Purchase for Progress Brings Hope to Small Farmers Worldwide

Ken Davies, Global Coordinator for P4P

In 2009, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) launched the Purchase for Progress (P4P) initiative, a pilot program designed to boost agricultural development and markets in developing countries by purchasing food from smallholder and low-income farmers. The five-year pilot program will be implemented in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

“P4P aims to link poor small farmers at the grassroots level into commercial markets,” said Ken Davies, Global Coordinator for P4P. “By buying food from these farmers, WFP stimulates markets, agricultural production and the local economy.”

In its early days in the 1960s, WFP mainly distributed surplus food donated by wealthier nations to countries that needed assistance. Now WFP buys most of its food, and for years the agency’s policy has been to buy as much food in the countries where it operates as possible. P4P takes this policy a step further by not only putting cash in the pockets of small farmers, but also providing them with the know-how and technology to become competitive players in the marketplace.

These children from Mozambique will benefit from their parents’ involvement in Purchase for Progress.

The majority of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas and most rely on farming for food and income. According to Davies, WFP generally works with small rural farmers, buying produce at market price to ensure that it does not disrupt local markets. That food is then distributed to hungry people in the same country. WFP and its partner organizations also train farmers on subjects such as food safety, how to run an organization and how to manage credit so that they can enter and succeed in the local marketplace.

P4P also places an emphasis on gender equality in agriculture. Although more than half of the people engaged in farming in developing countries are women, farmer groups in these countries are usually comprised of about 80 percent men, Davies said. WFP encourages the participation of women in business with efforts such as requiring that half of the spots in a training class go to women.

A market involved with Purchase for Progress in Burkina Faso.

Davies said that P4P’s first year has set a strong foundation for its success in the future, and emphasized the critical importance of bringing food security to developing countries. “Food is the most basic human need,” said Davies. “Until we solve the problem of hunger, we can’t make progress in any other sphere.”

WFP cannot do this alone. Its success depends on a network of partners in which public-private partnerships are a key element. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Howard G. Buffett Foundation have committed $79 million to P4P. Funds for the local procurement of food come from donor government contributions. WFP also relies on agricultural traders and suppliers.