UNCERTAINTY AND RISK

Smallholders' willingness to buy inputs is affected by: low and uncertain rainfall, volatile or unguaranteed output prices, poor quality or inappropriate inputs, and increasingly rigorous market requirements based on environmental concerns (e.g. approved pesticide legislation, organic produce specifications, etc.).

Action: Exporting companies can minimize the risks faced by smallholders by entering into formal agreements with them. This enables smallholders to acquire market information, suitable inputs, access to credit to use inputs efficiently etc and so reduce levels of risk (designing buyer-seller contracts).

More information on providing inputs: affordability; availability; access to information, the commercial context.