Improving Market Access for Smallholders: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

The advent of globalisation has brought many opportunities in trade, capital and labour flows and in exchange of information and technology. For agricultural producers, globalisation offers the possibility of expanded markets. But integration into the global economy is fraught with challenges, particularly for farmers in developing countries. Not only are they faced with increasing competition from other farmers within their countries, but also from producers around the world. The challenge is to find how farmers in developing countries can access these markets to share in the benefits of globalisation. This paper discusses the challenges and threats faced by smallholder farmers and outlines some strategies to improve market access by smallholders.