In a public lecture on Tuesday 17th of February 2009 Hans Eenhoorn, Associate Professor Food Security and Entrepreneurship at Wageningen University, reported the main conclusions of an investigation by Wageningen UR on constraints that prevent smallholder farmers in Sub Sahara Africa to develop themselves towards small-scale agricultural entrepreneurs. "These constraints to development are insufficiently taken into consideration when planning interventions to support poor rural populations to improve their dismal situation of poverty and chronic hunger, that affect more than 150,000,000 people in rural Africa," according to Hans Eenhoorn.
The study was coordinated by Hans Eenhoorn and Gertjan Becx and took place from November 2007 and November 2008. Following desk research and literature studies on rural entrepreneurship, 1,200 smallholder farmers in Ghana were interviewed on their perceived and real constraints towards a brighter economic future. The study revealed 26 discrete constraints that restrict smallholders from increasing productivity and marketing their produce profitably. The researchers ask for a holistic approach to remove the constraints as much as possible in order to ensure that planned interventions indeed reach the bottom of the rural societies and prevent that billions of dollars in development-support money are wasted.
Report Constrain constraints!