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Abstract
Limited access to profitable markets and production resources by smallholders restricts expansion
and investment in technologies that could increase efficiency and add value to primary production.
Two cases from the DRC and Rwanda, targeting the collective marketing, value addition and
processing of banana and Irish potatoes, are used to demonstrate the IAR4D approach. The results
show that, through collective marketing and banana processing, farmers are able to increase their
returns by about 50% compared to the period before IAR4D interventions. The shelf life of the
products was also increased drastically. Market efficiency improved for Irish potatoes by reducing
transaction costs and decreasing the market intermediaries who would extract larger margins at
the expense of the producers. Thus the tonnage of potatoes marketed increased from about 3 to 15
MTs in less than one year, while farmers were able to earn up to 10% higher prices through the
IPs. Transformation to prevent postharvest losses experienced by farmers in general and members
of IPs in particular is recommended. The use of flexible contracts, coupled with support from credit
institutions, is also recommended.