Potential Target Groups
Rural, low-income, or less educated producers
Rural, low-income, or less educated producers
Purpose and Rationale of Service
The purpose of this activity is to provide market information to producers that enable them to better negotiate prices, market to higher value markets, and produce acceptable market quality / quantity more efficiently.
When Is This Activity Appropriate?
This activity is appropriate when:
• There is a group of producers making a similar product, particularly agricultural producers;
• Producers are illiterate and unable to access information, lack internet access, or are located too far from sources of
market information;
• Class / gender / cultural differences exist between producers and information sources;
• There is a lack of published material, media information, and/or direct interaction with experts able to provide
producers with needed information; or
• Producers are not producing to market standards, receiving fair prices, or do not know where to market their
products.
This approach assumes you have identified a group of producers making a common product in a growth sector.
Methodology
There are two approaches that can help producers access information and several strategies that can be used with each approach:
1) Provide producers with information (this works best when trying to reach a large number of people who make similar
products):
• Assess where and how producers currently market products and the barriers they face;
• Research solutions to those barriers…
• If traders are paying low prices, determine why;
• Do producers need to know the end-market price to bargain better with traders? If so, provide that information;
• Do producers need to harvest earlier or later in the season? Pricing information by season can help them decide; and
• Is product quality up to market standards? If not, provide information on acceptable market quality and how to
produce to that standard.
• Identify the ways producers normally receive information and how they prefer to receive it—bulletins, newspapers,
radio, TV, group meetings, etc.; and
• Establish a regular format for the information and process and deliver it in a timely fashion.
Note: see also “Price Information for Rural Producers through Radio Broadcasts”
2) Help producers access information (this approach is best when products are specialized or the target population faces
specific barriers):
• Help producers form groups of 5-30;
• Assess where and how producers currently market their products and the barriers they face. Research solutions to
those barriers;
• Identify sources of information—experts in government, universities, or non-profit organizations, potential buyers,
journalists, etc.;
• Approach specialists on behalf of the producers and establish a link between them;
• Help producers identify a representative to find the information they need. Accompany the rep to the meeting with the
specialist to ensure that she / he obtains the necessary information and develops a relationship with the specialist. The
producers’ group should pay the cost of the visit;
• Help the representative share the information with the producers’ group and assist them in applying it correctly to their
situation;
• Develop a “Yellow Pages” of experts; and
• Help the group move on to other issues and begin using the relationships and research skills they have developed on
an ongoing and sustainable basis.
Finance and Cost-Recovery Mechanisms
Different approaches call for different strategies:
1) When providing information directly to producers, funds can be generated by:
• Charging fees to join an association. The fees can help defray the costs of research and publications;
• Selling publications or newsletters; and
• Selling advertising space in publications or on radio / television programs;
2) When helping producers’ groups access information, some costs can be recovered by:
• Charging fees for facilitating visits to information sources;
• Charging fees to purchase, or advertise in, the Yellow Pages; and
• Ensuring that the group bears the cost of transportation, housing, etc. when on information-gathering travel.
How Should the Program be Evaluated?
• Number of people receiving the information;
• Satisfaction rating with the information;
• Percentage of producers reporting that they used the information;
• Percentage of producers reporting changes in prices, product design, or markets they sell to;
• Number and percentage of producer groups reporting that they access information on an ongoing basis; and
• Cost-recovery of the information service.
Note: see introductory section for general principles on evaluation.
Potential Impact
• Increased production,
• Improved access to new technologies,
• More marketable products,
• Decreased input costs, and
• Improved access to markets.
Length of Intervention
It takes 1-3 years to develop both a good strategy and the expertise needed to reach several thousand farmers.
Illustrative Programs, Sectors, and Regions
NASFAM in Malawi (see SEEP Microenterprise Marketing Study) http://www.seepnetwork.org/marketing.htm The program reaches over 1 million farmers through its weekly radio program offered on a government radio station and a monthly newsletter. NASFAM collects membership fees, but neither the radio program nor the newsletter generates revenue. Rather, they are key advertising fora for members. www.acdivoca.org
CARE/Egypt in Egypt http://www.seepnetwork.org/marketing.htm CARE/Egypt’s AgReform program helps farmers gain access to information. In its first three years, the program reached 7,500 farmers at a cost of $2.3 million.
ILO FIT in Zimbabwe. See Hileman, Milena and Jim Tanburn, The Wheels of Trade, IT Publications, London 2000. www.itdgpublishing.org.uk
Business Connect magazine, started by the ILO FIT program in Zimbabwe provides advertising space to small and large businesses interested in marketing to each other. It uses revenue generated by advertisements to pay for articles of interest to small enterprises. Following publication of its sixth issue, the magazine was financially profitable. See Hileman, Milena and Jim Tanburn, The Wheels of Trade, IT Publications, London 2000. www.itdgpublishing.org.uk
Where to get more information
For agricultural research expertise and significant agricultural market data available on the web go to www.fintrac.com
Lessons Learned
• It is important to understand and use the typical methods through which SEs receive information;
• A key decision for any program is whether to help SEs access information themselves or whether to find, process, and
distribute the information on their behalf. The decision depends in part on standardization of the information—the
more firm-specific the information, the more important it is for the businesses to learn how to access it themselves; and
• Because information can quickly become out-of-date, a plan for sustainable, long-term access to it should be an
integral part of the program strategy.