How-to-guide: Facilitating Cluster Development - CHAIN project
Clusters are concentrated groups of commercially oriented farmers which can create a critical market mass. The cluster will develop market linkages with buyers, input providers and service providers (financial institutions, extension agents, PDAFF, etc). The guide explains the rationale for clusters and a practical step-based approach.
About this guide
Click here for the Khmer version.
The Cambodia Horticulture Advancing Income & Nutrition (CHAIN) was an 8 year market systems development project mandated by SDC. CHAIN worked successfully on transforming local vegetable markets using a market systems approach. CHAIN graduated 6,000 producers, the majority women, to commercial levels of vegetable production, introduced productive climate resilient technologies such as water storage and drip irrigation, created functional market clusters and supported government in setting standards, policy and strategy. CHAIN transformed the local markets from mainly importing its vegetables from elsewhere to supplying mostly everything locally.
During the implementation of CHAIN we saw that many development practitioners in Cambodia are struggling in facilitating market system development in practice. CHAIN produced eight practical How-to-guides on the topic to serve as a resource case and inspiration to others to adapt the methods for replication. These guides are useful for extension staff, technicians, and development practitioners. The first two guides focus on Market Systems Development as a whole and Facilitating Cluster Development. Together, these guides provide a solid foundation for supporting market systems transformation.
1. Market Systems Development
Market systems encompass the whole value chain of certain products and its operating environment and associated services. This guide is a simple introduction to the market systems approach which enables markets to work better for all economic actors and be more inclusive, efficient and sustainable. This guide helps readers become more familiar with the power of a market systems approach.
2. Facilitating Cluster Development
When developing market linkages for smallholder producers the volumes are often not enough to be commercially viable. Grouping producers together in a commercial cluster enables them to reach a critical mass to attract input providers and buyers, support joint production planning and developing joint commercial relationships. Clusters are loose commercially-oriented affinity groups of producers and traders and an effective adaptable form to create working market linkages. Engagement and interaction with other stakeholders such as government and service providers is key, and this guide describes how to put this into practice.
