RESEARCH, TRAINING AND EXTENSION - HOW CAN THEY BEST BE PROVIDED?

Productivity and product quality are a function of the services available to smallholders. If technical (and other) services are adequate, the yield and quality of crops is likely to be high: when services are poor or non-existent, their yield and quality is more likely to be low. Since product quality cannot be improved after production, it is necessary to stimulate and train smallholders to produce the best quality within their means before harvest.

By providing smallholders with timely technical and managerial advice based on sound research, training and extension methods, and by assuming responsibility for rigid enforcement of standards and records of all procedures, exporters can effectively integrate smallholders into supermarket supply chains. In this way, trust is established on both sides, which gives European importers and supermarkets the confidence to buy from smallholders.

The greater the involvement of smallholders in developing and paying for new technology, the greater the likelihood of its effectiveness.