Connecting farmers to markets

As the world’s largest humanitarian agency, WFP is a major buyer of staple food. In 2010, WFP bought US$1.25 billion worth of food – more than 80 percent of this in developing countries. With the Purchase the Progress (P4P) initiative, WFP is taking this one step further. P4P uses WFP’s purchasing power and its expertise in logistics and food quality to offer smallholder farmers opportunities to access agricultural markets, to become competitive players in those markets and thus to improve their lives.

The five-year pilot initiative links WFP’s demand for staple food in 21 countries with the expertise of a host of partners who support farmers to produce food surpluses and sell them at a fair price. By 2013, at least half a million smallholder farmers will have increased and improved their agricultural production and earnings. By raising farmers’ incomes, P4P turns WFP’s local procurement into a vital tool to address hunger.  Learn more

P4P latest

Ethiopia: Women gain power through cooperative

Women farmers face many obstacles that they need to overcome to become successful business women. But the example of Mashuu and her follow farmers shows that with the right support, female farmers can become strong and independent market players.

El Salvador: The benefits of collective action

When natural disaster struck in 2005, Jose Manuel started the IZALCALU cooperative together with other farmers who were also displaced by the volcano eruption. Six years later, disaster struck again, but thanks to their collective action, Jose and the fellow IZALCALU members are now strong enough to weather shocks.

Afghanistan - High Energy Biscuits Baked in Kabul

A factory in Kabul has begun producing fortified biscuits for WFP school meal programmes in Afghanistan. Linking smallholder farmers to processors like this biscuit factory is one the approaches P4P is testing in Afghanistan to connect smallholder farmers to markets.

DRC: Increase in income enables business diversification

Florent’s life in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been turned around, thanks to P4P and its partners. Now other farmers in the south-eastern region of Kabalo want to follow his example.