Concept:
Rockford Harris Group designs and implements capacity building programs
for improving and strengthening small farmer organizations internal capacity, access to markets for improved farm production
and livelihoods. The Harris Group undertake a participatory market research
(needs assessment) and based on issues emerging designs a training package followed by facilitating an organized training
workshop for the key selected farmer groups. In addition we support a process of collective marketing for a selected number
of farmers’ groups collective marketing & storage using the designed farmer access to market model.
Background & Rationale:
Farmer organization
and market access in Uganda remains a challenge to the NAADS and other development agribusiness programmes given that farm households are typically fully engaged in immediate survival and have few resources to spare
for longer term needs. All small holder farmers are reliant on rain-fed agriculture, with a relatively short (and unpredictable)
growing season. With increasing numbers of rural households facing chronic food insecurity, many families face demands on
their skills and labour which they are unable to meet.
But, while
challenging, the situation is not hopeless. There is good evidence that opportunities for change can be created through initiatives
that can support farmers’ improved organizational capacity and access improved productivity information and to markets.
Through
the NAADS programme, farmers have shown an evident interest in (and capacity for) forming organisations, especially to address
problems of access to markets and to influence local policy. Small holder farmers, SACCOs, farmers’ organizations, producers’
organizations and commodity associations will need to be better linked to markets, key technical/business management services
and inputs if they are to realize significant increases in their productivity.
However
the reality is that many farmers and producer groups lack access to markets, technical expertise, capital, commercial skills
and entrepreneurial capacity to successfully commercialise their activities. Their ability to build their capacities in these
areas has been impeded by a number of factors. Farmer and producer needs are highly variable across commodity groups and between
large and small farmers. Information along value chains and among actors within the chain is not adequate enough to allow
better coordination, specialization, or risk management. Farmers also lack adequate services and limited capacity among service
providers to respond to the challenges of farmer commercialization. There is limited knowledge sharing among the value chain
players and inadequate interaction between public sector in extension and research and the private sector. In general, the
enabling environment to encourage private sector participation in supporting smallholder farmer development is poor.
Cross-border
or regional markets are becoming increasingly important to producers but the ability for producers to access such markets
is influenced by legal and regulatory issues, how markets function and their supporting infrastructure, and protection and
promotion of private sector investments. Experience has shown well functioning agricultural value chains that generate equitable
benefits to all actors do not occur by default, but rather through concerted efforts by development practitioners (public,
private and civil society). Because smallholder farmers are often marginalised and excluded from high-value markets on a national,
regional and international level, there is need to devise innovative approaches
to develop and reinforce equitable and efficient linkages between smallholder farmers and the other private sector actors
– inputs suppliers, storage operators, and marketing, distribution, processing agents. As farmer-led service delivery
approaches are increasingly adopted, there is also a greater focus on developing appropriate services and using a farmer-group
approach as an entry point to providing specialized market services.
