Linking Smallholder Rural Producers to High-Value Markets: The Role of Technical Assistance and Credit

Larry N. Digal

BANWA: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 2009, vol. 6, issue 01, 16

Abstract: Smallholder rural producers face many challenges in supplying their products to high-value markets. While these markets usually off er higher prices compared to the traditional market, they also set stricter requirements in terms of quality, volume, delivery, and packaging. For farmers to meet these standards and to achieve a higher income, they need to improve production practices and achieve a higher level of efficiency, not only in production but also in marketing. However, these changes require significant capital investments. This paper examines the role of technical assistance and credit in developing high-value chains that involve smallholder producers. Two cases are presented to illustrate the importance of both credit and technical assistance in linking smallholder producers to modern value chains. Technical assistance and credit are important but need not be directed to the production node of the chain to be effective. Marketing intermediaries can also be financed to develop linkages and to facilitate market access. It is clear, however, that credit and technical assistance will be most effective when directed towards meeting the requirements of the market. It is therefore critical that any assistance in credit, production, or marketing is treated as an investment to meet market demand.

Keywords: Agribusiness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/145365/files/B ... .1_Digal_pp47-62.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:phbanw:145365

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.145365

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in BANWA: A Multidisciplinary Journal from University of the Philippines Mindanao
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().