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Chain empowerment
Supporting African farmers to develop markets
Royal Tropical Institute (KIT),
Faida MaLi,
and International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), 2006 |
This is a
book of hope for Africa’s smallholder farmers. It shows how they can earn more
from their crops and livestock by taking control over the value chains they are
part of – chains that link them with consumers in Africa’s towns and cities, as
well as in other countries.
The book describes two basic strategies that groups of farmers can use to
improve their incomes: vertical and horizontal integration. Vertical integration
means taking on additional activities in the value chain: processing or grading
produce, for example. Horizontal integration means becoming more involved in
managing the value chain itself – by farmers’ improving their access to and
management of information, their knowledge of the market, their control over
contracts, or their cooperation with other actors in the chain.
This book contains 19 case studies showing how groups of farmers throughout
Africa have adopted one or both of these strategies to improve their incomes. It
shows how development organizations have helped them do this – how they have
succeeded, and how they have sometimes failed. It shows the need to invest in
improving the quality of existing products, developing new products,
establishing market linkages, and building farmer organization and capacity.
The book provides numerous insights for those striving to empower smallholder
farmers to develop markets. It will be of particular interest to government
policymakers and staff involved in agricultural development, non-government
organizations, university faculty and students, trainers, evaluators, and donors
seeking ways to promote agriculture in Africa and elsewhere in the developing
world.
The book is written in easy-to-understand language and is richly illustrated
with line drawings.
Contents
1 Setting the scene
- Market liberalization and integration
- The rise of processors and retailers
- Declining government involvement in agriculture and rural areas
- The challenge for smallholder producers
- Principles of empowering smallholders
- Pro-poor value chain development
- Purpose and readership of this book
- Parts of the book
- How this book was prepared
2 Introducing value chains
- Supply chains
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Supply chains vs value chains
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Strategies for chain development with small-scale
farmers
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About the matrix
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Where is best position for farmers?
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Intervention strategies
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Components of chain interventions
3 Chain actors
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Setting up an outgrower scheme for pineapples in Ghana
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Jatropha herbal soap: From project to commercial venture
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Reviving Mozambique’s cashew industry
4 Chain partners
5 Chain activity integrators
- Stepping back to move forward: Fruit juice in NW Tanzania
- Trading and milling to help HIV-affected households in Kenya
- Honey and beeswax value chain development in Same, Tanzania
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6 Chain co-owners
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Improving shea and empowering rural women in Mali
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Finding a niche for vanilla in Uganda
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Bringing Kaffa forest coffee to the German market
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Expanding dairying opportunities in Thika District,
Kenya
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Linking potato farmers to restaurants in Uganda
7 Strategies for chain empowerment
8 Facilitating chain development
- Chain mapping and assessment
- Chain engagement
- Chain development
- Chain monitoring and evaluation
- Chain learning and innovation
9 Resources
- SNV’s local economic development approach
- The FAIDA market linkage approach
- CIAT’s rural agro-enterprise development approach
- CIAT’s learning alliance for agro-enterprise development
- Participatory market chain approach
- Participatory value chains analysis
- Value chain development
- Value chain research
- Participatory research methods
- INFO-Cadena: Instruments to foster value chains
- Publications and CD-ROMs
- Resource organizations and websites
- Participants’ profiles
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Published
2006 by the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT),
Faida MaLi,
and International Institute of Rural Reconstruction (IIRR).
ISBN 9966754008
Download full text
5666 kb
Download individual chapters:
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IIRR Philippines
Available from
KIT
Role of Paul Mundy: Writeshop manager, editing, desktop
publishing, overall
responsibility for production
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Reviews
Market access for African farmers
For many smallholder farmers seeking outlets for their products, declining
government support and increasingly demanding requirements from supermarkets and
importers combine to make marketing a daunting challenge.
This manual offers practical help by presenting a range of examples in which
smallholder farmers and communities in various parts of Africa have succeeded in
developing strategies to secure market access. It describes a wide range of
experiences, including very small-scale initiatives such as rural women in Mali
who collect and process shea butter, and others in Tanzania who make herbal soap
from jatropha (Jatropha curcas). Larger-scale success stories include
Kenyan mango producers who have developed market linkages through farmer field
schools and smallholders in Malawi who have been helped to access the paprika
market. But big or small, the message is always the same — the recipe for
success lies in investing in the improvement of existing products, developing
new products, establishing market linkages and building farmer organisation and
capacity. With the help of clear illustrations, boxes and diagrams, this guide
offers plenty of suggestions for achieving this winning formula.
Vertical and horizontal integration may not sound like a very exciting
subject, but don't be deceived. Drawing on nineteen case studies from across
Africa, Chain Empowerment shows how farmers can earn more from what they
produce, and turn unrewarding 'supply chains' into 'value chains' that offer
benefits to all involved in the process of producing and marketing goods.
Vertical integration essentially involves producers playing more roles within
the chain, such as processing and other kinds of value-adding. Examples from the
case studies include projects to boost fruit juice and honey production among
communities in Tanzania and trading and milling of grains in Kenya.
Horizontal integration involves developing better management of the value
chain, for example by better use of information, better understanding of the
market and co-operation with other actors in the chain. There are numerous
examples, some of which have featured in past editions of New
Agriculturist, such as finding a niche for Ugandan vanilla and
revitalising Mozambique's cashew industry. Chain empowerment particularly
focuses on how intermediary organisations can work with farmer groups and others
to transform supply chains. Information is presented in a well-structured way,
emphasising practice rather than theory, making this a useful resource for NGOs
and others working with farmers and farmer groups.
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