ASEAN

AsiaDHRRA with funding support from ASEAN Foundation is gearing up for the full launch of the 2 year regional project “Linking Small Farmers to Market” (LSFM) in the three pilot countries namely, Philippines,Cambodia and Vietnam.  Mr. Nonoy Villas, filipino and a veteran manager of several national and regional NGO projects will serve as the project coordinator of LSFM.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

The fast pace of agricultural trade liberalization and the opening up of various market offers both threat and opportunity for small farmers in Asia.In the liberalized market, small farmers and agricultural producers are unable to maximize the benefits of their production efforts.The income derived from farming is low because they are unable to benefit from the price differential that happens after their produce leaves the farm and reaches the consumers. Moreover, Various studies have already shown that most small farmers have lost their livelihoods due to the influx of cheap agricultural product from other countries.However, there are also successful cases where farmers with appropriate support were able to capture opportunities in the liberalized market.

This project will focus on building the capacity of women and men leaders of small farmers’ organization and cooperatives together with their partner NGOs/agri-agencies to respond to agricultural marketing issues confronted by small farmers and producers. It shall also undertake the formation of marketing intermediation mechanisms that will link small farmers to the market to lessen the transaction cost and increase the benefit of the small farmers in the process of engaging with the market.