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  <div class="title"><h1>8.17/8.18 - Use of a friend in the city to obtain selling price, sell directly</h1><br><h3 class="ch-owner">Mitchell van Schepen, University of Guelph, Canada</h3></div>
  <div class="title"><h3>8.17/8.18 - Use of a friend in the city to obtain selling price, sell directly</h3><br><h3 class="ch-owner">Anthony Turjuman, University of Guelph, Canada</h3></div>
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<p>Suggested citation for this chapter.</p>
<p>Turjuman,A. (2022) Use of a friend in the city to obtain selling price, sell directly. In Farmpedia, The Encyclopedia for Small Scale Farmers. Editor, M.N. Raizada, University of Guelph, Canada. http://www.farmpedia.org</p>
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       <h3 class="title-bg">Background</h3>
       <h1 class="title-bg">Introduction</h1>
         <div class="cont-bg">
         <div class="cont-bg">
           <p>The world’s 1 billion women and girls participating in subsistence farming pull weeds by hand to improve their crops and also collect firewood for cooking, resulting in their hands becoming rough and sore (Figure 1). This can be caused by wood splinters being lodged into their skin (Schaffner, 2013). Pulling weeds for hours on end can peel away layers of skin (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2016). The hands of those farmers can also become dirty and smelly from planting seeds in the soil or spreading manure by hand. To avoid the common aforementioned problems as well as hand injuries, such as cuts and scrapes, they could wear gloves on their hands, see the second picture, (Schaffner, 2013). Gloves are very common in the modern world and can be used for construction, farming, and medical practices. Gloves provide a durable layer between the skin on your hands and whatever you are working with (Espasandín-Arias & Goossens, 2014). There are a few different materials used to make gloves, along with different sizes and grips. With over one billion women and girls working on farms around the world, this grueling work can be made safer and more efficient when wearing gloves.</p>
           <p>The challenge that I will be analyzing is that small scale farmers are unaware of the correct market prices of their harvested products and hence are exploited. Furthermore, often they have to pay large sums of money in order to have a middleman take their products to the market to be sold. This ultimately decreases their profit margins and takes money away from the farmer and their family. To that point, a study was conducted which confirmed that those who used a middleman to sell their goods made 10% less profit (Abebe et al., 2016, p210). Additionally, these farmers are sometimes scared to refuse to pay these middlemen their desired commission (Permadi and Winarti, 2018, p7). This is due to the fact that they would threaten to stop working with them and simply find another farmer who would be willing to pay him more (Permadi and Winarti, 2018, p7). One solution to eliminate this issue is for the farmer, a friend or member of their family to enter urban markets, find out the correct, fair-market prices for their products directly from vendors, and then go into town and sell the products themselves. That way they would not have to deal with middle men or be exploited. </p>
 
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          <p>Rubber and cloth are the two main kinds of gloves produced (Melco, 2016). They both have their own benefits and drawbacks respectively. A benefit from rubber gloves is their ability to resist water from coming in contact with a farmer's skin, see part two, (Espasandín-Arias & Goossens, 2014). While cloth gloves can be beneficial because they can draw moisture away from their hands and can be easily washed to be cleaned. Because rubber gloves are usually meant to be disposed of after single use they tend to be cheaper to make and thus cheaper to buy. Yet some rubber gloves can be made thicker to reuse and are slightly more durable (Melco, 2016). Cloth gloves are designed to be washed after being used and last a long time under normal working conditions.</p>
 
          <p>Along with the different materials gloves are made of, there are also different arm lengths. Some gloves are cut off just in front or around the wrist. While others can be up to and over the elbow and everywhere in between (Melco, 2016). The benefits of the shorter gloves is comfort, no bunching around wrist or elbow, and they can be quickly put on or removed. The benefits of the long gloves are more protection, the entire forearm will be covered. All the while there is less of a chance of getting debris in their gloves because the opening is farther away from what you are working with. Farmers can also work in deeper water or mud with the long rubber gloves without getting your hands wet.</p>
 
          <p>When working with smooth items such as hoes and some fruits and vegetables they can be slippery (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2016). A way to help farmer's hold on to the tools is to get gloves with grips (Melco, 2016). Both rubber and cloth gloves can have grips. Rubber gloves will have ridges in the molds to form grips and granular materials can be added to the outside before drying (Melco, 2016). Another option is to make the rubber gloves out of a non-slip rubber (Melco, 2016). Because cloth alone does not provide grip, cloth gloves must be dipped in liquid rubber to be able to grip smooth objects. The rubber used for grips on cloth gloves can either be non-slip smooth rubber or be rigid (Melco, 2016). </p>
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       <h1 class="title-bg">Benefits Of Selling Farm Products Without A Third Party</h1>
       <h3 class="title-bg">Physical Protection</h3>
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          <p>Protection is the main benefit from using gloves. Repetitive motions, such as when pounding grain, can cause irritation to the skin. When collecting firewood the sticks and logs can scratch or cut the skin (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2016). Weeds can be rough and by scratching their hands many times they can become cut and sore (Espasandín-Arias & Goossens, 2014). By lifting and pulling heavy items the top layer of your skin will separate from the next, causing a blister, by wearing gloves they now will prevent blistering because the glove will act as the top layer of skin and prevent the actual skin from separating (Schaffner, 2013).  Manure has a lot of bacteria in it which are harmful if they are swallow, so keeping them away from the hands used to eat with is very beneficial (Furlong, et al., 2015). If farmers are working with firewood or in construction the cloth gloves will work better because they are more durable (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2016). The disposable rubber gloves would be the worst to use in this scenario because they are so thin, stick to jobs were the main goals are to keep hands dry and dirt free when using disposable rubber gloves.</p>
<p>The best way to find out fair market pricing would be to ask a trusted friend or family member who lives in the city to communicate the daily market pricing, perhaps via an SMS text message or a phone call. The mobile phone penetration rate is very high in South Asia and Africa (Ouma et al., 2017, p30). If this is not possible, then a family member (e.g. teenager) could consult the internet at internet cafes which are becoming more common (Ouma et al., 2018, p7). The next step would be for a farmer to use this information to decide product pricing, perhaps with help from local farmer organizations (Bizikova et al., 2020). The next step is to secure the transportation necessary to bring products to the market, which is challenging: 68% of the farmers who were surveyed in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia,  did not have access to transportation (Permadi and Winarti, 2018, p7). However, a solution to this issue would be an agreement between neighboring farmers to hire a truck and truck driver together and split the cost of it. As this may be time consuming, a secondary solution could be that the farmers hire someone in the city who will help them deliver their products, as already mentioned. There are most likely many people in the city who are well versed in the market practices and would be willing to earn extra income.</p>  
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      <h3 style="background: #FBB03B;padding: 15px;font-weight: 600;color: #000;font-size: 22px;margin:unset;text-align:center;">Defense Against Moisture and Chemicals</h3>
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          <p>Moisture blocking is a way gloves can prevent your skin from drying out and from getting too wet and dehydrating farmer's hands. By keeping the moisture from the hands inside the gloves they will prevent the skin from cracking and becoming infected (Schaffner, 2013). As well when working in wet conditions your hands can shrivel and become dehydrated if they are constantly in contact with water.</p>
          <p>Pesticides can be absorbed by your skin and become harmful to the body, gloves provide an extra barrier to block them from entering in a farmer's body (Furlong, et al., 2015). Fertilizers such as nitrogen can also be caustic, and these are usually spread through broadcasting by hand. Mud can get under your nails and into cracked or cut skin and can infect a farmer's hands. Gloves will keep the mud out and keep hands clean. Both liquid pesticides and dry fertilizers can irritate skin if they come into contact with it (Kim, et al., 2013). Wearing the proper gloves, rubber ones in this case, can save their hands from becoming itchy (Keeble et al., 1996). Human skin can also absorb the pesticides which are harmful to your body, wearing gloves would prevent the pesticides from ever touching your skin.</p>
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       <h1 class="title-bg">Critical Analysis</h1>
       <h3 class="title-bg">Wearable</h3>
         <div class="cont-bg">
         <div class="cont-bg">
          <p>Comfortable gloves help farmer's work longer because their hands will not hurt from completing your task. Sizing is very important when finding comfortable gloves (Melco, 2016). Make sure gloves are the proper length and width, as not to restrict movement. There will be less pain from pulling weeds and they will be able to pull more weeds because they would not have to wait a long for the pain to subside between pulling each weed, because there will be no pain if wearing gloves (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2016). If farmer's find they are working hard and their hands start to sweat the gloves should be removed , dry your hands, and put on a new pair. Cloth gloves are more breathable then rubber ones, using them is another way to prevent hands from getting sweaty. The cloth gloves can also be softer and easier to clean, but are more restricting to movement due to their durability and tougher material. Since children will also be farming, smaller glove sizes can be found. Gloves are designed to fit a farmer's hand snugly, so children should not wear adult sized gloves when working. </p>
<p>Although this method has the potential to be successful and save farmers a large amount of money, there are also some associated problems. An obvious issue as already noted is that there will be more work required of the farmers if they are selling their crops themselves. There is much more preparation involved as well as the time it would take to physically transport all the crops to the market and then spend a large portion of the day selling the products, rather than maintaining the crops that are still growing. The earlier study noted in Central Kalimantan  (Permadi and Winarti, 2018, p7) validates this statement, as when farmers were asked why they chose to use a middleman, 79% stated that it was because selling the crops themselves was too much work. Another limitation, dependent on the quantity of product that farmers have available to sell, is access to wholesale markets. Some small scale farmers earn more income from their crops by using a middleman than on their own (Abebe et al., 2016, p211). This is because they would not be able to directly sell to the wholesalers with their small amount of crop (Abebe et al., 2016, p211). Since the middleman is providing these wholesalers with crops from a few small farms, they have the quantity necessary to sell in bulk and by extension, sell for a higher price (Abebe et al., 2016, p211). However, this issue would not apply to farmers with larger farms, or farmers who can form cooperatives and sell in a larger volume, as already noted. Another challenge with a farmer selling crops on their own is the lack of relationships with buyers (Abebe et al., 2016, p211. To elaborate, when receiving large amounts of crops from new farmers, the vendor will want to do a quality check upon receiving them to ensure that they are not receiving sub-standard food products (Abebe et al., 2016, p211. Furthermore, when the wholesalers do this, they often do not inspect each bag of products thoroughly and instead assume that there are some less than average products included and pay the farmers the average price (Abebe et al., 2016, p211. This could be problematic, as some farmers would receive less money than their product is actually worth. Some farmers prefer working through middlemen because it is often easier for them to resolve these issues and negotiate a better price with wholesalers that is fairer for all parties included. Therefore, in some situations, it is due to a middleman’s relationships in the market that they may be able to secure farmers with better deals and negotiate on their behalf (Abebe et al., 2016, p211). Therefore, the success of friend or family members in the city depends on their ability to establish trusted relationships with vendors. </p>
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       <h1 class="title-bg">Picture Based Lesson to Train Farmers </h1>
       <h3 class="title-bg">Constraints To Adoption</h3>
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          <p>Gloves are very useful to farmers, but there can still be some drawbacks. Possible culturable taboos might vary from location to location. Gloves might seem feminine and not easily adopted by men in the community. Gloves act as a second, tougher skin, but they are not a farmer's skin and can slide around while working. This may feel odd and uncomfortable but farmers can get used to the new feeling over time. Gloves can come in many colours and thicknesses, which may make a farmer's hands look funny or larger. Human skin is very stretchy and flexible, while glove materials tend to be tougher than skin and will reduce movement, but not enough to hinder work. Rubber gloves can stretch well, but make hands sweat, while cloth gloves are breathable but reduce dexterity.</p>
[[Image:9.17 page-0001 (1).jpg|thumb|centre|Picture Based Lesson to Train Farmer|Click on the image to access a higher resolution image as well as lessons adapted for different geographic regions.]]</p>
          <p>Farmers can find gloves to use and get started from local vendors (European Commission For The Control Of Foot-And-Mouth Disease, 2016). Once you have completed your work for the day you can clean them are reuse them, or dispose of them if they were ripped or torn (Kim, et al., 2013). You can get gloves made of rubber and like materials as well as ones made of durable cloths. The thin rubber gloves tend to be made for a single use only. A trick that the European Commission For The Control Foot-And-Mouth Disease mentions that you can wear two pairs of rubber gloves at the same time for extra protection (European Commission For The Control Of Foot-And-Mouth Disease, 2016).</p>
<p>http://www.sakbooks.com/uploads/8/1/5/7/81574912/9.17__south_asian_eng.pdf</p>
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<p>http://www.sakbooks.com/uploads/8/1/5/7/81574912/9.17east_southeast_asia_englishversion.pdf</p>
<p>http://www.sakbooks.com/uploads/8/1/5/7/81574912/9.17subsaharan_africa_carribean_engversion.pdf</p>
<p>http://www.sakbooks.com/uploads/8/1/5/7/81574912/9.17latin_america_eng_version.pdf</p>
<p>http://www.sakbooks.com/uploads/8/1/5/7/81574912/8.12n._africa_middleeast_eng_version.pdf</p>
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       <h1 class="title-bg">Links to Useful Resources</h1>
       <h3 class="title-bg">Helpful Links To Get Started </h3>
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          <p>Here are websites to find more information about how to obtain gloves:</p>
<p>http://www.amis-outlook.org/amis-about/en/ The AMIS website has a large amount of information regarding the market prices and current global and political issues that pertain to agriculture (AMIS, 2022). This website is also useful for looking at prices for certain crops and keeping updated on global news that could affect prices and trends in the future (AMIS, 2022).</p>
          <p>[https://www.alibaba.com/ Alibaba]</p>
          <p>[https://www.indiamart.com/ Indiamart]</p>
          <p>[http://www.store.nzfarmsource.co.nz/ Store Nzfarmsource]</p>
          <p>[https://www.adenna.com Adenna]</p>
          <p>[https://www.farmcity.co.za/ Farmcity]</p>
          <p>[https://www.crazystore.co.za/ Crazystore]</p>
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<p>Additionally the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) has a website with large amounts of information on agriculture and farming and current national news and government policies (Data Collection, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2022):
      <h3 class="title-bg">Usefull Images</h3>
https://www.fao.org/statistics/data-collection/en/</p>
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<p>This video describes an idea from Kenya where farmers’ markets are organized to help farmers sell directly to consumers. This video discusses the benefits of selling without a middleman.
                <div class="card">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pusPUO3LJLg&ab_channel=FarmKenya</p>
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<p>Short video about the problems of using a middleman and why farmers should remove them from the equation.
                <div class="card">
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNJMi9EenG4&ab_channel=PostHarvestTechnologies</p>
                  <div class="fakeimg fakeimg-use">[[File:3.jpg]]</div>
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<p>Video about the positives and negatives of using a middle man.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73fPJ_vm4FI&ab_channel=ChannelsTelevision </p>
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                  <div class="fakeimg fakeimg-use">[[File:4.jpg]]</div>
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      <h1 class="title-bg">References</h1>
        <div class="cont-bg">
          <p>1.Abebe, G. K., Bijman, J. and Royer, A. (2016). Are middlemen facilitators or barriers to improve smallholders' welfare in rural economies? Empirical evidence from Ethiopia. Journal of Rural Studies  43, 203-213. https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/271785/1-s2.0-S0743016715X00076/1-s2.0-S0743016715300553/main.pdf?X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEN3%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJIMEYCIQDQs5GniyQXvWBVeXvhXq6NeKDZbecOl9LzIUDQ0WWxXgIhALz2qkhNViOGE</p>


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<p>2.AMIS (2022). Agricultural Market Information System. Retrieved September 28, 2022,
                <div class="card">
from http://www.amis-outlook.org/amis-about/en/ Data collection | Food and
                  <div class="fakeimg fakeimg-use">[[File:5.jpg]]</div>
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (n.d.). FAO. Retrieved September 28,
                </div>
2022, from https://www.fao.org/statistics/data-collection/en/</p>
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              <div class="column" style="max-width: 28%;">
<p>3.Bizikova, L. et al. (2020). A scoping review of the contributions of farmers’ organization to
                <div class="card">
smallholder agriculture.  Nature Food. 1, 620-630
                  <div class="fakeimg fakeimg-use">[[File:6.jpg]]</div>
Retrieved September 28, 2022, from
                </div>
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-00164-x</p>
              </div>
<p>4.Malla, S. (2021) Situation of vegetable production and it’s marketing in the context of rural           
            </div>
farmers: a case study. Food  and Agri Economics Review, 3, 124-126  http://doi.org/10.26480?faer.02.2021.124.126</p>
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<p> 5.Ouma, S. A., Odongo, T.M. and Were, M. (2017). Mobile financial services and financial inclusion: Is it a boon for  savings mobilization? Review of Development Finance  7(1), 29-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rdf.2017.01.001</p>


  <div style="margin-top: 30px;">
<p>6.Permadi, R.and Winarti, L. (2018). The Analysis of Factors Affecting Farmers' Accessibility Towards  Markets and Its Relation to Farmers' Bargaining Position. Journal Manajemen dan
      <h3 class="title-bg">References</h3>
Agribisnis, 15(1), 10.  
        <div class="cont-bg">
https://www.mendeley.com/search/?page=1&query=The%20Analysis%20of%20Factors
          <p>Espasandín-Arias, M., & Goossens, A. (2014). Natural rubber gloves might not protect against skin penetration of methylisothiazolinone. Contact Dermatitis, 70(4), 249-251. doi:10.1111/cod.12221</p>
%20Affecting%20Farmers%27%20Accessibility%20Towards%20Markets%20and%20It
          <p>European Commission For The Control Of Foot-And-Mouth Disease. Suggested FMD PPE guidelines - Food and Agriculture, (2016)
s%20Relation%20to%20Farmers%27%20Bargaining%20Position&sortBy=relevance</p>
          Food and Agriculture Organization. Rural women in household production: Increasing contributions and persisting drudgery. (2016).
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          </p>
          <p>Furlong, M., Tanner, C. M., Goldman, S. M., Bhudhikanok, G. S., Blair, A., Chade, A., . . . Kamel, F. (2015). Protective glove use and hygiene habits modify the associations of specific pesticides with Parkinson's disease. Environment International, 75, 144-150. doi:10.1016/j.envint.2014.11.002</p>
          <p>Keeble, V. B., Correll, L., & Ehrich, M. (1996). Effect of Laundering on Ability of Glove Fabrics to Decrease the Penetration of Organophosphate Insecticides Through in vitro Epidermal Systems. J. Appl. Toxicol. Journal of Applied Toxicology, 16(5), 401-406. doi:10.1002/(sici)1099-1263(199609)16:53.3.co;2-6</p>
          <p>Kim, J., Kim, J., Cha, E., Ko, Y., Kim, D., & Lee, W. (2013). Work-Related Risk Factors by Severity for Acute Pesticide Poisoning Among Male Farmers in South Korea. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 10(3), 1100-1112. doi:10.3390/ijerph10031100</p>
          <p>Melco, M. (2016). Gardening Gloves. Retrieved from [http://garden.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Gardening_Gloves Garden Lovetoknow]</p>
          <p>Schaffner, A. D. (2013). Minimizing Surgical Skin Incision Scars with a Latex Surgical Glove. Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, 37(2), 463-463. doi:10.1007/s00266-013-0071-y</p>
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Latest revision as of 12:36, 29 December 2023

8.17/8.18 - Use of a friend in the city to obtain selling price, sell directly


Anthony Turjuman, University of Guelph, Canada

4.jpg

Suggested citation for this chapter.

Turjuman,A. (2022) Use of a friend in the city to obtain selling price, sell directly. In Farmpedia, The Encyclopedia for Small Scale Farmers. Editor, M.N. Raizada, University of Guelph, Canada. http://www.farmpedia.org

Introduction

The challenge that I will be analyzing is that small scale farmers are unaware of the correct market prices of their harvested products and hence are exploited. Furthermore, often they have to pay large sums of money in order to have a middleman take their products to the market to be sold. This ultimately decreases their profit margins and takes money away from the farmer and their family. To that point, a study was conducted which confirmed that those who used a middleman to sell their goods made 10% less profit (Abebe et al., 2016, p210). Additionally, these farmers are sometimes scared to refuse to pay these middlemen their desired commission (Permadi and Winarti, 2018, p7). This is due to the fact that they would threaten to stop working with them and simply find another farmer who would be willing to pay him more (Permadi and Winarti, 2018, p7). One solution to eliminate this issue is for the farmer, a friend or member of their family to enter urban markets, find out the correct, fair-market prices for their products directly from vendors, and then go into town and sell the products themselves. That way they would not have to deal with middle men or be exploited.

Benefits Of Selling Farm Products Without A Third Party

The best way to find out fair market pricing would be to ask a trusted friend or family member who lives in the city to communicate the daily market pricing, perhaps via an SMS text message or a phone call. The mobile phone penetration rate is very high in South Asia and Africa (Ouma et al., 2017, p30). If this is not possible, then a family member (e.g. teenager) could consult the internet at internet cafes which are becoming more common (Ouma et al., 2018, p7). The next step would be for a farmer to use this information to decide product pricing, perhaps with help from local farmer organizations (Bizikova et al., 2020). The next step is to secure the transportation necessary to bring products to the market, which is challenging: 68% of the farmers who were surveyed in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, did not have access to transportation (Permadi and Winarti, 2018, p7). However, a solution to this issue would be an agreement between neighboring farmers to hire a truck and truck driver together and split the cost of it. As this may be time consuming, a secondary solution could be that the farmers hire someone in the city who will help them deliver their products, as already mentioned. There are most likely many people in the city who are well versed in the market practices and would be willing to earn extra income.

Critical Analysis

Although this method has the potential to be successful and save farmers a large amount of money, there are also some associated problems. An obvious issue as already noted is that there will be more work required of the farmers if they are selling their crops themselves. There is much more preparation involved as well as the time it would take to physically transport all the crops to the market and then spend a large portion of the day selling the products, rather than maintaining the crops that are still growing. The earlier study noted in Central Kalimantan (Permadi and Winarti, 2018, p7) validates this statement, as when farmers were asked why they chose to use a middleman, 79% stated that it was because selling the crops themselves was too much work. Another limitation, dependent on the quantity of product that farmers have available to sell, is access to wholesale markets. Some small scale farmers earn more income from their crops by using a middleman than on their own (Abebe et al., 2016, p211). This is because they would not be able to directly sell to the wholesalers with their small amount of crop (Abebe et al., 2016, p211). Since the middleman is providing these wholesalers with crops from a few small farms, they have the quantity necessary to sell in bulk and by extension, sell for a higher price (Abebe et al., 2016, p211). However, this issue would not apply to farmers with larger farms, or farmers who can form cooperatives and sell in a larger volume, as already noted. Another challenge with a farmer selling crops on their own is the lack of relationships with buyers (Abebe et al., 2016, p211. To elaborate, when receiving large amounts of crops from new farmers, the vendor will want to do a quality check upon receiving them to ensure that they are not receiving sub-standard food products (Abebe et al., 2016, p211. Furthermore, when the wholesalers do this, they often do not inspect each bag of products thoroughly and instead assume that there are some less than average products included and pay the farmers the average price (Abebe et al., 2016, p211. This could be problematic, as some farmers would receive less money than their product is actually worth. Some farmers prefer working through middlemen because it is often easier for them to resolve these issues and negotiate a better price with wholesalers that is fairer for all parties included. Therefore, in some situations, it is due to a middleman’s relationships in the market that they may be able to secure farmers with better deals and negotiate on their behalf (Abebe et al., 2016, p211). Therefore, the success of friend or family members in the city depends on their ability to establish trusted relationships with vendors.

Links to Useful Resources

http://www.amis-outlook.org/amis-about/en/ The AMIS website has a large amount of information regarding the market prices and current global and political issues that pertain to agriculture (AMIS, 2022). This website is also useful for looking at prices for certain crops and keeping updated on global news that could affect prices and trends in the future (AMIS, 2022).

Additionally the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) has a website with large amounts of information on agriculture and farming and current national news and government policies (Data Collection, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2022): https://www.fao.org/statistics/data-collection/en/

This video describes an idea from Kenya where farmers’ markets are organized to help farmers sell directly to consumers. This video discusses the benefits of selling without a middleman. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pusPUO3LJLg&ab_channel=FarmKenya

Short video about the problems of using a middleman and why farmers should remove them from the equation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNJMi9EenG4&ab_channel=PostHarvestTechnologies

Video about the positives and negatives of using a middle man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73fPJ_vm4FI&ab_channel=ChannelsTelevision

References

1.Abebe, G. K., Bijman, J. and Royer, A. (2016). Are middlemen facilitators or barriers to improve smallholders' welfare in rural economies? Empirical evidence from Ethiopia. Journal of Rural Studies 43, 203-213. https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/271785/1-s2.0-S0743016715X00076/1-s2.0-S0743016715300553/main.pdf?X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjEN3%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FwEaCXVzLWVhc3QtMSJIMEYCIQDQs5GniyQXvWBVeXvhXq6NeKDZbecOl9LzIUDQ0WWxXgIhALz2qkhNViOGE

2.AMIS (2022). Agricultural Market Information System. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from http://www.amis-outlook.org/amis-about/en/ Data collection | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (n.d.). FAO. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://www.fao.org/statistics/data-collection/en/

3.Bizikova, L. et al. (2020). A scoping review of the contributions of farmers’ organization to smallholder agriculture. Nature Food. 1, 620-630 Retrieved September 28, 2022, from https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-00164-x

4.Malla, S. (2021) Situation of vegetable production and it’s marketing in the context of rural farmers: a case study. Food and Agri Economics Review, 3, 124-126 http://doi.org/10.26480?faer.02.2021.124.126

5.Ouma, S. A., Odongo, T.M. and Were, M. (2017). Mobile financial services and financial inclusion: Is it a boon for savings mobilization? Review of Development Finance 7(1), 29-35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rdf.2017.01.001

6.Permadi, R.and Winarti, L. (2018). The Analysis of Factors Affecting Farmers' Accessibility Towards Markets and Its Relation to Farmers' Bargaining Position. Journal Manajemen dan Agribisnis, 15(1), 10. https://www.mendeley.com/search/?page=1&query=The%20Analysis%20of%20Factors %20Affecting%20Farmers%27%20Accessibility%20Towards%20Markets%20and%20It s%20Relation%20to%20Farmers%27%20Bargaining%20Position&sortBy=relevance

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