Regional Focus
Component 3 : Improve Access to Value Chain Services to Increase Participation in Selected Value Chains
Overall Objective of this Component: Improve the delivery of value chain services to ensure that groups located in target regions participate in selected value chains in a sustainable manner.
The Strategies of this Component to achieve the above objective are as follows:
- Facilitate the delivery of and build capacity of providers of finance for value chains.
- Support the delivery and improvement of business/agricultural and technical services to support industry in targeted value chains and regions.
- Facilitate the development of infrastructure to attract investment and support growth in the targeted regions.
- Use ICT and media support services to reduce costs and information asymmetry for value chains.
- Support the delivery and improvement of logistics services to selected value chains.
Background: Inadequate market information; limited competition among input suppliers, buyers, and transporters; poor storage and distribution facilities; and insufficient financial services and credit plague value chains. Organizational development must be coupled with better information, increased competition, and improved value chain services to make market relationships sustainable and efficient bringing transaction costs down. Innovations must increase value chain sales while simultaneously improving both the productivity (through technical improvements) and the market power (through increased competition) of groups at the value chain's grassroots level.
Ag-Biz East
The Ag-Biz East Agricultural Trade Exhibition, held in Trincomalee under the theme "Reawakening East," showcased national agribusinesses in the East and created a platform for stakeholders of agricultural sector to network, introduced technologies to farmers, provided farmers with knowledge and training, and fomented sustainable partnerships. Almost 50 organizations participated and there were more than 4,500 visitors of which over 450 farmers participated in the training sessions.
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Adopting New Technologies
Surveys conducted during the quarter found 177 beneficiaries adopting new technology taught through the technical training provided, bringing the total to 581 for Year 2. Fifty-nine beneficiaries participating in the soybean cultivation project adopted the application of seed inoculums for nitrogen fixing (instead of urea application), and 97% of the farmers adopted row seeding techniques. Eighty-eight of the Alli black gram farmers surveyed indicated they have adopted new techniques of row seeding and plowing techniques taught.
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Facilitating Access to Finance
USAID/CORE facilitated access to finance for 652 participating beneficiaries through financial institutions and partnering companies totaling LKR 3,178,860 for year 2. In an effort to further increase access to finance, USAID/CORE is working on an initiative with partnering financial institutions to introduce selected new/modified financial products to meet identified financing needs of beneficiaries.
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Warehouse Receipt Financing
USAID/CORE is conducting a feasibility to facilitate the introduction of Warehouse Receipt Financing (WRF) for the first time in Sri Lanka as a financial instrument. WRF will simultaneously provide both warehousing and access to much needed credit to farmers.
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Seed Production and Storage
USAID/CORE provided technical support to farmers in the production of B'onion seed and storage. The Mahasen Village Development Organization (MVDO) is building a b'onion storage facility with USAID/CORE grant assistance and technical support. This facility will enable farmers to store mother bulbs for the next season and receive a better price. High quality Sri Lankan B'onion mother bulbs were distributed among lead farmers to develop model nurseries. The quality seeds and the lanting methods introduced through the project have significantly increased the germination rate up to 85%.
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Dairy Extension Services
USAID/CORE trained farm advisors and livestock development officers on good management practices, nutrition and modern housing and supported the construction of a model cattle housing facility at the Dairy Development Training Center, Selvanayagapuram.The model is a demonstration unit that improves hygiene, animal comfort and milk quality. These initiatives facilitate dissemination of lessons learned and best practices to farmers.
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Tradenet –GGS Partnership
USAID/CORE supports a partnership between Govi Gnana Seva (GGS meaning farmer knowledge service) and Sri Lanka's largest mobile phone provider Dialog's latest value addition service called Tradenet –which includes a two-way agriculture price information platform. The platform was rolled out on Dialog's island-wide mobile phone network in December 2009. USAID/CORE is supporting this partnership with the specific objective of developing credible content for farmers to make rational decisions regarding the best price for selling their produce and addition of other wholesale and rural markets to make GGS a nationally relevant service.
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Website: http://tradenet.dialog.lk/