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Abstract
Agriculture dominates the economy of the Sub-Saharan African countries. Main producers of
agricultural commodities are smallholders who depend strongly on the sector for incomes,
food security and employment. These goods reach consumers via multilevel marketing
systems, not directly from production. Thus, the fights to achieve food and nutrition security
as well as prosperity for these countries will be won or lost by the way agricultural value
chains are coordinated. However, value chains in developing countries face series of
impediments in many of the cases smallholder farmers are disadvantaged. In recent years
activities and actors to be coordinated along the value chain have increased significantly.
These include a change in consumer demands, climate change, water scarcity, stringent
market standards, including food safety, production and processing technologies to minimize
post-harvest losses, information and communication technologies and new or emerging
markets. Such dynamics will lead to a changing business environment and change
relationships between actors in the chain. Thus, it is essential to realize the dynamic change,
problems, risks and necessary changes combined with it. Lack of comprehensive strategies
along the entire value chain affect the potential benefits that smallholder farmers might obtain
from it. The strategies could range from improving productivity through increasing access to
inputs to increasing access to markets through strengthening value chain relationships and
improving an enabling environment. The strategies should also incorporate activities and
actors out of the value-chain like universities and research centres to support the poor
smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.