Latin American experiences of application of the inclusive value chains approach
source: https://cipotato.org/es/comunicados-de-prensa/lanzamiento-libro-experiencias-latinoamericanas-aplicacion-enfoque-cadenas-valor-inclusivas/ (written in Spanish)
• The publication collects the perspectives for the application of value chains and their consequences for rural development, as well as the evolution of the articulation of small producers with markets.
• Family farms are key in agriculture: more than 500 million family farms produce most of the food, but with less land possession, they also face barriers of technical assistance, arrival in lucrative markets, and have low levels of technology and productivity.
Lima, June 27, 2018. The Agricultural Research Seminar (SEPIA), the Peru Learning Alliance (AAP), the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (PIM) and the International Potato Center (CIP) that coordinates the activities of the Value Chain Hub, launched the book "Latin American Experiences of Application of the Inclusive Value Chain Approach", which provides valuable perspectives for research on the application of value chains as a basis for policies and more broadly for rural development.
The analyzes achieved are very important, taking into account that more than 500 million family farms produce most of the world's food, but despite their relevance they face market, technical, and risk management barriers. Additionally, according to estimates by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), less than 10% of farms in Latin America-those larger than 100 hectares-own more than 75% of the land, while 60% of the smallest farms handle only 4%.
In this context, the limitations of Producers and their ability to link to markets to link to markets, or the difficulty of doing so profitably, is seen as an impediment to almost any development strategy that seeks to improve their income and livelihoods in the field. "This is how a new approach appears, that of value chains, which tries to look at the whole problem in an integral way, analyzing the different links and actors that are related from the supply of inputs to production, through the whole system of marketing and transformation of products, to the final consumer market, "says Miguel Ordinola, CIP Latin America Project Coordinator.
This publication compiles the three presentations of the Thematic Table entitled "Latin American Experiences of Application of the Inclusive Value Chain Approach", organized by the PIM Value Chain Hub, SEPIA, AAP and CIP in the framework of the biennial seminar SEPIA XVII, held last year. The seminar included the participation of experts such as Maximo Torero from the World Bank, who spoke about "Market failures and the linkage of small producers' value chains to markets"; André Devaux, from CIP, whose dissertation was titled: "From the Andes to Africa and Asia: linking small producers to the market, lessons for the development of inclusive value chains"; and Jhon Jairo Hurtado, from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), with the theme "What facilitates or limits inclusive commercial relations with small agricultural producers ?: analysis of three cases in Latin America". The commentators were Carola Amezaga (AAP) and Manuel Rojas (GIZ), with the moderation of Miguel Ordinola (CIP-AAP).
The first article of the publication provides a general framework for enhancing the impacts of applying value chains and helping to break out of the rural poverty trap through investment in physical infrastructure and improving the functions of partner institutions, which improve the links of small producers to markets. In the second portion, the experiences and lessons to promote innovation in the development of value chains in the Andes, Africa and Asia are detailed, as was their implementation, influence factors, and results, together with the scaling and replication conditions of the approach.
In the third article, the question expressed in the title is answered and it becomes evident that inclusive businesses need an approach in their micro-construction of inclusive relationships dimensions; meso -participation of facilitating organizations in the communication between actors-; and macro-support in the insertion of producers to markets in a sustainable manner.
The book summarizes how the implementation of inclusive value chains offers important opportunities for millions of households in developing countries to escape poverty. However, these chains are complex systems that are related to other economic activities, that is why their operation must be understood to generate innovations and guide them to boost the markets that exist within them: production, transformation and commercialization.
The competitiveness of the chains requires new alliances, specific commercial strategies, markets of available productive factors and opportunities that favor greater and more stable economic benefits, transferable to the bulk of the rural population. The cases presented in this book hope to contribute to this discussion and in the design of interventions that improve family farming, which remains vulnerable and needs alternatives for the generation of sustainable income.
Data: the presentation of the book was held on June 27 at the GRADE Auditorium in Lima and was attended by Carlos de Los Ríos, member of the SEPIA Board of Directors and principal investigator of the Institute of Peruvian Studies - IEP and Committee on Sustainability COSA Assessment; André Devaux, regional representative for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), International Potato Center - CIP; and the comments of Hernando Riveros, International Specialist in Family Farming of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture and Manuel Rojas, Technical Adviser of Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity, ProAmbiente II, GIZ.
About SEPIA
The Permanent Seminar on Agrarian Research (SEPIA) is a non-profit Peruvian civil association that promotes research and debate on rural, agrarian and environmental issues from a multidisciplinary and plural perspective.
About the AAP
The Learning Alliance Peru (AAP) is a platform that has been working since 2004 with the objective of establishing shared learning processes among development agents, the State, researchers and donors, which facilitate the development of productive chains; the design of more appropriate support policies; and the execution of relevant research activities, which as a whole contribute to rural development.
About the PIM
The CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions and Markets (PIM), led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), has a component on value chains that addresses international, regional and local contexts for agricultural markets and investigates how small producers can integrate into the complex and more demanding modern markets.
About the CIP
The International Potato Center (CIP), based in Lima, was founded in 1971 as a research institution for the development of roots and tubers that provides sustainable solutions to the pressing global problems of hunger, poverty and the degradation of natural resources. The CIP maintains in global custody the collections of potato, sweet potato and Andean roots and tubers that includes the world's largest collection of potato diversity. It has regional offices in Peru, Ecuador, Kenya, India and China and a global activity with projects in 30 developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. CIP is a member of the CGIAR, a global alliance that brings together organizations committed to research for a future without hunger. The scientific work of CGIAR seeks to reduce rural poverty, increase food security, improve human health and nutrition, and ensure a more sustainable management of natural resources. This work is directed by the 15 Centers that make up the CGIAR, in close collaboration with hundreds of organizations, including national and regional research institutes, civil society, development organizations and the academic and private sector. www.cgiar.org
