Smallholder Horticulture Empowerment and Promotion (SHEP) Approach is an extension and advisory approach, aiming to help farmers to access and benefit from markets by changing their mindset from “Grow and Sell” to “Grow to Sell”.  

It was developed through the technical cooperation project in Kenya and managed to double the income of the targeted smallholder farmers. In the SHEP Approach, farmers visit an adjacent market and conduct market survey to see for themselves and better understand the market’s functioning. Based on this experience, they then develop a crop calendar or a business plan according to the identified market demands. Having seen and understood what the price, required quality, timing and volume of production is, the target farmers were able to better adapt their farming and production to the market demands. They moved thus to “Farming as Business” by establishing relations with market actors and filling the information gap regarding quality, price etc. As a result, their livelihoods improved. Another key feature of the SHEP Approach is motivating farmers through Self Determination Theory which boosts adoption rate of good practices. The SHEP Approach proves that it is possible to improve farmers’ livelihoods by tapping into local human and technical resources, without advanced technology.