production schedules to meet the requirements of existing crop and livestock markets.
This is easier said than done. The implementation processes of projects need to focus on improving the knowledge of these subsistence farmers about the markets they want to engage with, increase their confidence to interact with other strategic actors (e.g. buyers, service providers and policy-makers) and ability to articulate and communicate their situation, problems and potential to others. This will lead to greater equality in accessing markets.
