Farming as a Business Extension Tool

“Farming as a Business” (FAAB) is Mercy Corps Nepal’s project-based extension approach to working with farmers groups during agricultural interventions. FAAB is a form of private sector development, its ultimate target is low-income, smallholder farmers, and all of Mercy Corps Nepal’s social inclusion indicators apply at the project level. While in almost all cases, farmer-level activities will be supplemented with activities at the input, trade, markets and policy levels, which will vary by commodity and value chain, we believe that FAAB forms the core of a successful agricultural intervention.

MC-N’s FAAB Extension Approach is very much aligned with the evolutionary Extension System of Nepal. This trend is very pronounced in South and South East Asia as paradigm shift in the focus of production-led to market-led extension approach.

This extension tool was produced by Mercy Corps Nepal to develop farming enterprises. The tool outlines nine steps under three main headings: strategic alignment and mobilization, technical capacity building and institutional capacity building. The core of the tool centers on capacity building associated with production systems, technical services, agri-business management and agri-marketing.