Theme 4

Linking farmers to markets

What is the challenge?

An adequate and stable supply of agricultural commodities is the keystone of food security and economic development for many countries. Globalisation and trade liberalisation can potentially enable communities to improve rural incomes, but these benefits can be compromised by inadequacies in infrastructure or governance, by difficulties in controlling postharvest deterioration or by an inability to produce competitive products.

In a complex, global market, price and supply fluctuations for rural produce affect resource and infrastructure planning and access to credit, at both farm and national levels. Production surpluses may not translate into higher incomes. The efficiency of enterprises is affected by the choice of commodity, product end-use or market, as well as sourcing of inputs such as fertilisers, seed, pesticides and technology. Rural communities and governments must become more 'market smart'. They need to forecast, interpret and respond to supply signals from domestic and global markets, and to capitalise on consumer preferences for perceived nutritional benefits, novelty and convenience. They must balance sustainable resource use and demands for quality with the challenges of higher food safety standards and long and complex supply chains.

Progressing beyond self-sufficiency, whether at the farm or national level, requires the capacity for reliable production and profitable marketing of products sought by consumers. The challenge is to provide rural communities with the capability and resourcefulness for social adjustment and improvement of enterprise profitability during their integration into the global community. The need is especially acute for small, remote and resource-poor communities because of their small production bases and greater vulnerability to natural disasters, new pests, political instability and other 'shocks'. Developed countries must be proactive in enabling remote communities in developing countries to obtain a fair share of global prosperity.

How can ACIAR respond?

ACIAR considers that, in the face of globalisation, rural community progress and resilience will depend increasingly on their understanding of and access to markets, the flexibility and strength of their financial base, and the quality, efficiency and versatility of their production, processing, distribution and marketing systems.

• ACIAR will support research that enables improvements in product integrity, processing and storage, and quality assurance and supply-chain management.
• Priority will be given to high-value products such as fruits, livestock and fisheries products, and to value-adding technologies.
• Recognising that success depends on effective uptake and implementation of innovations, ACIAR will also support policy and marketing studies for improving infrastructure, smallholder profitability and agribusiness skills.
• ACIAR will underpin research studies on the capability for compliance with requirements of the World Trade Organization and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS).
• We will support initiatives that improve links between markets and farms, forests and fisheries, balancing the special needs of remote communities against the importance of urban food security and the capacity-building requirements of countries that are just beginning to benefit from agricultural research an d development.

ACIAR considers that outputs from postharvest technology, policy and marketing research can have significant economic impact by improving the supply and marketing of products that consumers want, maintaining quality and reducing losses or contamination, expanding market access and improving profitability, and fostering sustainable enterprise development.

The focus areas

The focus statements from theme 4 are available below for download as Portable Document Format (PDF) files. In order to view the statements, you need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer. If you do not have Acrobat Reader, it can be downloaded free of charge from the Adobe website (www.adobe.com).