Small Farmers, Big Change : Scaling up impact in smallholder agriculture

This book includes examples of achieving wider change in smallholder agriculture, through influencing policy decisions, linking smallholders to value chains, innovating service provision for small farmers, with an emphasis on promoting equitable livelihoods and developing rural women’s economic leadership.

Support for smallholder agriculture is seen as increasingly important, both to boost the food security and incomes of the rural poor and to provide food for urban populations. But to achieve scale in agricultural interventions, NGOs must move beyond a project-by-project approach and instead enable farmers to engage with market players. Small Farmers, Big Change considers learning from the experience of Oxfam’s global agricultural scale-up initiative as well as from wider agricultural markets-based programming. This book includes very practical examples of achieving wider change in smallholder agriculture, through influencing policy and investment decisions, linking smallholders into markets and value chains, and innovating service provision for small farmers. The case studies outline what steps were taken to facilitate new types of farmer organization and alliances with an emphasis on promoting equitable livelihoods and developing rural women’s economic leadership. Drawn from Africa, Latin America and Asia, the cases include information about challenges faced and what remains to be done in the future. This book should be read by the staff of donor agencies, policy makers, NGO practitioners, academics and students of development studies and the environment.