Small scale farmers have traditionally been growing local foods on a subsistence level. The advent of new technologies led to increased production and the surpluses were being marketed primarily in the local markets. But the opening-up of the economy to global players and changing consumer food demands has had disastrous effects - agriculture became more market oriented, farmers lost control over their food systems to big agri-businesses and local foods got replaced by globally tradable commodities.
In such situations, a number of market models and institutions have been emerging for small farmers.
This issue of LEISA India focuses on such local alternatives which enable small farmers to get higher share in the consumer price.
