Markets

Acceso’s multi-buyer sales channel approach means smallholders will always have access to a well-priced and reliable market.

Domestic

Acceso focuses on building resilient and functional domestic markets to correct a long history of under-investment in food systems across Latin America and the Caribbean. This chronic lack of investment has left markets under-developed, unfulfilled, and dysfunctional, failing to provide the nutrition and livelihoods that populations need. The majority of food continues to be imported despite millions of smallholders struggling to make a living, with informal, unregulated markets as their only option. Acceso’s model resets this balance, developing a sustainable route to formal domestic markets for millions of farmers who have traditionally been excluded while also meeting the unmet needs of major buyers from restaurant chains to supermarkets. As well as benefiting farmers, this increases local production of more nutritious, healthy, and diverse food. Our buying partners include large international companies to leading local retailers. See them here.

Acceso’s approach has already shown results in El Salvador, where Acceso has become the leading smallholder sourcing business.

With a network of farmers growing more than 60 types of fruits and vegetables, fish, and seafood, Acceso has ensured homegrown products reach El Salvador’s largest national supermarket, Super Selectos, which had previously imported more than 95 percent of its produce. Wendy’s and Pizza Hut, for instance, now source 100 percent of their lettuce from Salvadoran smallholders through Acceso.

Global

Reaching international markets is a huge challenge for both smallholders and agribusinesses in developing countries. Buyers are often wary of quality control and the traceability of produce, in addition to requiring large quantities that individual farmers alone cannot produce. Many small operations do not have the infrastructure, resources, and financing needed to engage with the international market.

Acceso levels the playing field to ensure farmers can participate in global markets.

By aggregating produce from multiple suppliers, Acceso not only meets the demands of international markets but can also negotiate fair prices for farmers. Buyers can rest assured that the produce meets international standards thanks to Acceso’s strict quality control standards. In some cases, Acceso helps farmers turn their crops into high-quality products to be sold. In Haiti, for instance, Acceso helped bring local peanut farmers to the international market with Lavi Spicy Peanut Butter after increasing both peanut productivity and quality. Learn more about Lavi Peanut Butter here.

Humanitarian

Acceso strengthens local food systems to make smallholder farmers part of the solution and eliminate the need for imported food aid. Too often, subsidized imports become the safety net to feed materially poor and vulnerable communities, creating a cycle of dependency that undermines local producers. Acceso empowers smallholders to contribute to their own food security and food sovereignty by connecting farmers to humanitarian markets, creating a virtuous circle of self-sufficiency and resilience.

Acceso supports local farmers feeding local people, eliminating the need for imported food aid.

For example, in Colombia, Acceso leverages is commercialization systems to source nutritious food for humanitarian organizations at the border with Venezuela. As of 2022, the produce has helped provide tens of millions of meals to more than 250,000 Venezuelan refugees and migrants. In Haiti, Acceso has grown to become a leading source of smallholder-grown food for local feeding programs, feeding more than 12,000 children daily, with food produced within their own communities.

THE ACCESO SOLUTION

Acceso builds the entire
food system from seed to market.

To learn more, partner with us, or to support our work reach out at info@acceso.org