Effectiveness Of Consortia Platform In Enhancing Smallholder Producers’ Access To Market

Approximately 1.5 billion people are engaged in smallholder agriculture across the world. They include 75% of the world‘s poorest people whose food, income, and livelihood prospects depend on agriculture. They mainly live in rural communities. Despite their important role as food producers and rural stewards, the commercial prospects for millions of poor smallholders remain challenging.(Ferriset al2014).Tanzania isa major country in the East African Community (EAC), where agriculture is a major source of revenue, contributing more than a quarter of the country‘s GDP. Smallholder farmers currently grow up to 70% of rice production in Tanzania. These smallholders face different challenges, one of which is access to market. Given this challenge, finding ways to link smallholder farmers to markets is generally considered a critical part of any long-term development strategy to reduce poverty and hunger. To effectively address this, an approach was introduced known as the consortium platform. An approach developed to improve agricultural productivity and as well improve the income of the farmers. (MIVARF, 2017)