Helping Small Producers Get Their Goods To Market, APT/Dawson 2002

Description
Although the parallel processes of liberalisation and globalisation are closing some doors, others are opening wider by creating new opportunities for small producers. These opportunities are occuring primarily in four areas: export, import substitution, market space and procurement, and subcontracts from larger firms.

This study of four projects in Kenya, Uganda, and Sri Lanka attempts to contribute to the debate around these processes. Each of the four profiled projects has faced distinctive methodological problems in tracking impact and none has generated authoritative and comprehensive impact data. All, moreover, have been somewhat experimental and pioneering in nature. The aim here, in consequence, is to present a discussion paper highlighting new approaches and insights that deserve further exploration rather than to draw definitive conclusions on what does and does not work in terms of enhancing market access for small producers in a cost-effective and sustainable manner.