Policy Brief No. 50. Small farm commercialisation in Africa: A guide to issues and policies

Abstract

Small farmers in Africa have long been engaged with markets — for produce, inputs such as fertiliser, credit, labour, land and information. Opportunities to do so are increasing with urbanisation and better roads linking villages to cities, making questions that arise about smallholder commercialisation all the more important. Expectations about process and outcomes differ considerably.

What does the evidence show? How do small farms commercialise? What are the outcomes? Are the fears of undesirable outcomes justified? And what should policy-makers be doing to encourage better outcomes? This briefing reports the highlights of an extensive review of the literature on commercialisation of small farms in Africa.

Citation

Wiggins, S. Policy Brief No. 50. Small farm commercialisation in Africa: A guide to issues and policies. Future Agricultures Consortium, Brighton, UK (2012) 10 pp.

Policy Brief No. 50. Small farm commercialisation in Africa: A guide to issues and policies

Updates to this page

Published 1 January 2012