Links to Markets, Value Chains and Competitiveness

Competitiveness - Concepts

The "Miracle" of U.S. Agriculture, by Terry L. Roe and Munisamy Gopinath. Minnesota Agricultural Economist Newsletter, No 691, Winter 1998. A short study leading the identification of factors which explain the competitiveness of US agriculture during the 20th century - paramount among which is the "continued investments by the public sector in agricultural research and development"

Changing Competitiveness of the Wheat Sector of Kazakhstan and Sources of Future Productivity Growth, by Jim Longmire and Altynbeck Moldashev. CIMMYT Economics Working Paper 99-06 (Acrobat pdf document). More interpretations of the concept of international competiveness.

What is productivity The International Competitiveness of CEEC Agriculture, by Matthew Gorton and Sophia Davidova. Paper from British Association of Slavonic and East European Studies Conference, 2001. More definitions and application of concept in terms of international trade.(Acrobat pdf document).

Global commodity chain analysis and the French filière approach: comparison and critique " by Philip Rikes, Michael Friis Jensen and Stephano Ponte. CDR Working Paper (29 pp, pdf 104 KB).

Market / Value Chains - discussion documents

A guide to understanding the value chain. Simple 2 page guide.

Value Chains for Development Policy Challenges for Trade Policy and the Promotion of Economic Development. 45 page study from GTZ, focusing on international value chains.

Agriculture and Natural Resources - supermarkets and informal standards. “Hot topic” on the Livelihoods Connect Website. Access to articles.

Origin-based products: Lessons for pro-poor market development By P. van de Kop, D. Sautier and A. Gerz (Eds.). 2006.

Factors affecting the survival, growth and success of small, medium and micro agribusinesses in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Paper presented Mr M.A.G. Darroch at the Internatioal Food and Agribusiness Management Association World Food and Agribusiness Symposium, Chicago, Illinois, June 25-26, 2005

Lessons and Insights in Participatory Market Chain Analysis (PMCA): An action-research of PMCA applications in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Peru and Zimbabwe. Draft working document from the DFID supported work of Practical Action in the UK.

Market / Value Chain Analysis - Guides and Manuals

Chain-Wide Learning for Inclusive Agrifood Market Development: A guide to multi-stakeholder processes for linking small-scale producers to modern markets. Recent and useful 114 page guide by Regoverning Markets, IIED & WUR (pdf document of 8.8 Mb)

Rural Agroenterprise Development . CIAT website with articles, practical guides and information on courses (also in Spanish). The following CIAT documents can also be downloaded from this ICRA website:

• A Territorial based Approach to Agro-Enterprise Development (pdf, 569K)
• A Guide to Developing Partnerships, Territorial Analysis and Planning Together (pdf, 896K)
• A Guide to Identifying Market Opportunities for Rural Smallholder Producers (pdf document; 1257 KB) (pdf, 1256K)
• Increasing the Competitiveness of Market chains for Smallholder producers (pdf document; 1561 KB) (pdf, 1561K)
• Collective Marketing for Smallholder farmers (pdf document; 1285 KB) (pdf, 1285K)

Chain empowerment: Supporting African farmers to develop markets. By KIT, Faida MaLi and IIRR (edited by H. Verkuijl). 2006. Dowloadable book describing strategies that groups of farmers can use to improve their incomes through vertical and horizontal integration; includes many case studies.

Clients First! A Rapid Market Appraisal Tool Kit. by Stefan Joss, Hans Schaltenbrand, Peter Schmidt. Guide to Market Research and Analysis. Some basics.

Mapping the market: A framework for rural enterprise development policy and practice. By Mike Albu and Alison Griffith of Practical Action in the UK. Nicely written and relatively concise (36 page) guide. Also available as powerpoint presentation

Community based tree and forest product enterprises: Market Analysis and Development.(pdf; 416 KB) The Market Analysis and Development (MA&D) approach … enables local people to identify potential products and develop markets that will provide income and benefits without degrading the resource base. This field manual has been designed to guide facilitators who will assist local people in conducting the MA&D process.”

A handbook for value chain research produced for the IDRC by Raphael Kaplinksy and Mike Morris. Not a step-by-step process guide, but rather to "allow researchers to dip in and utilise what is relevant". Covers a number of related concepts and issues, and more than just agriculture (113 pp; pdf 496 KB).

Community-based tree and forest product enterprises:Market Analysis and Development (pdf document 249 KB) And associated series of Guides in pdf format:

• A: User's guide to the field manual (160 KB)
• B: Defining where you want to end up (231 KB)
• C: Assess the existing situation (338 KB)
• D: Identify products, markets and means of marketing (302 KB)
• E: Plan enterprises for sustainable development (538 KB)
• F: Designing tree, forest and home garden product enterprises for sustainable development (308 KB)

Gateways and Project Sites

Value Chains for Development. Portal of the Royal Tropical Institute, The Netherlands. News, events, links, etc.

Developing service markets and value chains: Inter-agency website for the exchange of information on service markets and value chains. Links to many background documents, project reports from different countries and seminars etc.

Regoverning Markets Project. A collaborative research project analysing the growing concentration in the processing and retail sectors of national and regional agri-food systems and its impacts and implications for rural livelihoods and communities in Central and Eastern Europe, Central and South America, Southern and Eastern Africa, South Asia, and Southeast and East Asia. Many useful discussion documents.

International Food and Agribusiness Association. "Stimulating strategic thinking across food and fibre systems". Access to newsletters, symposium presentations and publications, etc.

Value chains for Development, KIT Portal.