Workshop 2
2 -4.30 pm - Sourcing for Good: Challenges and opportunities faced by businesses sourcing from smallholder farmers
Facilitator: Leslie Berger, ADAS
Food businesses that are sourcing globally may purchase from a wide range and size of different suppliers, from large commercial agri-businesses, through to smallholder farmers. According to the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), food businesses recognise that sourcing from smallholder farmers could provide a sustainable supply of key raw materials, such as coffee, cocoa, fresh produce and livestock products, but it is important to recognise the unique challenges that smallholders face. In my workshop session we will explore these challenges and provide some insight into finding effective solutions. Most smallholder farms in the developing world are family owned businesses that produce crops or livestock on less than two hectares. Family members provide most of the labour and derive their income from the farm. Typically smallholders operate within traditional societies and sell their crops through traditional supply chains.
Some of the key challenges facing smallholder farmers:
• Changing weather patterns
• Scale of production
• Lack of training in sustainable production practices
• Limited access to markets
• Regulatory hurdles
• Poor soil fertility
Food businesses sourcing from smallholders must be mindful of these challenges to ensure that their procurement practices are fair and consider the local context. This must be balanced with food businesses need for driving efficiencies in their supply base and for ensuring profitability. Supply chains are often long and complicated and lack transparency so manufacturers and retailers may not be aware of where the risks lie in securing their raw materials.
Finding solutions
• Enhanced insight through data collection
• Developing partnerships
• Improving communication channels
• Certification and standards
Project examples
• ADAS projects
• NGO’s, FPO’s and commercial businesses’ actions in India
Task for each group
1. Identify key sourcing challenge based on own experience or knowledge of others
2. What are the operational and reputational risks this challenge poses to food business?
3. How can food business mitigate against these risks?
4. Describe the actions that were successful.
5. Describe the actions that were not successful.
6. What lessons would you like to share with others?
About the Facilitator
Leslie Berger, ADAS
Leslie is a Senior Sustainability Consultant with over 25 years of experience working with global agri-food supply chains focussing on a range of topics including sustainable and ethical sourcing, boosting agricultural productivity, reducing food waste, and building climate resilience. Leslie engages with clients at both the strategic corporate level and at all stages within the supply chain including working directly with farmer groups. Her understanding of the challenges faced by food producers has been influenced by direct farm management experience gained through co-managing a family farm in East Anglia. Leslie has worked in both developed and developing country environments and has a keen interest in the challenges faced by smallholder farmers. She is currently leading ADAS’s business development outreach work in India which has led to new partnerships with NGO’s banks and commercial businesses. For the past five years Leslie has held a board position with a non-profit organisation providing development assistance to farmers in Burkina Faso, West Africa.