Facilitating Smallholder Farmers’ Market Access
In the OIC Member Countries
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Mediterranean climate, abundant land and water supplies, and strategic location, the
government decided to depend more on markets and less on public marketing agencies.
This policy decision set the stage for a significant expansion in agribusiness and value-
added exports, especially of horticultural goods.
The case of Turkey also shows how the rise of agribusinesses, supermarkets, and
restaurants induces quality and safety to become intrinsic traits of the food that farmers
produce. Governments have a leadership role in guaranteeing food safety, although
increasingly the demands of private buyers exceed the strictest public standards. For
agribusiness, an overall business environment that promotes FDI can help domestic
suppliers adapt to changing standards and demands, since overseas partners can bring
expertise and established marketing channels along with capital. The risk is that smaller
firms and farms may lack the capital or knowledge to meet new standards. Here
governments can play a vital role by aggressively reaching out to producers and
intermediaries. Though structural adjustment often brings growth to the agricultural
sector, it can place the livelihoods of some households at risk, so governments must also
make sure that social safety nets are adequate.
Kyrgyz Republic
Kyrgyz Republic is a small, mountainous, landlocked country, with a territory of 198,000
square kilometers that borders China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Two-thirds
of its approximately 5.6 million people live in rural areas. Kyrgyz Republic is also a low-
income country. Per capita GNI was US$ 920 in 2011; in 2012, approximately 38 percent
of the population lived below the national absolute poverty line and 4.4 percent below the
extreme poverty line.142 Absolute poverty rates are similar in rural (40 percent) and urban
(35 percent) areas. Food insecurity was high from 2006 to 2009, although the incidence of
food insecurity declined substantially between 2011 (46 percent) and September 2013
(14 percent).143 Food insecurity is more prevalent in rural households, particularly in the
southern provinces. Most food-insecure households rely on a single income, have small
garden plots (averaging 0.16 hectares), and raise limited numbers of livestock.
The agricultural sector’s contribution to GDP increased from 33 percent in 1990 to 47
percent in 1996 but has gradually declined since . Agriculture currently
accounts for 18 percent of GDP, employs around 31 percent of the workforce, and
generates about 13 percent of export earnings. It remains central to food security and
rural livelihoods. In 2012, agricultural output was valued at KGS 304 billion, of which 50
percent was generated by crop production, 48 percent by animal production, and 2
percent by agricultural services. Within the crops subsector, cereal grains accounted for
31 percent of the value of production, vegetables about 20 percent, potatoes about 16
percent, and fruit for about 13 percent. Within the animal production subsector, cattle and
poultry production represented 66 percent of output value, and dairy accounted for about
30 percent.
142 World Bank (2014d).
143 WFP (2012, 2013).