'Market Moves' to Feed the World

Have you witnessed a lead buyer system come crashing down because of seemingly unruly smallholder farmers and ruthless traders?  An innovative response is to flip the traditional script on agricultural value chain development through what I call the “Value Chain Takedown.” Through this process, we move from a top-down “lead firm” model to a horizontal, farmer-centered model through which farmer groups gain the skills to liaise directly with input dealers, buyers, banks, as well as one another. By supporting farmers and farmer groups to become empowered, they are able to make an impact as agents of change within their own communities. It frees up the buyers to focus on their part of the value chain – and it creates competition, too.

Market systems facilitation is a delicate dance. As facilitators, we work through existing systems and market actors, without directly altering the market environment. This helps to ensure that local players are in the driver’s seat, and that any improvements made will be sustained over time, even after a donor-funded project ends.

What I’ve witnessed over the years is that each aspect of an agricultural market system interacts with and influences the others – and all of those can be affected by external forces such as weather, policy, and conflict. Facilitating innovation among these constantly evolving aspects requires strong relationships throughout the value chain, forward-thinking, vigilance, and, above all, patience. Doing so, carefully, can improve the impact of market innovations and increase their scale.

Farmers – even those in remote rural areas around the globe -- are embracing the power of data. A lot has been done to develop apps that collect data from farmers or connect them to outside information services linked to markets and finance. But these systems are usually third-party services governed by external firms and are very often donor-funded.

What would it mean to shift data ownership to the farmers and their organizations themselves?  Imagine the possibilities if farmers truly owned their data! Farmers that have access to accurate data on their own agricultural activities can make sound decisions about what varieties to plant and how much seed and fertilizer they need to realize their best yields. When farmers have easy access to relevant and reliable data, they gain a sense of confidence, agency, and willingness to invest in their farming enterprises.

As data usage scales-up to include more producers, farmer networks use their own digital information systems to manage their activities, determine their aggregated input needs, develop partnerships, and reinforce their professionalism with banks and buyers. In a recent project in Senegal, we found that farmer groups saw the value in collecting key data for improved production and sales, leveraged digital tools available to them, and over time changed their behavior to routinely collect and share relevant information among themselves and with others. This increase in data literacy not only helped them improve their farming – it also legitimized their farmer groups in the eyes of other key players throughout the market system, bringing them more business over time.

Above all, I think the most important takeaway I’ve gained from my years in this work is that to achieve self-reliance, we need to first trust the farmer and the local ecosystem’s capacity for self-organization. The farmer knows more about her farm than anyone else, and if we don’t respect her knowledge, relationships, challenges, and experience, even the best interventions will fail. Starting out with a “farmer knows best” approach is always a good idea, and flexible, adaptable market facilitation will take it from there.