Publication: Enhancing Links of Poor Farmers to Markets: A Practice Review for Economic Inclusion in Zambia
Other Files
123 downloads
Date
2022-09-16
ISSN
Published
2022-09-16
Author(s)
Sparkman, Tim
Sackett, Jill
Avalos, Jorge
Varghese Paul, Boban
Abstract
This report reviews the experiences
of market linkage programs implemented globally,
particularly those focused on poor smallholders, including
women, as beneficiaries and farmers who participated in
government social safety net schemes. The report highlights
lessons learned by program implementers, governments, and
other stakeholders related to efforts to link extremely poor
households to productive markets. The research was
commissioned to inform potential links between two World
Bank projects that are currently supporting the economic
inclusion of poor households in Zambia. The supporting
women’s livelihood (SWL) program of the Girls’ Education and
Women’s Empowerment and Livelihoods (GEWEL) Project provides
a comprehensive package to promote economic inclusion among
women from the poorest households. A second project, the
Zambia Agribusiness and Trade Project (ZATP), enhances
access to markets by linking producer organizations and
high-growth small and medium-size enterprises to buyers
(commercial off-takers) by facilitating productive alliances
(commercial agreements between a producer organization and a
commercial off-taker) and providing matching grants and
technical support. A diagnostic of the status of and
constraints facing SWL beneficiaries with respect to market
linkages highlights the lack of upstream value chain
linkages for them. The World Bank will provide technical
assistance to the government of Zambia, through relevant
ministries, to operationalize a mechanism, at scale, for
forging market linkages by SWL households by linking them to
ZATP beneficiaries. This report reviews and highlights the
experiences of similar market linkages programs implemented
globally, in an attempt to answer key questions raised by
the program. This report describes operational
considerations that may be relevant to the ZATP-GEWEL
project context. It provides recommendations to guide the
next steps in developing the ZATP-GEWEL pilot.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Sparkman, Tim; Sackett, Jill; Avalos, Jorge; Varghese Paul, Boban. 2022. Enhancing Links of Poor Farmers to Markets: A Practice Review for Economic Inclusion in Zambia. PEI In Practice;Vol.5. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/38035 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”