Image Source: Google
Area 1 Stimulating the market for improved sunflower seed varieties; the aim of this intervention is to stimulate the private sector to invest in supplying improved seed varieties, while also encouraging the public sector through responsible research institutes to invest in developing the breeding capacity for new Hybrid seed varieties in the longer term. The target is to bring into the market at least 4 – 6 new hybrid varieties by 2020. Currently, the majority of farmers use the so-called open-pollinated (OPV) seed varieties (which have been around for a long time, thereby losing their original production potential/characteristics. Two specific interventions have been proposed:
- Increasing availability of and access to improved seed varieties by smallholder farmers, especially those in highly productive areas.
- Re-establishing/upgrading the breeding capacity of the sunflower research institutes so as to develop the country’s capacity for breeding and generation of improved seed varieties in future.
Image from: WEF
Background
The Agricultural Markets Development Trust (AMDT) has been established as a long term facility with a life span of at least 10 years. The goal of the Trust is to increase incomes and employment opportunities for poor women, men, and young people in Tanzania. AMDT’s Mission is to unleash large scale systemic change in agricultural market systems such that productive poor women, men, and youth are able to take advantage of more inclusive, resilient and competitive market systems. AMDT believes that enabling large scale systemic change targeting market systems that are critical for the productive poor, particularly, for marginalized women and youth creates a much stronger chance of achieving sustained pro-poor impact.
Market Diagnosis
AMDT employs an M4P Market Diagnosis which follows a step-by-step analysis process that gradually goes deeper and deeper from the selection of the market system to the root causes of its failure. The structure of the Market Diagnosis follows the guiding questions below and starts with an assessment of the global and national growth potential of sunflower, analyses then the participation of smallholder farmers in sunflower production, and broadly assesses the feasibility of changing the market system.
1.5 Objectives of AMDT in the Maize Value Chain
AMDT strategic objective for the maize value chain is to increase the incomes of at least 150,000 smallholder farmers by 50% by the end of 2021. To achieve this, AMDT facilitates pro-poor systemic changes in selected markets systems within the value chain, specifically the seed market, the core market where there is weak collaboration, and selected service markets (especially for finance, agricultural advisory services, BDS, and climate-smart technologies). In particular, AMDT targets women who are farming and in small-scale processing, as well as youth who are employed as wage laborers in farming, processing, and the retail and distribution channels of the value chain.
1.6 Identified Systemic Change Areas and Proposed Interventions
Based on a Market Systems Analysis undertaken by AMDT, four systemic change areas have been identified, and under each area, specific interventions have been identified as summarized below:
Systemic Change Area 1: Enhance collaboration and contractual arrangements among value chain actors
In this systemic change area, the aim is to enhance collaboration of key actors in the maize value chain by building the capacity of key institutions, addressing the informality in the chain, enhancing access to bundled services that are fit-for-purpose for smallholder farmers and other agricultural MSMEs, and testing and adopting formal contractual arrangements. In this strategic change area, AMDT intends to support the integration of at least 150,000 small scale farmers into the maize value chain, and work towards achieving sustained increases in incomes of at least 50% by 2021. Four specific interventions are targeted:
- Build the capacity of small-scale processors and where opportunities exist, their associations. In particular focus is on the following: access to better milling technologies, finance, and business services to better manage their businesses; establishing stronger linkages with farmer organisations and in particular enhancing maize aggregation and collection systems between farmers and the processors; and enhancing opportunities for improving the marketability of maize products by encouraging maize products fortification.
- Increase the number and capacity of farmer’s organizations that are able to do farming as a business
- Enhance pro-poor contractual arrangements that are mutually beneficial to the majority of value chain actors, including women and youth, leading to win-win situations for those engaged in these contractual arrangements
- Enhance access to bundled services and inputs to small scale farmers, in particular: post-harvest technologies and knowledge post-harvest handling; information and extension services; value chain financial services; soil-testing and mechanization services; business development services; and appropriate inputs (seeds, agrochemicals, and fertilizers)
Systemic Change area 2: Enhancing the Information and Extension System
In this systemic change area, the aim is to address the sub-sectors wide gap in access to information and extension services among smallholder men, women and youth farmers. Numerous studies and empirical evidence around the world show that other things being equal, the difference in average yields among farming communities is highly dependent on the effectiveness (or the lack thereof) of the information and agricultural extension services surrounding the farmers. AMDT will partner with the different stakeholders to pilot, test and scale up information and extension delivery models that have the greatest potential to provide broader and sustained access to extension services to at least 50,000 smallholder farmers by 2021
Two specific interventions are targeted;
- Pilot, test, and scale up information and extension delivery models [Private-Private, Public sector (where they work), or Public-Private Models]
- Enhance the knowledge base available to information and extension service providers and farmers, from selected extension & research institutions in the country, while also building the linkage and communication models/systems around knowledge bases with service providers and farmer organizations.
Systemic Change Area 3: Enhancing the availability and adoption of improved post-harvest technologies and good post-harvest practices
In this systemic change area, the aim is to support smallholder farmers in reducing maize post-harvest losses, reducing incidences of aflatoxin (which limit access to markets and pose serious health hazard to consumers), and reducing inefficiencies in the marketing of maize products from farmers.
Three specific interventions are targeted;
- Enhancing availability and adoption of improved post-harvest technologies, in particular: handling, drying, and storage technologies
- Enhancing access to and adoption of good post-harvest handling practices (GPHP)
- Enhancing farmer’s adoption of and compliance with: (i) maize product quality standards and maize products processing and handling standards, and (ii) weights and measures, so as maximize their benefits from selling their produce
Systemic Change area 4: Enhancing Strategic Coordination and the business environment for agricultural MSMEs in the value chain
The aim of this strategic change area is to enhance the capacity of maize value chain institutions to coordinate and advocate for an improved business environment. Given the political economy challenges the sub-sector faces, stakeholders’ coordination is critical in order to ensure consistency in driving systemic changes based on a common strategic agenda that will improve overall competitiveness of the sub-sector while proving benefits to a large majority of the productive poor that participate in the value chain.
Three specific interventions are targeted;
- Enhancing access to, generation and utilization of information & knowledge to enable gaining and sustaining of consensus among stakeholders as well as enhance the capacity to positively influence the business environment.
- Enhancing the capacities of value chain institutions for strategic coordination
- Enhancing stakeholders’ capacity for advocacy and dialogue so as to effectively address or respond to or influence for a sustained inclusive business environment
AMDT selected pulses as the third value chains. Pulses value chain includes four pulse crops, namely: common beans, chickpeas (yellow gram), green grams and pigeonpeas. The strategic objective of AMDT for the pulses value chain is to increase the incomes of at least 120,000 smallholders by 50% by the end of 2021. To achieve this, AMDT will facilitate pro-poor systemic changes in the selected market's systems within the value chain, specifically seeds, the core market where there is weak collective action, value addition and selected markets services including finances, good agricultural services, BDS, insurance and climatic technologies. AMDT’s main target will be small-scale farmers including men, women, and youth who play different roles in the pulses market systems.
AMDT will start implementing common bean and pigeonpea as priority crops over green gram and chickpea. Common beans and pigeonpeas are prioritized due to the following reasons: (i) produced under larger areas (ii) domestic demand is higher when compared to green gram and chickpea. The lessons learned during the inception and pilot phase will provide a road map on the inclusion of the other two pulses crops at a later stage.
Common Beans: Priority Systemic Change Area and Interventions
Based on the market systems Analysis undertaken by AMDT, four systemic change areas have been identified, and under each area, specific interventions have been identified as summarized below:
Systemic Change Area 1: Facilitate Access and Availability of Improved Common Beans Seeds
This systemic change area will facilitate access and availability of improved common beans seeds with potential markets by small scale farmers.
Two interventions are proposed in this area:
- Enhance the capacity of private companies and public research institutions to ensure availability and access of improved seed varieties
- Facilitate farmer adoption of improved common bean seeds and good agricultural practices
Systemic Change Area 2: Facilitate Farmer Organizations and Collective Action for Improving Market Access and Farming Technology
This systemic change area will build the capacity of key institutions and support farmer organizations and collective action to enable better access to sustained forward and backward market linkages. The forward and backward linkages of farmer organizations will significantly reduce transaction costs in accessing quality agricultural inputs and reliable markets for their produce. This will be achieved through improved negotiation capacity which takes advantage of economies of scale through collective aggregation of produce, sorting, storage, and marketing, as well as getting access to bundled-services.
Two interventions are proposed in this area:
- Facilitate the formation of new or strengthen (existing) farmers organizations
- Facilitate contractual arrangements between small scale farmers in farmer organization and offtake
Systemic Change Area 3: Enhancing Women and Youth Participation In Common Beans Value Chain
The objective of this strategic change area is to enhance the capacity of women and youth to: (i) have the influence decision making, capacity, confidence and support to benefit from increased social and economic opportunities in common beans value chain (ii) In producer organisations to be better organised, linked with public and private value chain actors and better able to negotiate and (c) support women and youth economic empowerment.
Three interventions are proposed in this area:
- Strengthening the existing and new women and youth farmers groups to undertake common beans farming as a business
- Enhance financial access to women and youth through the formation and strengthening of their saving and lending groups
- Create transparency and raise awareness on gender equality in agriculture
Systemic Change Area 4: Enhance Common Beans Value Addition for Domestic Consumption and Promote Markets
The objective of this systemic change area is to enhance pulses’ MSMEs establish common beans value addition business. This systemic area would support public and private companies promote innovative technologies for the processing and marketing of pulses to end market products that target local, regional and international consumer/market bases.
Two interventions are proposed in this area:
- Support women entrepreneurs to upgrade their blended nutritious food products business
- Pilot Toll Manufacturing Model
Pigeonpeas: Priority Systemic Change Area and Interventions
Market for pigeonpea in Tanzania was highly affected by the change in Import Notice that was made in early August 2017 by the Government of India. The policy restricts the import of pigeonpea for 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 fiscal years. AMDT proposed systemic change areas will generate the pigeonpea market pull which will, in turn, stimulate and sustain production by small scale farmers and search for alternative international markets.
Systemic Change Area 1: Enhance pigeonpea value addition and promote market
AMDT will partners with Food Technologists to develop consumer acceptable pigeonpea based nutritious food to increase its market share in the domestic and international markets
Two interventions are proposed under this area
- Driving Consumer Demand,
- Development of alternative pigeonpea markets and efficient supply chain
Systemic Change Area 2: Enhance Strategic Coordination and Business Environment for Agricultural MSMEs in the Value Chain
The main objectives of this systemic change area are to: (a) enhance coordination within both the private and the public-sector stakeholders involved in pigeonpea value chain and also Government Ministries and (b)increase focus and promotion of a common strategic agenda for the pigeonpea.
Three specific interventions are proposed:
- Enhancing the capacities of value chain institutions for strategic coordination in the sector
- Enhancing capacity for generation and utilization of Information and knowledge
- Enhancing stakeholders’ capacity to address business environment