Linking Smallholder Farmers to Growth Markets Inter-regional design workshop for a Global Partnership Programme September 2006 Cairo, Egypt

A sense of history … Where did your road to Cairo start?

Questions I want to try and answer What is GFAR? What is a Global Partnership Programme (GPP)? How has the Linking Farmers to Markets initiative evolved? The principles, potential products, and governance of a GPP

What is the Global Forum on Agricultural Research? Multi-stakeholder platform Agricultural Research for Development Poverty, food security and environmental degradation

FORAGRO The Americas FARA Sub-Sahara Africa APAARIAsia-Pacific AARINENA AARINENA Near East and North Africa EFARDEurope CACAARI Central Asia and the Caucasus What is the Global Forum on Agricultural Research?

Why Global Partnership Programmes? Complexity of the challenges that we face in achieving multiple objectives of agricultural and rural development The need for systems perspectives to problem solving The recognition that no one institution or organization has all the skills or capacity to achieve the impact required Globalization provides us with opportunities for exchanging information, sharing experiences and accelerating processes of co-innovation

What is a Global Partnership Programme? Development-oriented collaborative efforts Address strategic agricultural research for development issues of global relevance Build on and add value to on-going activities at different levels (local, national, global) Jointly developed, carried out and owned by a set of diverse stakeholders Are a priority for two or more of GFAR ’ s regions A GFAR mechanism to promote and learn about building and sustaining multi- stakeholder partnerships

The strategic issue: How to link smallholder farmers to growth markets? Smallholder farmers need to produce food and generate income Rapidly changing market environment – new opportunities, many obstacles Source: Practical Action

From Consultations to a “ Global Partnership Programme ” : Regional consultations on post-harvest technology and marketing – FAO-GFAR 2003 October: Global Strategic Framework, Rome – FAO-GFAR- P h Action 2004 December: Regional Forums recommend exploration of GPP 2005 December: GFAR Steering Committee request GPP formulation

Exploration of common areas of interest Asia-Pacific – Expert consultation. Dec W. and N. Africa – Workshop. March 2005 L. America – Conference. April 2005 Africa – General Assembly. June 2005 High Value Products – Workshop. Oct 2005 Asia-Pacific: APAARI W. Asia & N. Africa: AARINENA

Common cross-regional issues Self-sufficient, subsistence farming or the ‘ family agriculture ’ sector not adequately supported by R&D Market orientation and access is vital for income generation and resource conservation Adding value, differentiation and diversification are important strategies Demand-oriented extension and market facilitation services lacking Biophysical and post-production research has to become more market and enterprise oriented Engagement and partnership with the private sector is key

Small-scale farmers organised and fully integrated into a supply chain Small-scale farmers organised, adding value and diversifying products Moving from subsistence to greater commercial orientation Small-scale farmers organised to sell product collectively Early stage Developing Mature Individual small-scale farmers selling surplus into market Landless and others with few capital assets Subsistence Sale of labour or provision of services Access to markets and technology Level of organization

We are not starting from zero Many experiences to build on We know what needs to be done How do we move from islands of success to ‘oceans of impact’? Lishe Trust, Lushoto, Tanzania Cassava drying cooperatives, Colombia

Developing regional proposals – the ad hoc working groups February – WANA in Al Ain June – Asia-Pacific in Bangkok July – Sub-Saharan Africa in Nairobi July-August – Latin America through e- dialogue Al Ain Bangkok 06-06

What are our challenges this week? Identify common cross-continent opportunities and constraints that can be better tackled in partnership Develop a vision of the future and the GPP’s specific contribution to achieving this vision Define strategic areas of intervention where learning, sharing and working together will make us more effective Develop a well focused and concrete GPP proposal that is convincing and doable

Building partnerships is not easy Belief Commitment Passion They require:

Basics principles of Linking Farmers to Markets GPP Beneficiaries Partnership Involvement and ownership of stakeholders Complementarity Adding value Execution at the appropriate level Harvesting watercress in Vietnam

We have building blocks Much experience and many ‘ islands of success ’ Other important regional/global initiatives: – Research Regoverning Markets Empowering Producers in Markets: IFAP-ECART-IFAD Making Markets Work Better for the Poor: DFID Linking Smallholders to High-Value Markets: Univ. Guelph and World Bank – Partnerships Global Horticultural Initiative Other GPP – PROLINNOVA, Underutilized Species, Non Timber Forest Products Global and regional ARD information systems (RAIS) – Development programmes/projects World Bank, IFAD and other loan agency projects on value chains Gates Foundation programme on value chains

What are the potential products of the programme? Information for better decision making Good practice guides and tools Better partnership processes Better partnership processes Capacity built of farmers, development facilitators, researchers Policy options for governments and the private sector

Basic elements of the Global Linking Farmers to Markets Partnership Programme Participation of Asia-Pacific, WANA, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean A time horizon of at least 10 years Governance – Global and/or regional steering groups – International support team of 3-4 institutions

2006 – a key year Establishment of governance mechanism and initial activities Further exploration with donors Identification of international support team members Submission to Program and Steering Committees of GFAR December 2006 Project formulation workshop September 2006 Establishment of ad hoc working groups Seed resources

Expressed donor interest DFID – CSOs and farmer empowerment to engage in markets IFAD – partnerships among supply chain actors and among service providers CIDA – linking farmers with the private sector Italy – small and medium rural enterprises Rockefeller – competitive grants for linking farmers to markets (Africa)

Comparison matrix AfricaAsia-Pacific West Asia and North Africa Latin America and Caribbean Policy developmentPolicy instruments for promoting linkage of family farming with markets. Learning alliances on best practices for integrating farmers into value chains Competitive and equitable supply chains – organic focus Utilization and enhancement of organic agriculture Institutional strengthening & capacity building Market orientation for the commodity networks Greater capacity for innovation in peasant farming oriented towards improving market access Fostering networks and information Market oriented private extension services Pilot innovation extension and technology transfer Market information and linkage services Better understanding of national and international markets and greater access of peasant economy products to those markets