Farmers to Markets

For a quick overview, see Farmers to Markets: At a Glance.

For a one-page flyer announcing the program, download PDF here.

To give directly to this project, click here.

Farmers to Markets is a major new economic development program made possible by a grant to the Paul Carlson Partnership by the U.S. Agency for International Development, USAID. The grant, for $658,000, will cover approximately two-thirds of the total project budget, which tops out at about a million dollars. The PCP is responsible for raising the remaining amount.

Farmers to Markets creates a "value chain" between the subsistence farmers in the Ubangi region of northwest DR Congo and the markets in the city of Kinshasa, 600 miles to the south. While some agricultural development programs focus primarily on assisting farmers, this project follows all the links in a chain that ultimately delivers the farmers' produce to the most lucrative markets, in Kinshasa. (Click map to enlarge.)

Using the self-help affinity group (SHG) model, we will work with farmers, transporters, and market entrepreneurs -- giving each of them the opportunity to work for cash income that will support the needs of their families. It is only through getting more money into the hands of these very poor people that living conditions in Congo can be improved.

Here's how the program will work: Farmers in villages in the Ubangi region will form SHG's, and the members will work together to improve their productivity. The goal is to raise enough food that a surplus is available for sale after their families' needs are met. Bicycle entrepreneurs will be recruited to provide transport for the surplus crops on the very poor roads to a regional warehouse in a port city. In some cases, truck transport may be needed. Market entrepreneurs will orchestrate the larger process of buying from the farmers, arranging bicycle or truck transport as required, and warehousing the products.

At the port, the agricultural products will be loaded onto a boat. At this point either the market entrepreneur will accompany the shipment all the way to Kinshasa, where the markets are the most lucrative, or the goods will be sold to the boat captain, who will sell them in the capital. If the market entrepreneur stayed with the goods, he will sell them to a wholesaler in Kinshasa and will likely use at least a portion of the proceeds to buy products that can be shipped back up-country for sale to the farmers. In some cases the market entrepreneur will transport the products to a regional market city for sale. This can be profitable if the products are warehoused until prices rise in the dry seasons.

Carrying goods to market At each step along the way, loans will be provided for up-front costs of the participants -- farmers, bicycle transporters, market entrepreneurs. As the loans are repaid out of income generated, those funds will be plowed back into the project. Ultimately, we expect the program to spread more widely in the region. We have had good results with projects focused on single components of this process, including a successful, small-scale project for market entrepreneurs. One bicycle project expanded from 5 to 17 bicycles in less than a year, and two others began in the fall of 2009.

The two initial hubs for Farmers to Markets will be Loko, a site on the Mongala River that has already seen extensive agricultural development programs, and Bumba, a port city on the Congo River.

If you are interested in becoming a partner in this project through a contribution, click the link to online giving at the right of this page, or make out a check to the Paul Carlson Partnership and send it to 5101 N. Francisco Ave., Chicago, IL 60625.

Here is a little more information about the Farmers to Markets program, focusing first on our organizational partners and then on the importance that this project, based on self-help affinity groups, can have for women in Congo.

PARTNERS
We have two other partners in the program, in addition to USAID. As the USAID grantee, the Paul Carlson Partnership will be responsible for the overall conduct of the work. We will work closely with the process of moving product from farms to markets, and PCP executive director Byron Miller will provide training for the people who participate in this segment of the work.

The Communauté Évangélique de l’Ubangi-Mongala, or CEUM, is our primary on-the-ground partner in most of our work. Its work in health, education, and agricultural development is well known and respected in the area. The CEUM is working with the on-the-ground administration of the program, and handled the recruitment and screening of applicants for the staff positions in Loko and Bumba. In addition, the CEUM development farm in Loko and another at Lisala that was created in conjunction with HOPE will be leveraged to support this project. We expect, in the process, to train CEUM personnel for continuing the program at the end of the three-year term of the USAID grant.

HOPE International Development Agency, based in Canada, has extensive experience in Congo and other places of deep poverty. They are managing the farm microfinance component of this program. HOPE has had considerable experience with the self-help affinity group model of microfinance in southern India, where HOPE was a pioneer, and later in Cambodia, where the model has been adapted. Building on this experience, HOPE is adapting the core model to the CEUM area and local context. HOPE staff are doing the initial training with local staff and community members, and a staff member will remain in Congo to follow up on training and facilitation. Semiannual site visits by HOPE staff will provide oversight and advice on the implementation and direction of the program.

In addition to these two partners, IMA World Health, an organization with extensive experience in Congo and other countries, has received a separate grant to work with us as we set up accounting and reporting practices that will fit USAID's requirements. Having itself handled approximately $100 million in USAID grants, IMA is an ideal partner to guide us through this area and help us sustain best practices as USAID requires. IMA staff have been invaluable to PCP staff in Chicago, and they will work with the Farmers to Markets staff in Congo as well.

SELF-HELP AFFINITY GROUPS AND WOMEN
Women in the field A self-help affinity group (SHG) is a small, autonomous, non-political group of people living near each other and sharing common concerns, who come together voluntarily to work jointly for their personal, social, and economic development. Often SHG's are created among women with strong feelings of "affinity" that link the members together. This affinity is based mainly on relationships of trust, common origin, social or structural features (such as common livelihood base or origin), and on gender bonds (primarily all-female). Affinity relationships existed long before the intervention of organizations like HOPE; they were informal and supported traditional interactions like mutual help in times of sickness or need for childcare.

The relationships that members of a group establish among themselves are motivated not only by material gain. These relationships are motivated by a mix of social and material needs. Based on existing evidence, it is even fair to say that in an affinity group, the motivation of the members in the initial stage is equally divided between the perceived fulfillment of social needs and the expectation of material gain. In the case of women’s SHG's, social needs often tend to get priority. Women need space in rural societies to meet freely, to share concerns, to express a sense of togetherness and fellowship.

In several developing countries where societies are still influenced by traditional customs and values the SHG strategy has proved to be successful in mitigating poverty in a sustainable manner. It has also proved to be a strategy that women find acceptable and appropriate, since it gives them the space they require to grow in self-esteem and self-confidence. Since members participate directly in all activities of the group, true transparency is possible, and members can develop a greater sense of ownership than they would in larger organizations.


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