The Enterprise, Trade and Food Management Group has been formed to create a more multidisciplinary systems approach which combines traditional areas of expertise in market and commodity economics and post-harvest management, with areas of increasingly strategic importance such as supply chain management, market governance and livelihoods development in a market economy.  Our research and innovation programmes aim to benefit the poor through facilitating improved household security, wider market participation and improved market efficiency, and are centred on viable socio-economic, technical and environmentally-responsible policies and practices.   Our work is clustered through Programmes encompassing expertise in:

• Development of smallholder production, management and marketing systems to meet public and private sector standards and market needs;
• Innovations in value chain governance and partnerships for smallholder and SME development;
• Evaluation and design of finance packages for rural households and entrepreneurs, and promoting rural financial initiatives;
• Support to commodity trade and finance, including market liberalisation in Africa;
• Supporting the demand from farmers and processors for remunerative market through systems-based approaches to post-production technical, socio-economic and regulatory challenges;
• Understanding the impact of trade measures and agreements on the livelihoods of poor people in developing countries;
• Capacity development through teaching (up to MSc level) and professional development training for developmental specialists, farmers, SMEs, trade negotiators, regulators and food inspectors

Our programmes of work:

The Group undertakes research, consultancy and training and further details of our work can be found at:

• Regulatory Compliance
• Enterprise Development
• Agricultural Markets
• Agriculture Trade and Finance
• Rural Finance
• Food Safety and Quality

Research is the major area of our work and the Group and its southern partners has been a significant contributor to the Renewable Natural Resources Research Strategy (RNRRS) of the UK Government's Department for International Development (DFID). More