Agricultural Marketing Systems Development Programme

The programme will assist the government in bringing about a wide-ranging change in the agricultural marketing subsector, with the aim of making rural markets work better and empowering smallholders within the markets. The programme will:

• strengthen about 1,000 producer groups to enable them to have a better bargaining position and more leverage in formulating policy, identifying marketing opportunities and negotiating prices.
• assist the government in rationalizing existing policies of regulation, taxation and the exchange rate, among other things, to contribute to improved marketing system efficiency
• improve market infrastructures through construction and rehabilitation of 700 km of rural roads, 200 km of access roads and 30 market centres, and through financing for post-harvest facilities
• strengthen capacity of the Ministry of Cooperatives and Marketing to collect, compile and disseminate agricultural marketing information
• help producer groups, grass-roots institutions, traders and processors access inventory and capital loans from commercial banks, when needed for promoting marketing activities
• establish and strengthen vertical and horizontal linkages among producer groups, grass-roots institutions, processors, local marketing chains and exporters

Initially the programme will be implemented in the Northern and Southern Highlands marketing zone, but related policies will be developed and applied on a national scale.

Source: IFAD