Case study
Sustainable services for smallholder farmers
Lessons learned in setting up sustainable business services
Andre Vording
Victor Van der Linden
- Published by
- ICCO
- Project implementer
- ICCO
- Donor
- Mastercard
- Programme
- STARS
- Results level
- Growth and access to services
- Intervention types
- Improved access to finance
- Improved access to information
- Improved input supply
- Improved product / service quality
This brief focuses on setting up sustainable business services in the targeted value chains of the value chain component of the the Strengthening African Rural Smallholders (STARS) programme working in Senegal, Burkina Faso, Rwanda and Ethiopia.
It distinguishes between business development services and business services. It analyses the types of demand-based services designed in the STARS programme and delivered to farmers and producer organisations. It determines which of these services are more likely to be successful and the determining factors for this success.
Intervention description
Key interventions include developing fee-based chemical spraying services in Rwanda, establishing online market information platforms (such as mLouma in Senegal), and embedding business development services (BDS) within producer organisations in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia.
The programme worked with various market actors, including producer organisations, agri-service platforms and financial institutions. For example, in Rwanda, chemical spraying services were provided through producer organisations, and these services were adopted by ten of them, reaching 12,731 farmers (4,184 women), indicating positive reception and willingness to continue beyond the programme's support.