This report analyses the impact of the Samarth Nepal Market Development Programme (NMDP) in its second year from May 2013 to April 2014 on reducing poverty. The five year project aims to reduce poverty in Nepal by increasing the incomes of 300,000 farmers and small scale entrepreneurs in the ginger, dairy, fish, vegetable, and pigs sub-sectors by taking a Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) approach.
Main findings:
- Companies importing ginger disease management products have started to take ownership over new ways of working, proven to benefit the poor
- Local agro-vets and district wholesalers have successfully coordinated on off-season 'gap' vegetable production, with farmers recording greater access to knowledge, information and inputs required to maximize revenues from vegetable cultivation
- Seed companies have been incentivized to undertake the first commercial dairy forage seed production in Nepal, with signs that their service provision and network are beginning to expand, independent of programme support
- The first forum for public-private dialogue in the pig industry in Nepal led to the creation of an inaugural entrepreneur’s association, entirely driven by the players in the market
- A fish feed manufacturer has dramatically upgraded their production capacity, and started to produce smaller packets of ready-made pellet feed
- At least one importer of mechanized agricultural equipment has begun to experiment around new sales strategies for mini-tillers
- Projected that between 88,000 to 210,000 poor farmers and rural entrepreneurs will record an average increase in incomes of £150 per year. This is anticipated to generate a projected £30 million to £59 million of additional income gains by 2017, against a maximum programme expenditure of £13.5 million.
Intervention description
Samarth-NMDP adopted a facilitative role, seeking to change the incentives and capacities of key permanent actors within market systems to deliver improved goods and services to the poor – instead of the programme temporarily, directly and possibly even distortively delivering these goods and services itself. It did so in 8 sectors: ginger, vegetables, dairy, pigs, fish, mechanisation, tourism, and media.
Evidence methodology
The monitoring of this programme was conducted consisting of data from various sources including project monitoring reports, a baseline survey and a stakeholder survey. The quality of implementation for NMDP was assessed using the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) standard for results measurement.
Useful for:
Anyone interested in the Making Markets Work for the Poor (M4P) approach, specifically useful for programmes with a large portfolio of interventions in the agriculture and livestock sectors. This might include potential investors and partners, as well as development practitioners and researchers.