The Collective Action as Potential Driver of Bottom-up Reconfiguration from Captive to Relational Value Chain : the Case Study of the Northern District in Sierra Leone

In recent decades, the increasing growth rate of the African cashew business has involved a large number of corporate actors such as global retailers, processors and exporters in cashew supply networks. The increasing role of agro-food supply chains enables African countries to enhance their position in global markets and to sustain local development and growth, by encouraging a higher market-orientation in the governance of global value chains. In this paper, an exploratory analysis based on a questionnaire involving 319 smallholder farmers in the North of Sierra Leone is conducted in order to explore the role of collective action in driving the potential bottom-up reconfiguration of cashew value chain. A change from captive to relational governance is expected to positively support the local industry upgrading, to reduce transaction costs and information asymmetries, and to increase the local development and growth by enhancing employment creation and poverty alleviation

Impact of certification on fruit producers in the Sao Francisco Valley in Brazil

Producers and exporters of fresh fruits and vegetables from developing countries like Brazil are increasingly required to demonstrate the safety and traceability of their produce up to the consumption stage. In fact, the Brazilian export market is still relatively underdeveloped, with an export share of only 2.4% of the total produced volume. However, certification may also have the effect of a non-tariff trade barrier, undermining the capability and financial ability of especially small-scale farmers in exporting to international markets. This study, therefore, aims at providing an economic analysis of certification on mango and grapes producers. A survey of 303 grapes and mango farmers was conducted in 2006 in the Juazeiro and Petrolina regions of the Sao Francisco Valley in Brazil. Certified and non-certified farmers as well as those in process to obtain certification were included in the sample. Empirical analysis using a logit model shows that grapes farmers have higher probability to certify than mango growers. There are two variables which have a positive and significant effect: education and experience. However, small-scale farms, the dependency on non-agricultural income and a trust-based arrangement have a negative but significant effect.Certification, fruits, logit model

Small and Medium Enterprises in the Agriculture Value Chain: Opportunities and Recommendations

Authored in collaboration with Oxfam, this report analyzes the effectiveness of development programs in addressing the effectiveness of SME agricultural value chains, and dissect whether these interventions would be Social Enterprises (SEs) in agriculture in Asia. The paper makes recommendations for donors and development agencies that seek to support SEs in agriculture

Supermarkets, New-Generation Wholesalers, Tomato Farmers, and NGOs in Nicaragua

Based on a survey of 145 tomato farmers and interviews with supermarket chains, NGOs, wholesalers, and farmer organizations in 2004, this paper examines the determinants and effects of farmers' participation in supermarket channels, with and without assistance from NGOs in "business linkage" programs. It finds that absent that assistance, the farmers that work with supermarket chains tend to be the "upper tier" of small farmers, better capitalized with various assets. The smaller and less-capitalized farmers that work with supermarkets tend to do so in association with NGO assistance. Despite higher input expenditures and entry requirements, farmers in the supermarket chain earn more. The paper discusses the issue of whether this development program approach is sustainable and can be upscaled, and wrestles with the tradeoff of helping poor farmers gain access to dynamic markets, of making it affordable at a larger scale by national governments with tight budgets, and at the same time field programs that are market-sustainable and market-responsive.Marketing,

Value chains of cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) in a centre of diversity and its on-farm implications

This paper uses value chain analysis as a novel method to examine the conservation status of and strategies for cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.), an underutilized, perennial fruit species native to the Andean valleys of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. It was found that value chain features such as market channels, chain governance, quality performance and distribution of added value over chain actors differ significantly between cherimoya fruits that are registered by a collective trademark such as the Cumbe variety and another group of more traditionally produced and commercialized cherimoya fruits. The former is exported from its production area (Lima province in Peru) to neighboring Andean countries, is graded and selected intensively, has a higher quality perception and creates significantly more added value for both producers and traders than the other, locally produced cherimoyas whose value chain is governed less intensively. Previous studies on the genetic diversity of cherimoya in the countries of origin have stressed the necessity of conserving cherimoya germplasm in areas characterized by highly diverse (southern Ecuador and northern Peru) or rare (Bolivia) cherimoya germplasm. Although value chain development is generally considered crucial in on-farm conservation of underutilized species, the example of the Cumbe cherimoya shows that intraspecific diversity can be threatened by commercial success. Farmers who believe that quality is exclusively linked to a certain genotype have purchased Cumbe cherimoya grafts from each other, leading to genetic erosion of the local cherimoya genetic base

Innovation Trajectories in Honduras’ Coffee Value Chain. Public and Private Influence on the Use of New Knowledge and Technology among Coffee Growers

In this paper, results from a study on the use of improved coffee production technology schemes among smallholder coffee producers in three prominent coffee producing regions in Honduras are presented. The impact of various schemes (trajectories) in which different agents influence the producers’ decision to use new technologies was analyzed. In particular, there are differences in the influence of a) private coffee buying organizations and b) government and public development agencies on the innovation behavior of coffee growers. Drawing from network data that depict the internal and outbound connectedness of producers in three village communities in main coffee producing zones in Honduras, tools of social network analysis were applied to find out how interactions with certain agents, separately and cumulatively, has influenced their use of improved methods in coffee production and marketing. The results suggest that there are significant differences in the way that various providers of knowledge and technology, especially private buyers and development agencies, influence the farmers’ behavior towards innovation. The influence of buyers, according to the data, is focused on certification and quality aspects, whereas development agents focus on improved agronomic practices. Farmers who communicate with the extension branch of input providers tend to be more innovative. These results suggest that development programs should take more seriously into account the role of private actors in innovation among agricultural producers and, hence, design development programs in such a way to allow for collaboration with these agents.coffee production, innovation, upgrading, social networks, Honduras, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Risk and Uncertainty,

Agri-food business: Global challenges â Innovative solutions

The rise of a western-style middle class in many successful emerging economies like China currently is inducing deep structural changes on agricultural world markets and within the global agri-food business. As a result of both higher incomes and concerns over product safety and quality the global demand for high-quality and safe food products is increasing significantly. In order to meet the new required quality, globally minimum quality standards are rising and private standards emerging. All over the world these developments cause adjustments at the enterprise, chain and market levels. At the same time, the tremendously increasing demand for renewable energy has led to the emergence of a highly promising market for biomass production. This has far-reaching consequences for resource allocation in the agri-food business, for the environment, for the poor in developing countries and for agricultural policy reforms. The challenges increase with ongoing liberalisation, globalisation and standardisation, all of which change trade patterns for agricultural and food commodities, and influence production costs and commodity prices. The objective of the IAMO Forum is to show opportunities as well as risks for all participants of the food economy in the ongoing globalisation process: for small peasants in developing countries, farmers in Europe and globally active food enterprises and retailers. The success of enterprises depends on the ability to find innovative solutions with regard to the organisation of enterprises, chains, and markets, as well as future policy design. Concerning bio-energy strategies has to be identified to combat global warming most efficiently and concurrently attenuate the competition between "tank and table" on farmland. IAMO Forum 2008, as well as this book, would not have been possible without the engagement of many people and institutions. We thank the authors of the papers, as well as the referees. Furthermore we are highly indebted to MARLIES LOHR, NADINE GIEMSA and RONNY RECKE who in an outstanding way contributed to the organisation of the Forum. This is true as well for the IAMO administration, whose work we gratefully acknowledge. Many sponsors has funded the IAMO Forum 2008. We are very grateful to the German Research Foundation (DFG), The Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Production in Germany, The Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Federal State Saxony-Anhalt, Germany and last but not least the City of Halle. Further Conference sponsors are the BIONADE Corporation, Gaensefurther Mineral Water, The Wine Growers Association of the Region Saale-Unstrut, Germany, Obsthof am SüÃen See GmbH, Monsanto Company, KWS Saat AG, Sachsen-Anhalt-Tours, Baumkuchen Salzwedel and the Hallesches Brauhaus.Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Industrial Organization, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Marketing, Political Economy,

It's a small world after all: Defining smallholder agriculture in Ghana

"Strategies for boosting the agricultural economies of developing countries usually focus on small farms, attempting, for example, to link smallholders with markets through production chain development. However, such strategies often fail to differentiate between different types of small farmers or to investigate the distribution of assets within the group—efforts that are important because unequal distributions of assets can restrict pro-poor growth. Further, strategies to develop production chains favor some small farmers over others (i.e., those already participating in targeted chains and those with relatively more productive assets). Using landholding size as an organizational filter, we performed a basic descriptive analysis of smallholder traits in Ghana, using data from the 2005–2006 Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS5). We found strong inequalities in landholding distributions within Ghana's small-farm sector in all regions of the country. Using a classification of smallholders we derived based on landholding size, we examined a variety of small-farm traits and found that many of the broadly perceived defining characteristics of smallholder agriculture—such as low input use and low market engagement—are negatively correlated with landholding size. The crowding of farms at the smaller end of the small-farm spectrum in Ghana suggests that rural development strategies based on expanding existing market chains will face challenges in connecting with the bulk of small producers, who are less well endowed than average statistics indicate." from authors' abstractsmall farms, Smallholder production, Agricultural development,