I've seen this kind of commercial market integration programme really work for small farmers. But I have to qualify that by saying that it can't work for everyone, perhaps only for a minority of small farmers. It only works if you have fertile enough land, water for irrigation, and decent market access. Farmers located closer to cities have a competitive advantage.
Other farmers will still need some other way to live. I like the quote from Andrew Noble, 'Young people do not want to continue in the drudgery of farming. Too many defenders of smallholders romanticized it.' To remove the drudgery, you have to upgrade your technologies, which requires access to markets that pay enough. And that's not going to be everybody.
I work with smallholder farmers, and I am a big fan of programs like the one in this article that raise living standards through market integration. But I'm constantly fighting those in the aid industry who want to keep EVERYONE on the land, regardless of circumstances. For a majority of the rural poor, the solution to poverty is employment elsewhere in the economy, which is why agricultural development needs to be accompanies by industrial and service sector development. You can't really have one without the other.
PS I am in no way endorsing landgrabs or corporate farms. The debate between smallholders vs. landgrabbers is a false choice.
I've seen this kind of commercial market integration programme really work for small farmers. But I have to qualify that by saying that it can't work for everyone, perhaps only for a minority of small farmers. It only works if you have fertile enough land, water for irrigation, and decent market access. Farmers located closer to cities have a competitive advantage.
Other farmers will still need some other way to live. I like the quote from Andrew Noble, 'Young people do not want to continue in the drudgery of farming. Too many defenders of smallholders romanticized it.' To remove the drudgery, you have to upgrade your technologies, which requires access to markets that pay enough. And that's not going to be everybody.
I work with smallholder farmers, and I am a big fan of programs like the one in this article that raise living standards through market integration. But I'm constantly fighting those in the aid industry who want to keep EVERYONE on the land, regardless of circumstances. For a majority of the rural poor, the solution to poverty is employment elsewhere in the economy, which is why agricultural development needs to be accompanies by industrial and service sector development. You can't really have one without the other.
PS I am in no way endorsing landgrabs or corporate farms. The debate between smallholders vs. landgrabbers is a false choice.