Inclusive Supply Chain Development. This component will target high potential commodity supply chains. It provides intensive training in foundational business skills to farmer and producer groups, so they are more confident and able to engage in the supply chains and manage their farming as a business. It encourages like- minded farmers to organize themselves into producer organizations (POs) to achieve the necessary scale to better interact with buyers and service providers and increase efficiencies and competitiveness of their local supply chains. It establishes rolling cycles of multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) that includes Production Organizations, agribusinesses, financial institutions, service providers and other stakeholders, to build networks and business relationships, facilitate market linkages and stimulate investment opportunities for producers and MSMEs. It provides sustained mentoring to producer groups so they can take advantages of the opportunities that emerge through MSP processes. It promotes complementary investments by small and larger commercial service providers and co-operatives serving the clusters with direct or embedded services, including on climate smart agriculture technologies and practices. The MSPs are open platforms that provide a practical mechanism for financial service providers (FSPs) to better understand local demand and opportunities for them in offering financial services to various supply chain actors. Similarly, the MSPs provide a mechanism for local, state and federal government to understand specific needs for enabling public infrastructure and services to complement private investment. The expected close collaboration with municipal authorities is also important in achieving complementary public and private investment in technical services. In the context of COVID-19 and the potential prolonged need for safe social distancing practices, the substantial increase in collective marketing of farm produce through POs, with trucks collecting produce in bulk directly from the village, will dramatically reduce the number of small-scale producers having to regularly go to the market to sell their produce one by one. Greater use of electronic payments between buyers and producers will also reduce the need for face-to-face transactions. However, physical produce will still need to be aggregated and transported along the supply chain in a safe manner. Similarly, there will still need to be some safe face-to-face interaction, especially in the early stages...
