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ESFIM: Empowering Smallholder Farmers in the Market in Kenya
Oct 1, 2009-Jun 30, 2011
In 2008 the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) started the Empowering Smallholder Farmers in Markets (ESFIM) project, in collaboration with the European Consortium of Agricultural Research in Tropics (ECART)
The goal of the ESFIM research programme is to strengthen the capacities of national farmers’ organisations in developing countries to empower their smallholder members in markets, creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment as well as effective economic organisations and reinforcing the farmer led participatory policy formulation process of IFAP network.
For KENYA the national research priorities formulated during the workshop are:
• Examine anticompetitive behaviour in the agricultural sector and response mechanisms (government interventions, regulatory boards, prices and monopolies commission)
• To understand the process of mainstreaming SME concept, explore suitable small scale value addition technologies and create awareness on standardisation and certification
• To explore mechanisms for information dissemination coordination from information providers and identify approaches to minimize the existing information gaps in the agricultural sector
• Explore the feasibility and implications of smallholder farmers participating in warehouse receipt systems
• Carry out a value chain analysis on produce marketing of selected commodities for both traditional and non traditional crops and available facilities (sorting / storage). How can taxes and levies best benefit the farmers and their local communities
• Identify agricultural financial models and agricultural insurance and align with smallholder farmer requirements
The research aims at obtaining, organizing and analyzing data on constraints faced by farmers in the market place, including their causes, effects, and how they can be addressed.
