Spotlight on service provision in agribusiness - New Publication!

When farmers and companies trade in agricultural produce, the actual buying and selling is just one part of the jigsaw. Successful trading depends on a host of agricultural services. These services can include access to finance, market information, transport, storage and agribusiness training, and they can be vital for an inclusive agribusiness to survive and thrive.

The difficult question is usually not 'which services are needed?' but rather 'who provides them?' and related to this, 'are they effective?' There are many different providers and various models as to how they can work together in combination. Some models involve careful planning and strong relationships, others are ad hoc, with one-off service provision.

IN the Business Innovation Facility's Inclusive Business Spotlights series,'Critical Linkages: service provision to farmers in agribusiness mo... highlights the importance of extension, credit and other services to farmers engaged in agribusinesses, and explores who is - or could be - providing them.

In order to understand what service provision looks like in inclusive agribusiness, this Spotlight maps out the BIF portfolio of agribusiness projects to draw out what services are being provided and by whom - and draws some interesting conclusions.