John Meyers
Managing Director – North America
Swisscontact
Programs should not only strengthen the household’s or
community’s productive capacity, but also strengthen
capacity to adapt to changing conditions and withstand
market shifts and external events…entrepreneurship.
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Luca Alinovi and his team at FAO…describe the household
as a “complex adaptive system”
See: Alinovi et. al. Livelihoods Strategies and Household
Resilience to Food Insecurity: An Empirical Analysis to
Kenya. 2010.
http://erd.eui.eu/media/BackgroundPapers/AlinoviRomano-D%27Errico-Mane.pdf
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Geographical/Ecological
Social/structural
Individual capacity
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How can the natural environment support a
wide-range of economic activities and
contribute to diverse potential for income
opportunities
How can the inputs (seeds, fertilizers, disease
control, bees) be introduced into the
geography to support food security
How can these inputs be adapted or improved
for greater outcomes
◦ Stakeholders - government, business,
producers, finance sector: understand
roles and responsibilities
◦ Trust: Building trusts in the market
networks (producer/buyer;
borrower/lender)
◦ Knowledge: Supporting systems of
knowledge development and transfer
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Interest in and understand benefits of
developing new skills necessary to
increase income in a sustainable way.
Entrepreneurial skills
Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P)
Based on premise that impoverished
communities are dependent on market systems
for their livelihoods
Goal: Change market systems to work more
effectively for the poor
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Systemic action – where market systems are failing to
serve the needs of the poor….required understanding
of the players and functions within the system
Sustainable change achieved by aligning market
functions and players with incentives and capacity to
respond to change
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Large scale impact through greater access
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Facilitate market development…not displace key
actors
Source: www.m4phub.org
Katalyst (www.katalyst.com.bd)
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Goal: Increase income by increasing competitiveness of 16 key sectors:
vegetable, prawn, potato, maize, jute, furniture, fish, tourism, seed, fertilizer
and ICT.
Targets: Over two million people and small businesses by the end of its
second phase in 2013.
Methodology. Using M4P strategy, Katalyst focuses on sectors which are
relevant to large numbers of poor people and which have the greatest
potential for inclusive growth and sustainable change.
Funders: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the UK Department
for International Development, the Canadian International Development
Agency and the Embassy of the Netherlands.
Implemented under the Ministry of Commerce of the Government of the
People’s Republic of Bangladesh by Swisscontact and GIZ.
Situational analysis
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Domestic demand for maize steadily growing
steadily mainly from the poultry sector, where
it is consumed as a feed ingredient.
Due to lack of local capacity, Bangladesh
imported (mainly from India and Myanmar)
over 30% of the total required – and as the
poultry sector continued to grow (by 15%
annually), so did the demand for maize.
Introduce maize in particular in areas, where other
crops (e.g. rice) are difficult to produce (on river islands
flooded in summer), or in seasons where farmers leave
their land fallow (summer maize).
Constraints impeding the sector’s growth:
 Low productivity due to lack of access to cultivation
know-how and inputs (including finance)
 Low quality of maize due to inadequate post-harvest
facilities
 Market access and high dependency on the poultry
industry making it vulnerable to market shocks.
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Demand stimulation: Promoting maize-based
cropping patterns
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Improving access to quality inputs
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Expanding contract farming system
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Access to financial services
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Introducing technological innovation
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Promotion was made primarily by input
companies (through their retailer networks) and
feed-mills + traders, demonstrating the impact
of market player in stimulating production.
Katalyst tried, with limited success, to promote
partnerships between input companies and the
Department of Agriculture Extension to promote
maize-based cropping patterns in locations with
potential.
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Increased access and use of quality seed (in
the chars and the hill tracts) through seed
companies.
Information on best cultivation practices and
production techniques also disseminated
through ICT-channels, local business
associations, media and fertilizer and
pesticide companies.
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Provides built-in market-driven production.
This model enables farmers to link with
traders who can provide them with know-how
regarding maize production, access to larger
buyers (the feed mills), and credit to buy
inputs.
To help scale up the model, Katalyst signed
MoUs with two banks (National Bank Ltd. and
Agrani Bank Ltd.) to support the introduction
of dedicated credit lines to maize contract
farmers.
Encourage and support market actors to
provide producers with information on best
agricultural practices