WHY BUYER-SELLER LINKAGES ARE NEEDED

When exporting companies in Africa or Asia decide to buy vegetables from smallholders, they must be sure of both the quantity and quality of the supply.

When smallholders in these countries decide to grow vegetables for sale to an exporting company, they need to be sure of a reliable market, a fair price and support services for their production.

These conditions are more likely to be met if strong buyer-seller linkages are developed. For this purpose, procedures must be in place:

• to assess the long term viability of the proposed enterprise and to ensure that the necessary conditions are present for successful production;
• to ensure that both buyers and sellers understand and fulfil their obligations to the other party, thereby reducing the risk of the partnership collapsing;
• to build trust and recognition of inter-dependence between the buyers and the sellers.

Survey techniques have been developed for assessing demand and satisfying production requirements.

The following case study discusses the smallholder-exporter relationship from the buyer's point of view.