News 27 of 27

IDRC Links Small Farmers To Big Markets

1997-11-24

Archie McLean, Chief Executive Officer of Maple Leaf Foods told the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association that, through FoodLinks, IDRC was "about to become very critical to the success of the Canadian agrifood industry." He said that "opportunities to access emerging markets, the transfer of Canadian food-processing technologies, and new food products for the Canadian food market are key issues that FoodLinks can help address."

FoodLinks completes the chain that links producers in the South to consumers in the North. It builds on IDRC's support to 1 400 food-related projects in some 100 countries over 25 years. More importantly, it seeks to help small farmers overcome such problems as lost food production and poor market access. In this way, it will help farmers obtain the disposable income to buy the things -- including education, housing, and even food -- that they do not produce.

Southern Foods: An Early Priority

IDRC's interest in these issues has been manifest since 1971, months after its establishment, when it launched studies on foods eaten and marketed by farmers in the South. Some of these goods were unknown to the Canadian market. Most were barely, if at all, a part of the research agenda. The approximately 3 100 research documents ever produced on cassava, for example, was a fraction of the number generated in a single year on crops like wheat and rice. Ten years after IDRC started supporting cassava research, the number of research documents on this product had doubled.

With similar zeal, the Centre pioneered or intensified research on other Third World products: from sorghum in Senegal or Somalia to sea moss in Saint Lucia; from cowpea in Ghana to quinoa in Bolivia.

IDRC went beyond research on single crops to research on cropping systems and, later, on the entire farming system. Farming systems research shifted the focus from the laboratory to the farm. It brought together agronomists, veterinarians, sociologists, anthropologists, and other scientists. And it made the farmer central to the research process. The Asian Cropping Systems Network had three members -- Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand -- and six sites in 1975. Ten years later, there were nearly 200 sites in at least 10 countries.

By then, the agricultural economics group, established within the Centre in the late 1970s, had stepped up its research utilization efforts. Also, the focus on research on postproduction -- what happens to crops after the harvest -- had begun to generate results. A grain dehuller made to meet the specific conditions in Botswana saved women endless hours of pounding and increased disposable income.

Many of these initiatives led to increased food for villagers, higher profits for farmers, greater experience for Third World researchers, and a higher profile for the new IDRC. Cassava research in Colombia helped farmers to increase their yields from 10 or 15 tonnes per hectare to as much as 30 or even 50 tonnes per hectare.

The Logical Next Step

Now it has become clear that farmers need more than good research. They need a demonstrable increase in profits as an incentive to adopt the results of that research. Adding value by processing farm products and finding outlets to higher paying markets in the cities and overseas can provide farmers with sufficient income to meet their other food needs and to raise their families' overall living standards. This process should also reduce considerably the 25­40% of food production lost as a result of inadequate preservation and processing technologies.

Accepting this challenge means a new, bold, and unique venture for IDRC. But it is the logical next step in the Centre's farm research program. It ties in with a view of development not as charity but as a partnership extending both to aid and to trade.

To maximize the viability and sustainability of this venture, IDRC has been actively recruiting Canadian partners in the public, private, and nongovernmental sectors.

The building of these kinds of partnerships between Canadian food firms and counterparts in the South is at the centre of FoodLinks' mission. In India alone, there are 250 million consumers with incomes at least equal to those of the average Canadian. That is 10 times the domestic consumer base available to Canadian firms.

Although FoodLinks will be one of IDRC's biggest initiatives, it could become one of the least costly. FoodLinks hopes to generate revenues to finance some of its research activities.

Quebec-based Lassonde Technologie Inc, for example, plans to increase its output of tropical juices by using some of the 250 000 tonnes of cashew apples that go to waste in Viet Nam each year. The fruit has 5 to 10 times as much vitamin C as the orange. Yet, until now, Vietnamese farmers have been harvesting the apple only for its nut.

Lassonde has joined with Vietnamese researchers to counter the fruit's astringent and bitter taste and to slow down the spoilage. This FoodLinks project could lead to increased income for thousands of Vietnamese farmers and to new Canadian jobs. A Canadian NGO, the Canadian Centre for International Studies and Cooperation, based in Montréal, is working with cashew farmers to guarantee supplies at fair and equitable prices.

FoodLinks also wants to bring to the Canadian marketplace a delicious, environmentally friendly banana developed with IDRC support after a decade of research in Honduras. A project funded by the Aga Khan Foundation of Canada will see rural communities in Pakistan benefit from improved processing and packaging of apricots to satisfy higher income markets at home and abroad. Other items on FoodLinks' database include camu-camu. This South American berry is high in potassium and has 100 times the vitamin C of the orange.

Making the Necessary Connections

IDRC is uniquely positioned to make these links because of the thousands of research partners it has worked with over the years. One Latin American partner, the Program for Development of Rural Agroindustry (PRODAR), brings together some 350 organizations in 15 countries.

At a more global level, FoodLinks will collaborate with the global Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) to coordinate a new thrust toward postharvest research. Like IDRC, CGIAR has decided it is time to complete the chain from producer to consumer.

All these FoodLinks initiatives tap into important consumer trends in the North while meeting the needs of farmers in the South to develop their full potential. Over time, FoodLinks will also contribute valuable knowledge and the benefits of productive partnerships between public and private actors in the agrifood sector.

There is a steadily growing market for organic foods. More and more consumers seek products that do not harm the environment and that are based on sound ethics and trading practices that are fair to all concerned. IDRC can be a valuable partner to firms sharing these beliefs and interested in these niche markets. Who knows, the shopping cart may yet prove a more powerful instrument than the sword in bringing the world closer together.

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News 27 of 27