Local service provision – a trigger to improve farm production

Ms. Annet Witteveen, Head, Food Security and Livelihood Unit, Concern Universal, Bangladesh, described the project implemented by her organization to improve sustainable smallholder production in India’s north-east border state of Assam and in Jamalpur district in north Bangladesh. 

Limited transfer of best practices and technology, non-existent quality services for the poor and middleman in commodities trade, are major constraints to promoting sustainable production by small farmers in both countries. The Concern Universal project provides rural services to small-scale farmers and focuses on the development of individual local service providers (LSPs), who serve as “triggers” to improve farm production and marketing. 

LSPs are selected by local communities and organized into associations at the subdistrict level. Capacity-building support is provided to LSPs in agricultural technologies, marketing and business development. Service provision by LSPs to small-scale farmers has been initiated, based on organizing farmers around value-chains. 

The salient LSP feature is establishing a trade-off between public and private partnership in terms of market establishment, agro-advisory and new technologies. The sustainability of the LSP system relies to a large extent on the interaction between public and private sectors on technology, its practical implementation at the farmer level and working together to find local sustainable solutions. Through adoption of new and improved skills, practices and technologies, small farmers are able to improve production and livelihoods, get better prices for their produce and invest in farm business activities. 

It has been noted that access of small farmers to local services triggered by LSPs, has led to an increase in small and medium-scale agricultural enterprises.