When markets do not work well for the poor in this way, the result is a high-risk environment for small-scale producers and smallholders, which prevents them from investing in more productive technologies and in expanding their productive capacity. Farmers are naturally reluctant to spend limited resources on fertilisers and high yield seeds when, in addition to climatic risks, they may face prices at harvest time that do not cover their costs or they could be left with a crop for which there is no demand in local markets. Women are particularly disadvantaged, both within the household economy and in the wider labour market.