Attachments
Smallholder farmers represent the majority of people living in absolute poverty, even though they produce most of the developing world’s food. Throughout the five year pilot (2008-2013) P4P reached more than 1 million farmers in 20 diverse countries. In this book a handful of farmers tell of the profound improvements they’ve seen in their lives and livelihoods since they began participating in P4P.
P4P links WFP’s demand for staple food commodities, such as cereals and pulses, with the technical expertise of a wide range of partners. This collaboration provides smallholders with the skills and knowledge to improve their agricultural production, and an incentive to do so, as they have an assured market in which to sell their surplus crops. A variety of approaches have been used to respond to the unique opportunities and challenges in each P4P pilot country.
The benefits of P4P have spread far beyond the farmers themselves, to embrace governments and the private sector. By demonstrating the potential of smallholderfriendly market development, P4P has encouraged important investments along agricultural value chains – including in financial services and credit, agricultural inputs and services, and quality control – increasing the gains for smallholder farmers. The P4P Story illustrates some of the ways in which governments, United Nations agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are now addressing smallholder-friendly market development. Above all, it begins to tell the story of lessons learned and challenges faced throughout the P4P pilot