In Malawi especially the agricultural sector, it is widely undisputable that businesses rise and fall on the platform marketing. It therefore key to understand that marketing is a key part of business success both in the agricultural and business sectors. This modules hence, aims to shade more light on these concepts with a specific focus on the Smallholder farmer. The main focus will be on the concept of the Commercial Village Model and Marketing dynamics. Commercialization is the process of graduating smallholder farmers from subsistence production processes to market led production systems that respond to market forces and demands, commercialization is not production led, it is a market led process which is a system of business activities designed to create, promote and deliver goods and services to consumers and  businesses. In marketing, you need to decide the following; which customers to target, how you will reach and win new customers, how to keep existing customers happy and you need to keep reviewing and improving everything you do to stay ahead of the competition. To achieve this successfully you need to develop and implement a marketing plan. This process must then be properly managed to ensure Small Holder Farmers benefit from out interventions.

• To help Smallholder farmers understand the concept of a Commercial Village Model
• To increase and improve the capacity of Smallholder farmers to effectively understand market dynamics

• To enhance the Commercialization and Marketing knowledge and skills among the small, medium enterprises, (SMEs).

At the end of this module, the smallholder farmers should be able to

• Gain knowledge and understanding on the Commercial Village Model
• Understand the Commercial Village Model, governance structures and marketing concepts
• To facilitate understanding of the commercialization and agribusiness  concept for application in the day to day operations
• To enhance adoption of a market-led approach, a prerequisite for commercialization, by the smallholders and SMEs and their clients in conducting business