Business Planning: A Key Strategy for Success to Agribusiness Enterprises: The Case of AAA Agribusiness Entrepreneurs in East Africa

This study focused on examining the understanding of agribusiness entrepreneurs on the importance of business planning as a key strategy for the success of their business. Also it assesses the ability of entrepreneurs in writing sellable/bankable business plans and identifies the challenges they face in writing the business plans. The result shows that agribusiness entrepreneurs understand the importance of business planning. They are challenged by inability to obtain the very pertinent information resulting from thorough business environment scanning, market analyses and other feasibility studies which forms the basis input in writing the plan. Also they are challenged by inability to outsource business planning service. African Agribusiness Academy (AAA) contribution in addressing the challenges had been through provision of training, learning networks, and creation of resource centre for emerging entrepreneurs, it was revealed. The study also shows that entrepreneurs partner with government chambers, ministries and institutions, and local and international NGOs in the areas of training, technology and information sharing. The success of any business undertaking relies on thorough business environment scanning, market analysis, trend analysis and other feasibility studies using proper tools and models, where the resulted information is harnessed in business plans which act as a tool for business growth and sustainability. It is then recommended that a Regional Agribusiness Service Provider to be instituted which will include but not limited to analysis, forecasting and planning, global market prospecting and promoting, knowledge generation and diffusion, regulation and legislation, financing support, infrastructure and environmental control activities; from which agribusiness entrepreneurs can outsource the business planning services. Keywords: Agribusiness entrepreneurs, Business planning, African Agribusiness Academ

Modelling wheat and sugar markets in Eastern and Southern Africa. Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ReNAPRI)

The medium-term outlook for wheat and sugar markets in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa and Zambia depicts a mixed picture with regard to production, consumption, prices and trade development. It takes the latest trends, policies and market information into consideration, but remains subject to many uncertainties on upcoming market development, macroeconomics or policy changes over the period 2015 to 2024.JRC.D.4-Economics of Agricultur

The Determinants of Farmers’ Choice of Markets for Staple Food Commodities in Dodoma and Morogoro, Tanzania

Institutional and policy-induced factors affect farmers’ decisions on the choice of the marketto sell their staple foods. This results in low motivation to participate in the production and agriculturalcommodities’ commercialization. This study determines specific institutional and policy-inducedfactors affecting the farmers’ decisions regarding the staple food market choice in Tanzania. The studyuses household survey data collected from 820 farmers raising staple food crops (maize, rice, sorghum,and millet) randomly selected from the Dodoma and Morogoro regions, Tanzania. The indexmethod, descriptive statistics, and choice model (multinomial logit model) are used for data analysis.Qualitative policy analysis is used for analyzing policy-induced factors. Findings show a low levelof integration of farmers into staple food markets, with female-headed households facing morehurdles in accessing markets than male-headed households. Age, formal training, the value ofagricultural production, membership in organizations, access to credit, contractual arrangements,and distance to markets are significant factors driving farmers to choose a particular market tosell their produces. Restriction of selling and use of staple food commodities, instability of foodpolicy administration, and procedural operation obstacles are found to be key policy-induced factorsaffecting the marketing of staple food commodities in Tanzania. The scale of production, as depictedby the value of production, and supply contract arrangement with buyers are important factors toensure that farming households excel in lucrative markets through increased economies of scale andthe ability to reach critical volumes for supplying to various markets. Supporting market linkage andinfrastructure, as well as enforcing transparent and non-restrictive food marketing policies, wouldhelp many farmers enter into contractual arrangements that increase market access and improvemarket choices.Peer Reviewe

Effects of food safety standards on the livelihoods of actors in the nile perch value chain in Tanzania

DII working paper no.2007/24Exports of non-traditional products from developing to developed countries have increased rapidly over the past two decades. However, one of the major challenges facing developing countries in seeking to maintain and expand their share of global markets is stringent food-safety requirements in industrialized countries. The effects of compliance with these requirements and their distributional impacts among actors in developing countries are generally not well known. Based on this understanding, a study was conducted on the Tanzanian side of Lake Victoria (in Mwanza and Mara regions) to evaluate the effects of food-safety standards on the livelihoods of actors in the Nile perch value chain using the Livelihoods Analysis and Change in Net Income (CNI) approach. The effects of food-safety standards were imputed as the residual values be- tween the “with” and “without” compliance scenarios for a specified actor category. The results of the analysis showed that the livelihood platform and income portfolios for the “with”-compliance scenario was relatively more favourable than that in the alternative, “without”- compliance scenario. The difference in human capital and livestock holdings between fishers / crews in the two scenarios was however non-significant (P<0.05). The results of the analysis also showed that both the costs and benefits of compliance with food-safety standards were consider- able. Actors in the Nile perch export supply chain (the “with”-compliance scenario) obtained the highest gross revenues and net returns, as well as incurring the highest operating costs. However, the profit margins, assets and income portfolios for most actors upstream of the fishery value chains were generally lower in both the “with” and “without” compliance scenarios than those of the actors in the subsequent stages. The overall analysis of issues in this paper suggests the need to ensure more effective and coherent planning in order to safeguard the future of the fishery sector, ensure an appropriate regulatory framework, strengthen the capacity of the stakeholders to manage the resource sustainably, develop safeguards for ensuring an equitable distribution of fishery benefits, and increase collaboration among the riparian states of Lake Victoria between them and development partners

Effects of food safety standards on the livelihoods of actors in the nile perch value chain in Tanzania

DII working paper no.2007/24Exports of non-traditional products from developing to developed countries have increased rapidly over the past two decades. However, one of the major challenges facing developing countries in seeking to maintain and expand their share of global markets is stringent food-safety requirements in industrialized countries. The effects of compliance with these requirements and their distributional impacts among actors in developing countries are generally not well known. Based on this understanding, a study was conducted on the Tanzanian side of Lake Victoria (in Mwanza and Mara regions) to evaluate the effects of food-safety standards on the livelihoods of actors in the Nile perch value chain using the Livelihoods Analysis and Change in Net Income (CNI) approach. The effects of food-safety standards were imputed as the residual values be- tween the “with” and “without” compliance scenarios for a specified actor category. The results of the analysis showed that the livelihood platform and income portfolios for the “with”-compliance scenario was relatively more favourable than that in the alternative, “without”- compliance scenario. The difference in human capital and livestock holdings between fishers / crews in the two scenarios was however non-significant (P<0.05). The results of the analysis also showed that both the costs and benefits of compliance with food-safety standards were consider- able. Actors in the Nile perch export supply chain (the “with”-compliance scenario) obtained the highest gross revenues and net returns, as well as incurring the highest operating costs. However, the profit margins, assets and income portfolios for most actors upstream of the fishery value chains were generally lower in both the “with” and “without” compliance scenarios than those of the actors in the subsequent stages. The overall analysis of issues in this paper suggests the need to ensure more effective and coherent planning in order to safeguard the future of the fishery sector, ensure an appropriate regulatory framework, strengthen the capacity of the stakeholders to manage the resource sustainably, develop safeguards for ensuring an equitable distribution of fishery benefits, and increase collaboration among the riparian states of Lake Victoria between them and development partners

The impact of the 2015/16 drought on staple maize markets in Southern and Eastern Africa

The Southern African region experienced the worst drought in more than a century in the 2015/16 production season, which had a severe impact on staple maize markets. Public and private sector response varied across the region and the level of accuracy on information with respect to crop estimates and the anticipated impact on stock levels, trade flow and prices became critical. To this end, the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ReNAPRI) has in recent years developed a multi-faceted approach to policy research that includes farm-level, sector-level and value chain analysis within a Strategic Foresighting frame-work. This initiative is supported by the capacity building and training in partial equilibrium modelling under the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy (FSP)