Farm produce works its way through complex networks, around the world, dally. Markets don't work in simple ways, and their everyday existence has a direct impact on everyone involved in earning a livelihood. In an environment where the market is rapidly evolving, isolated communities are often unaware of how they can benefit from it. Successful exchange of produce is hinged on a delicate balance of demand and supply, buying and selling. The marketplace is the centrifugal point; the hub re-enacting the concept by the second - from the global to the local. For many getting to Market is not as simple as it sounds. For small-scale farmers in Africa and South Asia, it presents a number of problems. What transport is available, and is it reliable or affordable? What do they do with their produce if they know how much they can sell it for, can they negotiate a fair price, or will they get less than they should? Do they have any alternatives to selling fresh produce at local markets? This publication is about these people. It is about the problems they face, and the steps they are taking to solve them to achieve their market potential. There are alternatives to losing harvested fruits and crops. There are ways of giving people the power to know what the modern market is about, what the modern market requires, and why. It is an unpredictable environment, and market requirements change quickly. By working together with other stakeholders, those at the bottom have more chance of joining the market chain. Partnerships for Innovation is an approach which has stitched groups together to find solutions to everyday problems. Coalitions work together to research and overcome challenges, to their market potential. Research is not conducted in isolation. but as a partnership with those who are going to use it every day. Over the past ten years, research funded by the UK's Department for International Development, through its Crop Post-Harvest Programme, has looked at some of the world's poorest people bringing their goods to market. We talked to stakeholders from small-scale farmers to the Ministry of Agriculture, in Kenya, Uganda and India, to listen to their problems and their hopes. Their words are reflected in the following pages. Through partnerships, farmers are beginning to understand the way the market works, so that they can make decisions themselves. Science and technology, and new ways of working together, are helping farmers to overcome challenges they face on meeting market demands. Are they starting to understand what lies behind the market?

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