The document discusses approaches and lessons learned from the LIVES project in facilitating market linkages for smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. The project promotes market-oriented extension services to help smallholders improve incomes by connecting them with different actors in agricultural value chains. The LIVES project facilitates both backward linkages between smallholders and input suppliers, and forward linkages between smallholders and marketing/processing businesses. Key lessons indicate that facilitating these formal and informal market linkages helps make smallholders more aware of opportunities and allows them to make reasonable returns through supported activities like training, information sharing, and promotional events.

1. Facilitating market linkages - LIVES project approaches and lessons learned
Dereje Legesse, Agribusiness Expert, International Livestock Research Institute, d.legesse@cgiar.org, PO box 5689 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia www.ilri.org =
o Commercial transformation of agricultural policy in Ethiopia strongly needs market-oriented extension services and value chain
expansion as a basis for its overall agricultural development strategy.
o Market-oriented extension service is an expanded version of the production-oriented extension service that promotes not only
production and productivity, but also facilitates marketing services to smallholder farmers and their enterprises to help improve their
incomes.
o The LIVES project facilitates market linkages between different value chain actors and with national and regional partners to ensure
smallholder market-orientation and market participation.
Approaches
o Proper and effective market-linkage facilitates the flow of products and services with value chain actors and ensures the
development of long-term business relationships.
o The facilitation of market linkages, coupled with other interventions, make smallholder producers more aware of market
opportunities, helping them make reasonable returns on their investments.
Introduction
Lessons learned
o Based on available market opportunities, a number of market linkages (both formal—written agreements, and informal— based
on trust and understanding) are facilitated for smallholder producers.
o These linkages are referred to as backward linkages with input suppliers/ service providers or forward linkages with marketing/
processing businesses. These businesses could be privately or publically owned, informal groups, cooperatives/unions or
associations.
o To accelerate the linkage process among different actors (potential actors), LIVES support smallholders in a number of ways:
offering technical assistance (training, coaching and mentoring), organizing learning activities (platform meetings, field visits, study
tours), organizing promotional events (school milk days, farmer fairs, fattened cattle shows), and providing market information.
Input supply/service provider
businesses
Smallholder producers Marketing/processing
businesses
backward market linkages forward
This poster is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
April 2016