2SCALE Thematic Papers Not By Technology and Money Alone

Cross-cutting themes of the stories A common perception in development programmes is that if farmers get access to improved technologies (for example better seeds, fertilisers, and modern agricul- tural practices) and finances, this will automatically lead to them being able to improve their farming livelihoods. However, this is not the end of the story. What the au- thors in this collection discovered through their facili- tation and coaching work in the 2SCALE project is that in addition to access to better technologies and money, smallholder farmers and related business actors need a deeper understanding of how value chains and markets work, as well as strong networks and business relation- ships. For this, they need to develop functional capaci- ties that give them the needed skills, confidence, mind- set and attitude to achieve improvements that last. These 15 stories take place in four countries and focus on ten commodities. In spite of this diversity, certain major themes emerge, that cross over countries and commodities. The main themes are: how building re- lationships and strengthening functional capacities (or soft skills) are necessary pre-requisites to technical im- provements; the importance of organisations becoming more empowered; how to sustain support services be- yond the project life; and a focus on gender and youth issues. These themes are explained further below. Relationships are key All the 15 stories reveal the importance of building busi- ness relationships to get better business results. Rela- tionship-building among farmers and providing support to the formation and strengthening of producers’ organi- sations (POs) and cooperatives allow farmers to collec- tively buy agricultural inputs and equipment, negotiate better prices, organise financing of inputs and equip- ment with lower interest rates for loans. This theme comes out clearly in the Rice-Nigeria and Vegetables- Benin stories. Strengthening these horizontal relation- ships also allows POs to pool agricultural produce and to negotiate better prices (see the Sorghum-Nigeria, Maize-Mali, Cassava-Nigeria stories). The Soya-Ghana and Rice-Benin stories highlight strong organisation and leadership development of female-headed SMEs, and how they improved the processing, branding and marketing of their soya and rice products. Most stories show the importance of local networking and the construction of vertical business relationships at the level of the ABC. The Soya-Benin, Soya-Ghana, Rice-Nigeria and Rice-Benin stories reveal the impor- tance of strong business relationships between produc- er and processor groups to ensure marketable quality. The vegetable value chain stories from Benin and Gha- na focus on building trustful relations between farmer groups, input providers and credit services. Clusters are not only important for producers’ organisations to 5 develop reliable and sustainable market outlets, but also for larger-scale companies that want to source raw materials from smallholder farmers, as witnessed in the Sorghum-Nigeria story. Firms often start their sourcing activities in a rather centralised way, providing inputs and credit, as in the Sesame-Mali and Maize-Mali stories, but then gradually discover the need for de- centralised business, which requires professional POs networking with other local-level business actors and support services (including local input providers, trac- tor services and financial i nstitutions). The Maize-Benin story on the other hand shows that in the absence of a clear interest in decentralised business development, success can prove elusive. Functional capacity strengthening enables technical improvements Several stories draw our attention to the fact that techni- cal (hard skills) training alone does not necessarily lead to technological changes and business breakthroughs. There is often a very important ingredient missing and that is organisational and functional capacity develop- ment of the cluster actors to make it happen. In the Vegetables-Benin, Vegetables-Nigeria, Maize-Nigeria, and Sorghum-Nigeria stories, for example, training on good agricultural practices - including the use of certi- fied seed, optimal fertiliser practices, but also mecha- nised planting and the use of irrigation devices – would not have resulted in wide adoption had farmers not also been coached in functional capacities (or soft skills), such as how to analyse production costs, identify op- tions for cost reduction and efficiency, develop produc- tion, marketing and business plans, build good busi- ness relations, negotiate with other players, develop contracts, etc. Initially, firms are generally interested in sourcing enough quality products. They often respond to this need by offering producers technical support only. Yet, as the HPW-Ghana and Pineapple-Benin stories show, firms can gradually discover the importance of function- al capacity development, as a valuable complement to technical changes, leading to more sustainable, trusted partnerships and consequently larger volumes of qual- ity produce. Agribusiness coaches, supported by the trainer-mentor, emerge in these stories as important contributors to strengthening functional capacities in terms of cluster and cluster-firm relationships. Organisational empowerment is crucial That such functional capacity strengthening can lead to empowered organisations is highlighted in the Maize- Nigeria and Vegetables-Benin stories. The Cassava-Ni- geria story then makes very clear that strengthening these capacities leads to improved access to informa-

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