Theme 3: Linking Small Producers to Markets

Cattle market in Mi'eso area, Ethiopia. Source: flickr (ILRI/Apollo Habtamu)

Establishing competitive and efficient markets is a central challenge for achieving economic growth. Millions of low-income people participate in agricultural value chains as producers, small-scale traders, processors, retailers, and consumers. Improving the performance of value chains therefore stands to benefit large numbers of people. This theme identifies key constraints and opportunities in value chains; evaluates options for upgrading value chains; and provides tools, strategies, and policy approaches for achieving development change that is pro-poor, sustainable, and gender sensitive.

• Subtheme 3.1 - Innovations across the Value Chain
  Subtheme 3.1 looks into how to make commodity markets function better for the poor through value-chain innovations in five key areas: reducing transaction costs, managing risk, building social capital, enabling collective action, and redressing missing markets.
• Subtheme 3.2 - Impact of Upgrading Value Chains
  This subtheme develops a comprehensive strategy for assessing the impact of interventions designed to upgrade value chains across different the CGIAR Research Programs. It identifies appropriate indicators and methods for monitoring the performance of projects, evaluating their effectiveness, and assessing their impact on the poor and other target groups, including women.