Helping Farmer Organizations Boost Market Access
Market challenge and its solution
When small scale farmers associate, they are looking for something each could not access singly. Often, they want greater market access for prices viable to them. But how best can this be done? By training and informing them of opportunities and how to tap them. Who is best placed to do this? Local service providers.
The PRUDEV II case
Under GiZ’s PRUDEV II Project in Northern Uganda, FRIENDS Consult has trained 150 local Business Development Service (BDS) providers across the Lango and Acholi sub-regions to help farmer organizations with, among other aspects, market access. The training equipped BDS providers with practical skills in key areas: governance and leadership, business management, access to finance and markets, improved agro-inputs, financial record-keeping, value addition, supply chain management, and development of bankable business plans for Farmer Organizations (FOs).
The initiative addresses persistent market access barriers facing FOs, including:
- Inability to aggregate sufficient volumes for high-value markets
- Low and unstable prices
- Logistical and transport constraints
- Limited bargaining power and negotiation capacity
- Inconsistent supply and quality
- Inadequate storage and preservation facilities
Trained BDS providers are now starting to deliver tailored advisory/ capacity building support to help FOs improve aggregation systems, build stronger buyer relationships, strengthen collective marketing, enhance internal governance, and meet structured market requirements, ultimately increasing competitiveness, profitability, and household incomes.
Sharing approaches to multiply impact
In a recent Service Providers workshop, FCL shared progress on skills development, mentorship, and market-oriented training delivered to local providers. The event brought together Farm Africa, GOPA-AFC, the BDS Providers’ Network (BDSPN), and GIZ to foster collaboration, align efforts, activate new market opportunities for BDS Providers, and promote ongoing support for FOs, smallholder farmers, and agri-SMEs across Northern Uganda.
Bigger picture
Through these targeted capacity-building activities, FCL and the other partners continue to build a more effective agricultural advisory ecosystem that empowers local service providers to drive sustainable rural development and commercial transformation in the region. The targeted end result is a community of market oriented and thriving agribusiness MSMEs.
By:
Daniel Anthony Egessa, Projects Officer
Dr. Keren Obara, Projects Officer, Marketing and Innovations.