Using the participatory market chain approach to help smallholder farmers market their produce

Most Nepalese rural smallholder landowners are subsistence farmers; when they attempt to produce high value crops such as vegetables for income generation they are often disappointed because they end up selling their produce at local markets for marginal profits. They mostly work alone and, for the most part, their efforts are poorly rewarded, since every step of the value chain is either unmanaged, badly structured, or otherwise uncoordinated. A first step towards addressing the myriad challenges and special needs faced by these smallholder farmers can be to use an adapted version of the participatory market chain approach (PMCA). This approach can help them to improve their livelihoods by building their capacity and assisting them to coordinate and form linkages with other smallholder producers and actors all along the market chain.