This book draws on a three-year programme of research undertaken in sub-Saharan Africa, involving research teams in six countries looking at the role of donor interventions in the context of African smallholder participation in higher-value markets for agricultural and food products, both domestically and through exports to industrialized countries. . In so doing, it explores the interface between donor-led interventions and the actions of the private sector, and of government, in developing countries. Put bluntly, this book investigates ‘what works and what doesn’t’.
Thus, the chapters ‘throw light’ on the nature of higher-value markets for agricultural and food products, presents the critical processes determining smallholder participation in higher-value markets for agricultural and food products and relations to the level and forms of quality standards applied and examines the extent to which smallholders are actually participating in higher-value markets with differing levels of quality standards and the challenges they face in doing so and the role of donor interventions in facilitating the participation of smallholders in higher-value markets for agricultural and food products and the interface with private and public sector initiatives in developing countries.
