Obstacles of Agricultural Input Sellers in Emerging Markets

Input suppliers play such a pivotal role in agricultural value chain development that practitioners must prioritize them as part of any programmatic intervention to assist farmers in developing countries.

FREMONT, CA: Globally, agricultural input retailers provide farmers with the necessary supplies and services to cultivate crops and expand their businesses. The products may include seeds, animal feed, nutrition, insecticides, machinery, and technology. They offer farmers advisory services, such as crop input information and spraying, and range in size from small, family-owned businesses to cooperatives and major corporations. They can also be a significant source of finance for farmers. Due to their prominent position in the agricultural value chain, development practitioners must prioritize input suppliers as part of their programmatic intervention to assist farmers in emerging economies.

Limited business expertise: In underdeveloped communities, input sellers frequently operate without the necessary business support and training. Very immature business abilities to support accounting, marketing, general management, and personnel can result in inefficient operations. Knowing how to market or offer new deals effectively is difficult for shops with limited expertise. 

Low demand: Due to a lack of financial resources, poor organization, and seasonal fluctuations, most smallholder farmers demand inputs in extremely tiny quantities. Some farmers who can only buy a few kilograms at a time need help with the packing sizes available for fertilizer. It makes it increasingly more difficult for suppliers of inputs to offer farmers quality inputs at the proper time and place.

Infrastructure: One of the significant obstacles to reaching farmers is the considerable distances that retailers must travel on roads with poor infrastructure (which increases during the rainy season) to obtain their supplies. The increase in distance and transport expenses impacts the price at which they may sell their goods or services and imposes commercial restrictions on the input retailer's ability to remain competitive and accessible to smallholders.

Need for more market information: As climate change and pest/insect resistance significantly impact smallholder farmers, input sellers must also adapt. Retailers of agricultural inputs require further training for agricultural extension research, current information, and agricultural items. It is difficult for input retailers to get the most recent market data.

Lack of funds: Input retailers confront a significant obstacle in the form of inadequate operating capital. They are frequently unable to appropriately stock their shelves and stores and fail to provide farmers with necessary inputs. It reduces upstream and downstream market reach, affecting the retailers' ability to acquire information from their suppliers.