29. Percentage of targeted smallholder farmers selling through WFP-supported farmer aggregation systems

29. Percentage of targeted smallholder farmers selling through WFP-supported farmer aggregation systems

VERSION

V4.0 - 2026.03 — Existing

INDICATOR CODE

29

TECHNICAL OWNER

PRG-R

INDICATOR TYPE

Country Level Outcome Indicator

INDICATOR CLASSIFICATION

Complementary

INDICATOR SCOPE

Programme specific indicator

APPLICABILITY

This indicator applies to WFP value chain development work (aka Smallholder Agricultural Market Support – SAMS), combining procurement and programmatic activities along the value chain to promote improved access to stable and remunerative markets for targeted smallholder farmers. Interventions include but are not limited to: support to smallholder capacity to access productive input and equipment; support to post-harvest loss reduction and processing; capacity strengthening of smallholder aggregation systems; promotion of market access; capacity strengthening of value chain actors, including access to finance and digitalization.

The selection of this indicator is recommended against the following sub-activities in CSPs logframes. Selection of the below sub-activities will NOT trigger the mandatory selection of this indicator:

1. Smallholder Agricultural Market Support (SMS)

UNIT OF MEASUREMENT & ANALYSIS

Percentage of smallholder farmers

DEFINITION

This indicator refers to the percentage of members of a smallholder farmer aggregation system supported by WFP that is contributing to the collective sales of the aggregation system to WFP or other buyers.

Below are some important terminologies related to the indicator:

Smallholder farmer: There is no unambiguous global definition of a smallholder farmer. Often, scale of operation measured in terms of farm size is used as a classification criterion. For example, smallholders are often viewed as those farming less than two hectares. But even this farm size is considered “large” in some countries or regions within countries. As a result, other parameters are sometimes used, including the volume of production, the source and amount of available labour, and the value of capital and inputs. For WFP, if a host country has an accepted definition of smallholder farmers under which it collects and reports agricultural and related data, such a definition should be followed whenever adequate.

Farmer aggregation system (or aggregator)¹: Any organization that aggregates, or has the potential to aggregate, smallholder farmers’ staple commodities in order to facilitate their sale to formal buyers at favourable conditions.

Aggregation systems encompass a variety of organizations to which smallholder farmers have access at local, district, and national levels. These organizations are either formal (i.e. legally registered) or informal, and membership should be voluntary. Providing market access to smallholder farmers at favourable conditions should be one of the main objectives of these organizations. In addition, they are likely to provide a range of services to their members, such as facilitating access to inputs, access to credit, improved post-harvest handling, etc.

Two key types of organizations are expected to play a complementary role in linking smallholder farmers to formal markets, and both are considered aggregation systems:

1. Direct outlets to which smallholders contribute their production, including small and medium-sized farmers’ organizations, small traders, agro-dealers handling output aggregation, small-scale certified warehouses, and Satellite Collection Points; and

2. Intermediary aggregators, including large farmers’ organizations (unions or federations), medium to large traders, large-scale processors, agro-dealers handling output aggregation and private service providers and larger warehouse certified warehouses.

Targeted smallholders: For the sake of the indicator calculation, targeted smallholders are defined as smallholder farmers who are members of supported aggregation systems. As for the membership definition, depending on the type of aggregation system, farmers can be broadly classified as either members (e.g., for FOs), suppliers (e.g., for traders and processors), or users (e.g. for warehouse receipt systems and satellite collection points). For the sake of consistency and simplicity, the term member will be used throughout the document to cover all the different typologies.

Selling through WFP-supported aggregation systems: Members of aggregation systems can market their production through different channels, including selling through aggregators under different arrangements. In general, we consider that a smallholder farmer has sold through an aggregation system when:

1. He/she has aggregated commodities at least once in the last 12 months, for the purpose of collective marketing, AND

2. The commodities are used to fulfil contracts stipulated between the aggregator and a third-party buyer.

RATIONALE

For smallholders to benefit from increased access to formal markets, it is crucial that they are put in the conditions to sell their produce through aggregation systems. In many contexts where WFP operates, collective marketing is essential for smallholder farmers to access markets, as it improves farmers’ bargaining power and capacity to engage with formal buyers.

By measuring whether the share of members that are contributing to collective sales is increasing (or decreasing) as a result of the project activities, the proposed indicator allows WFP:

• To understand to what degree the members of the aggregation systems can sell all or part of their surplus production through the aggregation system. The decision of selling through the aggregator can be seen as a function of the incentives (i.e., the farmer sees it as potentially beneficial), and individual capacity (e.g. to fulfil quality requirements, to participate in the procurement process etc.)

• To measure the capacity of the aggregators to attract members for marketing purposes, therefore providing indication on the overall performance of the aggregators

• To have an overview of the status (active/inactive) of supported aggregation systems

• To measure the extent to which the smallholders targeted by the programme are benefiting from the market opportunity offered by the aggregation system

• Whenever gender disaggregation is available, to measure the ratio of male and female contributing member and draw observations in terms of gender equality and women empowerment

• To understand if there is a potential issue of elite capture in the targeted aggregation systems, with few members benefiting from the marketing opportunities created by the programme.

DATA COLLECTION TOOL

Copy of sales and membership records kept by aggregators, such as aggregator records.

Guidance notes and templates to develop and implement aggregator records are available here.

The module of the Aggregator Records Database Template relevant to measure this indicator are:

Module 2: Membership information, to extract data on the number of farmers members of the aggregation systems.

Module 4: Commodity receipt information, to extract data on the number of members contributing to sales.

Whenever possible, COs are encouraged to explore the promotion of digital tools to support record keeping by aggregators. Promoting the adoption of digital tools and strengthening the capacity of aggregators in digital record keeping would allow to:

• facilitate record keeping for all the stakeholders involved (aggregators, cooperating partners, WFP programme and M&E officers etc.) and cope with possible shocks affecting data collection (e.g., movement restrictions imposed by Covid-19)

• have real-time quality data.

SAMPLING REQUIREMENTS

100% of available sales records should be analysed.

INDICATOR CALCULATION FOR REPORTING

Percentage of targeted smallholder farmers selling through WFP-supported farmer aggregation systems: (B/A)*100

Where:

A = Total number of members of WFP-supported aggregation systems

B = Total number of members selling through WFP-supported aggregation systems.

N.B.: If a member contributes to sales multiple times or multiple commodities in the reporting period, the farmer is counted once for the purpose of arriving at the total number. The total membership and the number of contributing farmers should be counted from all targeted aggregators and aggregated to arrive to a unique country value.

DATA ENTRY AND DISAGGREGATION IN CORPORATE SYSTEMS

Values are recorded in the logframe. Each value has a reporting combination which is created based on:

• Sub-activity

• Location

• Beneficiary Group

Follow-up value is reported as one number for each category:

BASELINE

Baselines are set only once, at one of the following points:

1. At the beginning of the CSP, or

2. When the indicator is selected for reporting after the commencement of the CSP, or

3. When there is a change in target, location and/or modality that triggers a new reporting combination (target, location and modality) for an existing indicator.

Baselines remain fixed for the entire CSP period and are not recalculated annually, unless applicable above.

If the indicator was used in the previous CSP cycle, and if conditions allow so (e.g., same targeted aggregation systems, same location etc.), data from the last annual follow up value can be used to define the baseline.

When data is available (e.g., from existing aggregator records), a baseline value for this indicator can be established using the historical of sales conducted by the targeted aggregation systems over the course of the calendar year preceding the start of the programme. Sales history generated through WFP Farmers’ Organization assessment tool (FORMA) can also inform the baseline establishment.

When data is not available (e.g., due to the lack of aggregator records before WFP’s intervention), it will not be possible to establish a baseline for the first year (= no data). In these cases, please use the No data function, ‘not applicable’.

TARGET SETTING

Annual targets:

In accordance with the indicator direction (increase) and rationale, the annual target should be equal to or greater than the baseline value or previous annual target.

Given the nature of the outcome, COs may not be able to see sizeable results in the early years of the programme. It may take several seasons for smallholders to steadily modify their marketing behaviours to take advantage of opportunities provided by WFP programmes.

CO should be prudent in setting annual targets early in the project, with limited knowledge of aggregators and markets.

In time, as aggregators are trained and sell repeatedly to WFP and other buyers, it can be expected that the number of smallholders participating in the sales will rise accordingly. In any case, the CO should set annual targets based on the results of the previous year.

End of CSP target:

By the end of the CSP cycle, it would be desirable to see an increase in the proportion of targeted smallholder farmers members of the aggregation system who actively contribute to collective sales.

In setting targets for this indicator, COs should be mindful of the following considerations:

• Targets must be country-specific, realistic and based on sound assessments of targeted aggregators and farmers in the early stage of the programme

• Achieving increased participation of smallholders requires consistent support and relative stability over multiple consecutive agricultural seasons

• Sudden shocks and high environmental volatility can affect production, consumption, and marketing patterns, especially for the more vulnerable households

It is important that baseline, annual and end of CSP targets are set for the overall indicator, as well as for every disaggregation, as shown below.

FREQUENCY OF DATA COLLECTION

Sales (and members’ contributions) are typically recorded directly by aggregators as part of their internal record-keeping, on an ongoing basis. The agricultural calendar for different commodities determines when collective sales are conducted throughout the year.

As a minimum, CO should collect aggregator records once a year, in view of the annual reporting exercise. However, whenever possible, it is preferable that the information is collected after each marketing season.

INTERPRETATION

High (or increasing) participation of members in collective sales may suggest that members are changing their marketing behaviour and increasingly engaging in collective activities, due (but not limited to) any of the reasons below:

• Members have sufficient produce to sell and perceive positive benefits from selling through aggregators.

• Members have confidence in the leadership of the aggregators.

• Aggregators are the preferred channel for marketing household stocks.

• Aggregators are adequately governed, in a way that allows all members to benefit equally from the services offered by the aggregator.

On the other hand, low (or decreasing) participation of members in collective sales conducted by the aggregator may signal:

• Lack of marketable surplus due to unfavourable production.

• Low aggregation capacity, as aggregators are incapable to mobilize resources (internally and externally) to source from members.

• Low levels of trust and internal cohesion of the aggregator, which negatively affect the participation of members into collective sales.

• Elite capture: where few members (repeatedly) contribute to collective sales, it might be a signal of elite capture, a phenomenon whereby higher capacity farmers and farmers more directly linked to the leadership of the aggregator benefit more from the aggregator’s services and have more possibility to take advantage of the opportunities of collective sales.

• Inactivity of the aggregation system.

REPORTING EXAMPLE(S)

Context

In Mozambique’s Tete region, WFP supports Cooperative A to improve access to markets for its smallholder members.

Composition of membership for Cooperative A

To be registered as members of Cooperative A, farmers must buy a certain number of shares, and pay an annual membership fee.

At the beginning of the programme, in January 2022, Cooperative A has 245 registered members.

There are 145 women registered as members (59% of total membership).

Baseline and Targets

Collective marketing

During the first marketing season (April – August 2022), WFP signs a contract with Cooperative A for 50MT of maize. Cooperative A aggregates the agreed quantity from its members and delivers the full amount (aggregation 1 in table C below).

During the same marketing season, Cooperative A aggregates another 25MT of maize from members and sells them to a local trader (aggregation 2 in table C below). Leaders of Cooperative A register these transactions in their internal record-keeping systems.

Data collection

At the end of the first marketing season, in September 2022, WFP staff schedules a visit to Cooperative A to collect their annual records. The data is transcribed from the paper records onto a digital support for consolidation and analysis.

During data consolidation, farmers who have contributed multiple times to sales are counted once.

Calculation (using formula above)

Analysis of results and interpretation

At the end of year 1:

• The percentage of targeted smallholder farmers selling through WFP-supported farmer aggregation systems was 14.3%, in line with the annual target of 15%;

• Among the smallholder farmers selling through the aggregation system 7.8% were women and 6.5% were men. Although these figures are broadly in line with expectations, it is interesting to note that more women smallholders were empowered to sell through the aggregation system than their male counterparts.

INDICATORS COLLECTED & ANALYSED AT THE SAME TIME

The following indicators must be reported along with this indicator:

• T.1 Number of people (Tier 1) receiving direct food/cash-based/commodity vouchers/individual capacity strengthening transfers (disaggregated by sex, age group, residence status, modality and activity) (SMS sub-activity)

• 95. Value (USD) and volume (MT) of smallholder sales through WFP-supported aggregation systems

In addition, as applicable, the following indicators may be reported along with this indicator:

• T.2 Number of people indirectly benefiting (Tier 2) from an asset, knowledge and capacity, commodities or services delivered through WFP programmes (SMS sub-activity)

• F.3 Number of smallholder farmer aggregation systems supported by type of support

• T.7 Quantity, value and capacity of non-food items for which WFP facilitated access

• F.5 Number of meetings, workshops, fairs, events organized to facilitate market linkages

• F.6 Number of contracts/ commercial agreements facilitated

• F.7 Number of other value chain actors supported

• 108. Average percentage of smallholder post-harvest losses at the storage stage

• 31. Percentage of targeted smallholder farmers reporting increased production of nutritious crops

COMPLEMENTARY QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

The FORMA qualitative tool available in the Farmer Organization Readiness and Maturity Assessment (FORMA) package can complement the information collected through this indicator.

DECISIONS DATA CAN INFORM

This indicator provides relevant information to monitor the relevance and effectiveness of capacity strengthening interventions targeted at the smallholder farmer aggregation system level to improve smallholder farmers’ access to markets. The indicator can be used to adjust programme design and implementation and to verify the performance of the aggregation systems over time in terms of organizational/ functional capacity.

VISUALIZATION

LIMITATIONS

Three main limitations are identified for this indicator:

1. It requires that targeted aggregators:

• Have a record keeping system in place to capture membership and sales information.

• Keep the system updated consistently and accurately.

• Are willing to share this information with WFP.

  When aggregators do not have a rigorous record keeping system using unique IDs for each of their members, it might be difficult to calculate precisely the total number of members contributing to sales. Multiple counting of the same individual is possible when members contribute multiple times to sales during the year, therefore distorting value of the indicator.

  When individual IDs are not possible, names of members can be used to differentiate members, but experience has shown that the risk of multiple counting is also high, as errors in spelling are common.

2. Does not capture information on farmers selling through WFP-supported aggregation systems who are not properly members.

3. It is sensitive to change in the membership size over the CSP cycle.

Lastly, agricultural markets in countries where WFP operate are extremely volatile. External shocks and stressors, including environmental shocks affecting the production or market-related shocks, including trade restricting measures such as those imposed by pandemics, can impact substantially the indicator’s performance.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Implement Aggregator Records for SAMS activities

GN on implementing aggregator records for SAMS activities Aggregator Records database

Farmers’ Organization assessment tool (FORMA)

SAMS Programme Guidance Manual (PGM)

For any further information, please contact HQ.SAMS@wfp.org