The lack of collateral prevents small-scale farm producers and processors from accessing commercial credit. Th is negatively affects farm productivity and product quality, limits the export potential of products, and prevents further development of the food supply chain. This paper reviews the...

Trade liberalization has opened up the food market in many transitional economies. This has created an opportunity for smallholder farmers to access higher-value markets, but it has also exposed them to competition from trading partners. Key issues in linking smallholder producers to...

The food safety issue has become a public health priority. Serious outbreaks have been reported over the past few decades because of eating unsafe food. Food-borne diseases such as Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad-cow disease) pose a serious threat...

Cluster farming means grouping farmers together to consolidate their produce to deliver in bulk, thus saving transportation and transaction costs. As this marketing strategy is an alternative to traditional vegetable marketing practices in the Philippines, there is a need to evaluate the extent...

For an organization that has been promoting sustainable agriculture development for some time, Vredeseilanden is not unaccustomed to seeing smallholder farmers struggle to secure markets and attain higher prices. The biggest stumbling blocks, as identified by the Belgium-based NGO, are the...

Three handling experiments with 4 treatments each (i.e., control, newspaper wrap, alum, alum with newspaper wrap) were conducted to verify the benefits of alum spray and newspaper wrapping in reducing soft rot incidence in cabbage (cv. Rareball). The cabbages were packed in polyethylene bags and...

Commodity associations are organizations that bring together a wide spectrum of interest groups related to a particular commodity or sector in a particular country, whether for export, for the domestic market, or for both. Such associations can have, as members, individual farmers or their...