A new case study available on the M4P Hub website captures the successes of the DFID-funded Promoting Pro-Poor Opportunities in Commodity and Service Markets (PrOpCom) project at facilitating systemic change in tractor markets.
The case study begins by highlighting the need for mechanisation in Nigeria's agricultural sector in the context of declining labour supplies, missed opportunities for double cropping and diminishing returns to digging. It is argued that by implementing successful interventions in the tractor market, that smallholder farmers can benefit from savings in costs, increases in the scale of farming activities and improved productivity.
Attention is then given to PrOpCom's facilitative approach to developing effective relationships with key actors, securing credit from banks, and working with farmers and tractor suppliers to create market linkages, build capacity and enhance awareness among farmers of the benefits of mechanised services.
The key underlying aspects behind PrOpCom's M4P approach were that support should be discrete and strategic - ie. discrete in the sense that interventions should be a one off, and strategic through being tied to a pre-planned and feasible exit strategy.
To access the case study, click here.