Improving Economies for Stronger Communities (IESC)
2000 M Street NW
Suite 250
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202-589-2600
Email: iesc@iesc.org
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Market-Driven Agriculture
With a world population expected to reach nine billion by 2050, the ability to feed humanity is a huge global challenge. For developing economies, the challenge is even bigger. They already face low productivity, unpredictable growing conditions, low access to credit, and difficult conditions for food export and market access. We support agricultural markets that boost rural incomes and grow businesses, while improving food security and promoting sustainable management of natural resources. We help with access to resources and technologies that strengthen the management of farms and agribusinesses, and also provide technical, managerial, and trade support. We are addressing financial conditions that hinder growth for individual farmers, as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises. We also specialize in creating agribusiness jobs for women and youth.
Approach and Expertise
“Market-driven” means our interventions target crops and products with real, viable markets. We address the needs and challenges of the agricultural sector while simultaneously leveraging real business opportunities, catalyzing private sector investment, and addressing global food demand.
- We facilitate access to resources and technologies to meet demand and strengthen business management of farms and agribusinesses.
- We focus on entrepreneurs and enterprises that have a demonstrated willingness and capability to expand or upgrade to act on market opportunities.
- We provide technical, managerial, and trade support to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) seeking to enter the global marketplace and to local organizations that support these SMEs.
We provide hands-on, practical training to address needs across the agribusiness cycle—from plant to plate.
Our Work in Action
In Dominican Republic, we train producer groups, cooperatives, and their members to meet international standards for safety and quality and to access regional and international markets, working within the full supply and distribution ecosystem of high-value fruits and vegetables, such as avocado and pineapple.
In Ghana, we strengthen the food safety compliance system for fruits and vegetables to increase exports and grow the economy. We brought together the government and private sector to establish a strong system to identify when and where food safety and quality problems are introduced—at growing, harvest, processing, or packaging.
In Mali, we connect women and youth entrepreneurs in agriculture with loans backed by USAID’s Development Credit Authority loan guarantee program.