ABOUT PROJECT
Smallholder farmers face various challenges – from exposure to extreme weather phenomena brought on by climate change to progressive land degradation. Smallholder farmers also lack the means to invest in productive, sustainable farming methods. In addition to the afore-mentioned issues however, one of the major identified problems faced by smallholder farmers is lack of access to formal markets Because smallholder farmers face challenges in securing market access and eliciting benefits to support healthy livelihoods, it is essential to address some of their specific constraints and maximize the potential for beneficial access to reliable and remunerative markets considering the essential role they play in ensuring food security and nutrition today.
Research has shown that there are many barriers that smallholder farmers, particularly women, face in accessing fast-growing urban (formal) markets. These are caused, among others, by poor infrastructure and market information systems, inefficient input and service markets, and weak institutions and regulatory frameworks. In dealing with some of these challenges, public policies and investments play a significant role in creating an enabling environment for smallholders. Creating this enabling environment will support governments’ efforts to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by providing benefits to the food security and nutrition of smallholders, and to achieving food security and nutrition for all.
As agriculture is the biggest employer in the country, it remains the best opportunity for the poor living in smallholder households to escape poverty. Because of this, finding ways to link smallholder farmers to formal markets is generally considered a critical part of any long-term development strategy to reduce poverty and hunger. This project will the various challenges that smallholder farmers face in accessing both formal and informal markets and provide recommendations on how to link smallholders to markets and thereby, creating an environment that will see them escape poverty.
- Review of secondary data
- Literature review
- Primary data collection (Chongwe and Chibombo)
- Focus group discussions
- Interviews with farmers
- Key informant interviews (ZDA, MCTI, NUSAFAZ)
- Drafting of report
- Submission of draft report
- Finalisation of report
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Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 19 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries. Oxfam has been working in Zambia since the early 1980s. Working with partners and stakeholders, Oxfam’s programmes include developing sustainable livelihoods within the context of HIV and AIDS, health and education, water and sanitation, and strengthening community capacity to cope with disasters.
- Validation meeting
August 8, 2019, Lusaka
- he interviews with the farmers will seek to understand: to whom farmers sell the majority of their produce; the main reasons farmers sell to informal markets: what challenges farmers face in selling their produce at informal markets; what challenges farmers face in accessing formal markets; what farmers think the government should do to support their access to markets; what farmers think formal market actors should do to support them to access their markets
- Understand constraints that woman smallholder farmers face in accessing markets
- A profile of current policies and practices that hinder smallholder farmers’ participation and profitability
- Formulate research paper that will inform direction of “buy local” campaign
What’s New
- Validation meeting
August 8, 2019, Lusaka
Partner/sponsors
