Platform for African – European Partnership in Agricultural Research for Development

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

The value chain approach of World Vision in Malawi

Dan Norell, Senior Technical Advosor Economic Development
International Programs Group World Vision &
co-author of  the Field Guide
22-26 April 2013. Lilongwe, Malawi. World Vision organised a workshop around the value chain approach  in Malawi. On the third day the Field Guide on Linking Very Poor Producers to Buyers and Suppliers was presented.

Through dynamic group sessions facilitations following topics were tackled:
  • Understanding the Context of Very Poor Producers
  • Introduction to World Vision’s Local Value Chain Approach
  • Vertical ‘Buyer & Supplier’ Linkages
  • Factors Impacting Buyer & Supplier Linkages/Vertical Win-Win Relationships 
  • Factors Impacting Buyer & Supplier Linkages/Trust in Vertical Relationships
  • Factors Impacting Buyer & Supplier Linkages/Learning & Information Flow in Vertical Relationships
  • Factors Impacting Buyer & Supplier Linkages/Stakeholder Workshops and Vertical Win-Win Relationships
  • Smart Subsidies
  • Working with the private sector – Tool – Market Offers & Niche Markets
  • Factors impacting ‘Producer-to-Producer’ Linkage/Lack of Participation by Women 
  • Horizontal ‘Producer-to-Producer’ Linkages
  • Factors impacting ‘Producer-to-Producer’ Linkages & Limited Ability to Take on Risk
  • VisionFund International – Value Chain Financing
  • Factors impacting ‘Producer-to-Producer’ Linkages/Lack of Confidence & Trust 

Background:
World Vision has been working in Malawi since 1981 and is currently the largest International NGO working in the country. Our programming is community-based development focusing on three programmatic areas: transformational development, advocacy and humanitarian and emergency affairs. Current programming includes health and nutrition, food security, water and sanitation, HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support and education.

World Vision supports different value chains to address production constraints in order to boost the production capacity of Malawi. This will enable Malawi to meet its international market demands. The agricultural sector should also venture into agro processing and value addition which World Vision believes would create more jobs.

Integrating Very Poor Producers into Value Chains Field Guide


DAN NORELL, MARGIE BRAND

WORLD VISION, FHI 360

UNITED STATES AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
OCTOBER 23, 2012
The Integrating Very Poor Producers into Value Chains Field Guide provides the field-level practitioner with tools and applications to reach very poor households. The intended outcome of the Field Guide is to have greater market engagement for very poor households through enterprise development activities.
The Field Guide focuses on allowing practitioners to more effectively reach the very poor, defined as those persons in the bottom half of the population below the nationally defined poverty line or those living on less than the purchasing power parity equivalent of $1 per day.
Value chain development methodologies have been used widely in enterprise and market development. Donors such as USAID, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, DFID, GIZ and AusAID have supported this work. For development organizations, value chain development tools have been helpful, but many of the tools have not been specifically designed to support or benefit very poor producers.

The Virtual Open Access Agriculture & Aquaculture Repository


The Virtual Open Access Agriculture & Aquaculture Repository (VOA3R) is a 3-year European project launched in June 2010 and funded by the European Commission under the seventh framework ICT Policy Support Program. It brings together 14 organizations from 10 European countries and 3 collaborators from external organizations.

The VOA3R platform was developed and is currently available in a beta-version. It offers an innovative portal that brings together researchers, students and practitioners in agriculture, viticulture and aquaculture and related areas. This platform gathers 500,000 + open access resources from 14 repositories.
Highlights
  • Evaluation of the VOA3R platform
  • The VOA3R project comes to an end. Therefore a consultation to evaluate the VOA3R platform has been launched. You are invited to fill the questionnaire to help us to improve this major VOA3R outcome. The survey questionnaire is available in English and French.
  • The 7th VOA3R Project Meeting will take place at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations on May, 14t-15t, 2013 in Rome (Italy). 
  • VOA3R will also participate in the LINQ 2013 Conference, conference for Learning Innovations and Quality, which will take place immediately afterwards from May 16th-17th. Register online.
  • VOA3R's presentation at LINQ 2013 will take place on the 17th of May and is entitled "Open Access and Digital Resources: Online Strategies and Communities". The main objectives of this session is to present the results, raise interest for the portal and discuss current challenges.
  • Validation trials to test usability of the VOA3R platform



During the last months the VOA3R partners have organized several pilot trials with scholars in the following institutions:
    Validation trial of the VOA3R platform  the University of  
Alcala, April 26, 2013
  • University of Alcala (Spain) - April 26, 2013
  • INRA, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (France) - April 10, 2013
  • UNESCO-IODE by the Hasselt University Library (Belgium) - April 8-12, 2013
  • Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden) - March 21, 2013

FAO/NEPAD Workshop on Climate Change, Disasters and Crises in the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector in Southern and Eastern Africa

22 - 24 April 2013. Maputo, Mozambique. This regional workshop on climate change, disasters and crises in the fisheries and aquaculture sector in Southern and Eastern Africa was jointly organized by the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) Fish Programme (NFFP), and the Smartfish Programme of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

The objective of the workshop was to establish the current baseline
with regard to the integration of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management in fisheries and aquaculture activities and policies in Southern and Eastern Africa, and, vice versa, determine the extent of integration of fisheries and aquaculture in climate change adaptation and disaster risk management strategies and plans. The overall aim was to coordinate activities and identify gaps and priority actions to be supported by the NFFP and other partners.

Participants included (i) fisheries and aquaculture managers from relevant
national and regional institutions, (ii) representatives from Regional Economic Communities (RECs), Regional Fisheries Bodies (RFBs), Lake and River Basin Authorities, LME (Large Marine Ecosystem) Programmes, and fisheries and aquaculture networks and (iii) other relevant stakeholders and resource people working on issues or carrying out activities contributing to climate-change adaptation and disaster-risk management.

Professor Emmanuel Kaunda represented the NEPAD Regional Fish
Node-SANBio.. He is the Technical Coordinator of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Science Department at Bunda College of Agriculture in Lilongwe Malawi and the coordinator of the PAEPARD supported Malawi consortium - Partnership for Enhanced Aquaculture Innovation in Sub Saharan Africa (PEAISSA).

Related: PAEPARD visit to the Aquaculture and Fisheries Science Department at Bunda College of Agriculture.
Bunda implemented the Community Action Research Programme (CARP) on aquaculture development. It had partners along the value chain including the World Fish Centre-Malawi Office, the Malawi Government National Aquaculture Centre and the Farmers Union of Malawi.

The CARP grants are for up to $300000 over a three year period and should include at least 1 doctoral and 2 M.Sc. students. They usually
Msekiwa Matsimbe & Wilson Jere
(Dean of the Aquaculture Department)
involve senior faculty who might have had previous experience in action research initiatives and as such there is a much greater emphasis on using these grants to enhance networking and close co-operation with partner agencies as well as to inform curriculum development and, where possible, to encourage the use of undergraduate students in the field.

As with the GRGs, the CARPS require working in the field with communities and there is even more emphasis on involving farmers in decisions as part of the action research RUFORUM is committed to supporting. These projects need to take an inter-disciplinary problem solving approach and be rooted within a value-chain, or innovative
3 collaborators from the Fish Node, 
Msekiwa Matsimbe, 
Chimwemwe Mwesalima 
and Edith Gondwe
systems framework.

The Community Action Research Program (CARP) implemented the project “Enhancing Fish Production and Marketing for Food Security and Income of Small-scale Producers in Malawi”, with an overall objective of increasing fish production from current level of 750kg/ha/yr to 1,500kg/ha/yr and rural incomes through application of aquaculture innovations in the value chain in Dowa and Mchinji Districts.

The project is working together with 68 fish farmers who own 80 ponds in total (30 in Dowa and 50 in Mchinji districts). Read More on CARP, Fish harvests by CARP fish farmers


Field visit of PAEPARD to the project in Dowa.
The DVD player purchased
thanks to the fish selling revenue

Project components:
  • Farmer identification: 14 fish farmers who had fish ponds or land where fish ponds can be constructed were identified.
  • Group formulation: The identified farmers where trained in group dynamics and formed a club called Khumbirani club
  • Capacity enhancement: The farmers were trained in pond construction, group dynamics, marketing and credit and loan management.
  • Farmer empowerment: The farmers were given input loans i.e. fingerlings and feed.
  • Action research: The farmers together with CARP Students identified best bet technologies and worked together in assessing them.
Project outputs
  • Increased fish production: The first harvest, produced a bumper yield of 497,63 kilograms of fish among 8 farmers, The fish yield translates into an average of 1663 kg/ha/yr for each participating farmers which is double the current productivity of 750 kg/ha/year. 
  • Increased farm income: The amount of money realized translates into an average gross income of MK73231 per person (about US$ 481, at exchange rate of 1 US$=MK152). This is a far great income for Malawi where the majority of the population live on less than 1 US$ per day. 
  • Impact on livelihoods: Although most have only recently begun farming fish, several have already begun to see the benefits of extra income trickle in. Those who have begun making sales have been able to use the money to pay school fees, purchase fertilizer and inputs for farming; as well as livestock. 

Friday, April 26, 2013

Malawi’s Legume Platform

Malawi’s Legume Platform has been formed to strengthen national multi-stakeholder partnerships within the legumes sector. Legume crops are especially important in Malawi because of their potential to both improve soil fertility (by fixing nitrogen and reducing erosion) and help to overcome nutritional deficiencies (supplying protein, oils and vitamin A).

The Legumes platform is a public private partnership currently working with four of the most important legumes of Malawi, namely Beans, Soya, Pigeon peas and groundnuts. The platform has been created with the aim of contributing to the development and expansion of an efficient and viable Legumes sector in Malawi using the value chain approach. Membership is welcome to all legumes value chain players in Malawi. The platform is aimed at coordinating all players for the development of the legumes sector in Malawi. The Platform is subdivided into 4 key Thematic areas across all legume as follows;
  1. Production: this thematic group looks into seed availability and access issues, production, research and post harvest management issues. This group is chaired by ICRISAT. Since 2008, ICRISAT has been running the Malawi Seed Industry Development Project (supported by Irish Aid) to improve legume seed production and multiplication, with the aim of increasing food security and household income among poor farmers in Malawi.
  2. Market development: this thematic group looks into legumes market environment, product development and policy environment
  3. Processing and Value addition: this thematic group looks at issues of quality, processing, standards and regulations
  4. Institutional Development: this thematic group focuses on issues of Institutional support and capacity building, and information and technology transfer
Further references:
Background documents, case studies and resources for the Hunger · Nutrition · Climate Justice Conference which took place in Dublin Castle on April 15th/16th 2013. Three cases concern Malawi:

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

REGIONAL MULTI-STAKEHOLDER RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT QUESTIONS WORKSHOP on the groundnut value chain.


24 – 26 April 2013. Lilongwe, Malawi. FANRPAN/SACAU organized a Regional Multi-Stakeholder Research & Development Questions workshop on the groundnut value chain. The purpose was to develop a shared understanding of the problem and clarifying the roles to be performed by the various stakeholder categories, especially by research.

The workshop had two objectives:
  1. capacity building to translate problems to be resolved into research issues, distinct from complementary development activities 
  2. specific identification of research and development issues relating to the governing theme chosen and of the stakeholders categories to be mobilised. 
The topic discussed included: Concept of value chain approach – interviews with value chain experts ; Why the groundnut value chain: an overview ; identifying research priorities of stakeholder attending the workshop ; Malawi Desk Review ; Zambia Desk Review.

The group Group Working Sessions focused on:
  • Validation of desk reviews and gap filling 
  • Identification of research focus for the groundnut value chain in Malawi and Zambia Prioritisation of research focus for the groundnut value chain in Malawi and Zambia
In the Wall of Wonder an analysis was made of the Stakeholder Capacities and their Role in the Groundnut Value Chain and gap analysis. R&D questions were prioritised, defined and refined.

Presentations:

Participants:
Following stakeholders from Malawi and Zambia participated:

JOHN CHIPETA
NASFAM
YOHANNES ANTONIYO
CHRISTIAN AID
ELEMSON MUYANGA
SAPP
MASIYE NAWIKO
ACF
CANDIDA NAKHUMWA
NATURAL RESOURCES INSTITUTE/FUM
JOHNSON BUNGU
SACAU
STANLEE JUMA
EXAGRIS AFRICAN LTD
ROSEMARY KADZITCHE
NASFAM/FARMER
BUPE MWAKASUNGULA
AFRICAN INSTITUTE FOR CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP
A.      CHAMANGO
DARS
V. MAKASA
REES-ZAMBIA
JONAS MUGABE
FARA
WYCLIFFE KUMWENDA
NASFAM
V. KABAMBE
LUANAR- BUNDA
ALICE KACHERE
NASFAM
LUTANGU MUKUTI
ACTESA/COMESA
CHARITY MANOKORE
SPAR
P.H CHIKANAULANGA
NASFAM
M BUTAO
AICC LEGUMES PLATFORM
DR. GIDEON ONUMAH
NRI, UNIVERSITY OF GREENWICH, UK
DR. SAM NJOROGE
ICRISAT
TAMANI NKHONO-MVULA
CISANET
SAKALA WHYTSON
ESATERN PROVINCE FARMERS' COOPERATIVES
SUSAN M. MASAGASI
AGRICULTURE COUNCIL OF TANZANIA
ELIMON MAPONDE
ZIMBABWE FARMERS’ UNION (ZFU)
VINCENT ADRIANO
UNAC-MOZAMBIQUE
BEATRICE MAKWENDA
NASFAM
GODFREY LIWEWE
DAES
HARRY MSERE
ICRISAT
STEWART MAKASONI
BUNDA COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE
ELEAANOR LP MALAU
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE & LIVESTOCK, SCCF, ZAMBIA
FRANCIS STEPMAN
PAEPARD
WILLY MUYILA
MBS
AONE KUMWENDA
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE & FOOD SECURITY
SHELLIX MUNTHALI
REEP
CECILIA RICE
ESTRELL TRADING
WISDOM NZIMA
MOAFS-DAES
EDITH GONDWE
BUNDA
CHIMWEMWE GERMAN
BUNDA
MSEKIWA MATSIMBE
BUNDA

Monday, April 22, 2013

Agricultural Value Chain Finance

Agricultural Value Chain Finance Tools and Lessons
Calvin Miller and Linda Jones
Published by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Practical Action Publishing 2010
195 pages

The purpose of this book is to provide an understanding of the emerging field of agricultural value chain finance. Key questions include:
  • What is value chain finance, how is it applied and what can it offer to strengthen agricultural development?
  • How can financial systems, governments and services be prepared for the demands of financing modern agri-food chains?
  • How does agricultural value chain financing affect inclusion, especially for small producers and what can be done to make these systems more inclusive?
  • What can governmental and non-governmental (NGO) agencies do to support increased and more effective agricultural financing through value chains?
Understanding value chain finance can improve the overall effectiveness of those providing and requiring agricultural financing. It can improve the quality and efficiency of financing agricultural chains by:
  1. identifying financing needs for strengthening the chain; 
  2. tailoring financial products to fi t the needs of the participants in the chain; 
  3. reducing financial transaction costs through direct discount repayments and delivery of financial services; and
  4. using value chain linkages and knowledge of the chain to mitigate risks of the chain and its partners. As agriculture and agribusiness modernize with increased integration and interdependent relationships, the opportunity and the need for value chain finance becomes increasingly relevant.

Building bridges between agribusiness and development

18 April 2013. The Guardian panel discussion: Aligning agribusiness and development means taking a holistic approach. The  panel suggest 14 crucial factors to making it work

Carlos da Silva, senior agribusiness economist, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, rural infrastructure and agro-industries division, Rome, Italy

Engage smallholders fairly: There are well known mechanisms to link smallholder farmers to agribusiness firms in fair and sustainable ways, such as contract farming (CF). Farmers can benefit from CF by having a guaranteed market outlet, access to technology and the possibility of pre-financing of farming inputs, among others. Firms also benefit by reducing the uncertainties related to procurement in agrifood markets. To help achieve positive outcomes for all engaged in CF systems, FAO created the contract farming resource centre and recently issued a publication outlining a number of guiding principles for responsible contract farming operations.
Regulations aren't always as effective as voluntary adherence: Voluntary adherence to codes of conduct and standards is more likely to work if it is driven by consumer demand. Regulations are not unimportant, but if enforcement is weak they might not work. To promote environmental responsibility by agribusiness firms, regulations might not be as effective as voluntary adherence to codes of conduct or environmental standards. As consumers become more demanding and wish to know how their food is produced, certified compliance with such codes and standards can be a way to guarantee market growth.

Paul Van Mele, chairman, Access Agriculture, Gent, Belgium

Bring agriculture into the media: National agricultural policies and media policies are too often dealt with as separate entities. It is great to see positive examples and guiding principles on contract farming and other business models documented and made publicly available. The next step needed in developing countries is to make this information available in formats that inspire people who are not used to reading reports.
Embed sustainable management systems: To cope with climate change which affects all agricultural systems we need to embed sustainable land and water management methods as widely as possible into agricultural extension. FAO, along with many other organisations, have established a consortium of experts, along with a great knowledge resource that can be consulted at the world overview of conservation approaches and technologies website. To build on and expand this rich resource Access Agriculture has developed a section with downloadable video and audio files to support sustainable land and water management.

Francesco Rampa, programme manager (food security),European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), Brussels, Belgium. @Francesco_Rampa

We need a holistic approach to value chain development: Often, projects aiming at quick results focus on individual challenges only and/or beneficiaries who will respond more effectively to external support. But this favours stronger actors in the value chain. What's often lacking is medium-term financial and technical support for implementation of value chains, especially the financing of small enterprises to upgrade their facilities and access business development services providers, i.e those that help farmers to market, manage and link up their businesses.

Marcelino Avila, TA team leader, Human Dynamics, Vienna, Austria

Monitoring is key: Perhaps voluntary adherence to environmental standards by agribusiness firms could work, but not independently of timely, systematic monitoring and inspection systems. There are many examples of large firms plundering natural resources and taking advantage of government concessions in developing countries in the past. Perhaps now there is more public awareness and more of a social conscience, but monitoring is always crucial.
Mainstream conservatism: For sustainable development, we need to broaden the objectives of agribusiness so to incorporate and promote resources conservation and environment protection. We also need to mainstream more efficient use of energy resources, particularly locally produced materials, and therefore create more value added and increase labour productivity. Agricultural systems should primarily be based on components that are well adapted to the local environment and ecosystems. Policies should reward farmers and producers for conservation and environmental services.

Nune Sarukhanyan, president, Green Lane Agricultural Assistance NGO, Yerevan, Armenia

Certification schemes can entrench inequality: Although organic certification schemes are well-meaning, those that charge annual fees exclude the smallholder farmers that can't afford them. One thing that buyers can do is visit local farms directly to establish relationships and trust between them.

Sydney Zharare, development economist, DAI, Johannesburg, SA

Model farms can help encourage chemical compliance: Making sure farmers in developing countries comply with chemical standards is a huge challenge. As a corporate agribusiness we implemented 2 models: 1) We had a team of agronomists working with farmers on land preparation, pre-planting herbicides, planting and basal fertilizer application until harvest to ensure that chemicals were used in acceptable quantities. 2) We developed a model farm in the centre of a growing region where most smallholder production was taking place and ensured compliance from there. Here the farmers had to be geographically concentrated. We then branded everything under the model farm brand.

Andrew Emmott, senior manager (Nuts), Twin & Twin Trading, London, UK. @andrewemmott

Value chains work best within well-functioning systems: Value chains are helpful to a point, but where systemic change is needed it becomes more difficult to secure appropriate and timely investments. The value chain approach can help provide some sequencing of investments to address the weakest or most pressing issue in the chain. However, if systemic change across a farming sector is needed, then the value chain needs to be able to operate in isolation which is difficult to achieve.

Ahmed Dirie, independent research consultant, San Jose, US

Release Africa's farmlands from cash crops: East Africa exports coffee, tea, flowers, banana and livestock but faces recurrent droughts and food shortages. Africa needs appropriate small-scale technologies to improve its production capacities. The bulk of agribusiness in Asia and Latin America is propelled by small-scale and medium sized farms and technologies and not by large-scale intensive agribusiness. Africa's most fertile and irrigated farmlands need to be released from cash crops for export to wealthiest communities and turned into staple crop productions. Achieving this will require a mixture of policy change, investing in what's appropriate, capacity building and strong agricultural research systems to serve the best interests of farmers and agribusinesses.

Caspar van Vark, freelance journalist, London, UK. @foodpolicynews

Adopt a gendered approach: A gendered approach to agricultural development is essential in general, given the important role that women play in farming. There are an estimated half a billion smallholders in the world, but women often have insecurity of land tenure and can be less empowered to negotiate their way fairly into supply chains on their own.
Governments have a crucial role to play: The private sector can't do everything. Without decent roads and other infrastructure even the most productive smallholder can't sell their crop. In Africa, the Maputo Declaration of 2003 included a commitment to allocate 10% of national budgets to agriculture and rural development, but not every government has fulfilled that promise. Agricultural extension workers also have an important role to play.

Julius Mugwagwa, research fellow, ESRC innogen centre & development policy and practice group, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

You can't 'scale up' unsustainable programmes: The challenge of sustaining successful models should be addressed before talks start about scaling them up. It's in the interest of all players in the agriculture value chain to ensure that successful models are sustained or buffered from failure, otherwise the start-stop cycle will never end.