Root and Tuber Crops for Market-led Agricultural Transformation in Malawi (RTC-MARKET) project 2023-2028
Building on the RTC-ACTION project (April 2016-March 2022) and current bridging phase (April 2022-March 2023) that have focused on the development and delivery of productive RTC technologies and management practices, the International Potato Center (CIP) proposes a 4-year follow-on project titled ‘Root and Tuber Crops for Market-led Agricultural Transformation in Malawi (RTC-MARKET)’. Though building on the success of the RTC-ACTION project, RTC-MARKET’s value proposition shifts the efforts and focus towards harnessing market incentives and working with private agro-enterprises to create increased and equitable income opportunities in the RTC sector for youth, women and men farmers, and micro, small and medium scale enterprises (MSMEs thereafter) in input and output market chains. This value proposition aims to contribute to providing the means and developing the business-enabling environment so that RTC-based value chains in Malawi become more sustainable and more able to sustain their growth and their ability to create and share economic value.
The goal of RTC-MARKET is to contribute to a productive and sustainable agricultural sector in Malawi that generates increased employment and income opportunities and supports food security and healthy, more diverse, and affordable diets for all Malawians. The purpose of RTC-MARKET is to strengthen the market-led development of Root and Tuber Crops and increase their contribution to agricultural diversification, sustainable economic growth, and national food and nutrition security in Malawi.
RTC-MARKET pursues four inter-linked objectives that together will catalyze stronger market-led development of Root and Tuber Crops. Through the proposed intervention, incomes of at least 100,000 (25,000/year) value chain actors (including farmers belonging to farmer groups and cooperatives, MSMEs and processors) will be reached with market-led interventions such as seed multiplication, capacity building in production and post-harvest handling and input and output market linkages and at least 4,000 jobs (including youths and women) will be created or improved in RTC value chains. At least 120,000 farm households will be reached with RTC planting material for food and nutrition security. It is also anticipated that 2 million consumers in Malawi will more regularly consume fresh or processed nutritious RTC foods; some of them will be school learners through an orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) school feeding program.
These objectives are:
Objective 1: Improved RTC market information and business services
Objective 2: Intensified RTC marketing and utilization
Objective 3: Stronger RTC seed and input markets
Objective 4: Climate resilient, food and nutrition oriented RTC production systems