Marketing
Agricultural marketing and market linkage
Helping producers brand, present and sell their products to the right customers.
Opportunity to investigateNon-farm-based
- The problem
- The opportunity
- The customer
- The solution
- How money can flow
- What is required
- Start small
- Scale
The problem
Good producers often lack branding and access to customers.
The opportunity
Offer marketing, branding and sales-channel services.
The customer
- Small processors
- Cooperatives
- Farmers
- Retailers
The solution
Branding, photography, social media, retail and online listings, and buyer introductions.
Who pays?
Producers pay fees, retainers or commissions.
How money can flow
Service fees or performance-based commissions.
What is required
- Marketing skills
- Portfolio
- Tools
- Understanding of the product and customers
Skills needed
- Marketing
- Design
- Sales
- Communication
Major challenges
- Proving value
- Small budgets
- Truthful claims
How to start small
Help one or two local producers with branding and sales listings.
How it could scale
Build a portfolio, a team and specialist offerings.
Descriptors
- Starting complexity
- Low
- Capital intensity
- Low
- Skill requirement
- Intermediate
- Infrastructure
- Minimal
Descriptive categories, not profitability rankings.
Regulatory considerations
Advertising, labelling and consumer-protection rules apply; claims must be truthful.
Rules differ by country. Confirm with the relevant national authority.
The customers, routes to market, business models and many practical tips on this page are suggestions, not findings. Know something better? Suggest an improvement →
What the sources say
Source-backed observations about this kind of business in Africa. They describe conditions and challenges, not income or results.
- Smallholders commonly face poor roads, storage, and transport, limited access to price and demand information, and difficulty meeting the quality and volume that formal buyers require.
- Farmers' organizations are a common route to buyers. By pooling produce and resources, members gain bargaining power and can be linked to processors or retailers. Support often includes help to meet quality standards.
- Many farmers' organizations in Africa report that their financing falls well short of what they need. This limits their capacity to take on marketing and value-chain development.
- Limited access to market information makes it difficult for smallholders to make informed decisions.
- In an IFAD-supported pilot project in Tanzania, small producers, processors, and traders were helped to communicate better, form partnerships, and learn from each other. Villages without electricity or telephone lines, and a habit of competing rather than cooperating, were key obstacles.
- Digital marketing and digital extension are among the most common tools smallholders use in sub-Saharan Africa. Connectivity, cost, and digital literacy limit their reach.
Sources and further reading
Links open in a new tab.
- Why farmers' organizations matter: Your questions answered — IFAD
- IFAD Update: Bringing markets closer in the United Republic of Tanzania — IFAD
- Improving Market Access for Smallholder Farmers in Africa — Modern Ghana (news article)
- Digitalisation in agriculture: a scoping review of technologies in practice, challenges, and opportunities for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa — CGIAR (CGSpace)
The sections above are a general outline and practical suggestions, not findings from these sources. Check local rules with official sources before you act.
Not financial advice and not a promise of income. Try the planning calculator with your own figures.