Small-scale farmers around the world have long sold their goods into both global and local markets. But over the last 20 years – reflecting a shift towards market-based approaches in international development – foreign aid agencies and NGOs have promoted the inclusion of smallholders in high-end, transnational value chains as a solution to challenges such as rural poverty, gender inequality and deforestation.

Donors and NGOs have argued that if smallholders sell into more lucrative markets, they can make bigger profits. In turn, this is expected to stimulate growth in rural areas, by enabling small-scale farmers to earn more – and invest more in their farms.

Inclusion has also been touted as a way to address environmental impacts linked to small-scale farming, by helping farmers adopt more sustainable agricultural practices.

Smallholder inclusion is about supporting farmers to connect to more profitable markets, by helping them overcome barriers to access, usually by providing finance, training and other services and resources.

For example, in one programme, smallholders in Guatemala were given the training, infrastructure and market links that led them to supply Walmart with onions and French beans.

And in Ghana, Mondelez International (one of the world’s biggest chocolate manufacturers) is working with cocoa farming unions to teach smallholders about climate change adaptation strategies and income diversification, while also committing to buying large quantities of cocoa from the smallholders, and being transparent about the terms of trade.