This youth-sensitive value chain assessment aims to create a deeper understanding of where the opportunities for youth employment are in horticultural value chains in Rwanda and how these opportunities can be harnessed. The study also proposes recommendations for a youth employment strategy, presenting opportunities for employment creation at scale as well as short-, medium- and long-term strategies.
Value chain based approaches offer tremendous scope for market-based improvements in production, productivity, rural economy diversification, and household incomes, but are often covered by literature that is too conceptual or heavily focused on analysis. This has created a gap in the information available to planners, practitioners, and value chain participants. Furthermore, few references are available on how these approaches can be applied specifically to developing agriculture in Africa. 'Building Competitiveness in Africa s Agriculture: A Guide to Value Chain Concepts and Applications' describes practical implementation approaches and illustrates them with scores of real African agribusiness case studies. Using these examples, the 'Guide' presents a range of concepts, analytical tools, and methodologies centered on the value chain that can be used to design, implement, and evaluate agricultural and agribusiness development initiatives. It stresses principles of market focus, collaboration, information sharing, and innovation. The 'Guide' begins by examining core concepts and issues related to value chains. A brief literature review then focuses on five topics of particular relevance to African agricultural value chains. These topics address challenges faced by value chain participants and practitioners that resonate through the many cases described in the book. The core of the book presents methodological tools and approaches that blend important value chain concepts with the topics and with sound business principles. The tools and case studies have been selected for their usefulness in supporting market-driven, private-sector initiatives to improve value chains. The 'Guide' offers 13 implementation approaches, presented within the implementation cycle of a value chain program, followed by descriptions of actual cases. Roughly 60 percent of the examples are from Africa, while the rest come from Europe, Latin America, and Asia. The 'Guide' offers useful guidance to businesspeople, policy makers, representatives of farmer or trade organizations, and others who are engaged in agro-enterprise and agribusiness development. These readers will learn how to use value chain approaches in ways that can contribute to sound operational decisions, improved market linkage, and better results for enterprise and industry development.
This open access book provides a clear holistic conceptual framework of CISS-F (competitiveness, inclusiveness, sustainability, scalability and access to finance) to analyse the efficiency of value chains of high value agricultural commodities in India. It is based on the understanding that agriculture is an integrated system that connects farming with logistics, processing and marketing. Farmer’s welfare being central to any agricultural policy makes it very pertinent to study how a value chain works and can be strengthened further to realize this policy goal. This book adds value to the existing research by studying the value chains end-to-end across a wide spectrum of agricultural commodities with the holistic lens of CISS-F. It is not enough that a value chain is competitive but not inclusive or it is competitive and inclusive but not sustainable. The issue of scalability is very critical to achieve macro gains in terms of greater farmer outreach and sectoral growth. The research undertaken here brings out some very useful insights for policymaking in terms of what needs to be done better to steer the agricultural value chains towards being more competitive, inclusive, sustainable and scalable. The value chain specific research findings help draw very nuanced policy recommendations as well as present a big picture of the future direction of policy making in agriculture.
This publication is intended to assist field practitioners, youth organizations and other stakeholders to identify binding constraints and viable opportunities to youth engagement in value chains that can translate into greater youth inclusion. Considering youth heterogeneity and inequalities, the youth sensitive framework for value chain analysis gives guidance to assess factors that push and pull youth into employment and entrepreneurship in value chains. The youth-sensitive value chain (YSVC) analysis is a starting point for youth-inclusive agricultural value chain development, since it identifies entry points and key actions expected to bring about the desired increase in employment and business opportunities for youth within a more attractive agriculture sector.
This book focuses on the changing gender patterns of work in a global retail environment associated with the rise of contemporary retail and global sourcing. This has affected the working lives of hundreds of millions of workers in high-, middle- and low-income countries. The growth of contemporary retail has been driven by the commercialised production of many goods previously produced unpaid by women within the home. Sourcing is now largely undertaken through global value chains in low- or middle-income economies, using a 'cheap' feminised labour force to produce low-price goods. As women have been drawn into the labour force, households are increasingly dependent on the purchase of food and consumer goods, blurring the boundaries between paid and unpaid work. This book examines how gendered patterns of work have changed and explores the extent to which global retail opens up new channels to leverage more gender-equitable gains in sourcing countries.
Rapid urbanization and rising income levels in developing countries, such as Pakistan, changing diet habits, information and communication technologies, structural transformation in retail markets as well as export market opportunities are catalyzing dynamic change in horticulture value chains. This is causing a paradigm shift in the way horticulture products are produced, processed, and sold, both within domestic markets and in export markets across the globe. The emergence of local, regional, and global value chains is contributing to increasing engagement of the private sector in horticulture, as these firms and markets look for better quality, greater productivity, efficiency, and market penetration. At the same time, consumers demand for safety, quality, convenience and affordable prices is underlining the role of the private sector in the efficacy of the value chains.
This report assesses the performance of agricultural and food policy in India and calculates a set of policy indicators providing a comprehensive picture of agricultural support. These indicators, developed by the OECD, are already used regularly in the analysis of the agriculture and food ...
Food loss and waste within Indonesia's supply chains present significant challenges to both environmental sustainability and efficient natural resource utilization. [Author] This pervasive issue spans from food production to retail, affecting the ability of supply chain stakeholders to invest in essential infrastructure improvements. [Author] Food waste, in particular, accumulates at various stages, including retail, catering services, and households, further straining natural resources and exacerbating climate change impacts. [Author] In Indonesia, the reduction and prevention of food losses assume strategic importance as it directly impacts food availability, accessibility, and the well-being of consumers. [Author] Additionally, it alleviates pressure on natural resources, supports the growth of agribusiness, and enhances the livelihoods of farmers and other actors along the supply chains. [Author] Key factors closely linked to addressing food losses in Indonesia include finance, technology, knowledge, and market dynamics. [Author] Alarmingly, horticultural commodities, especially vegetables, experience losses exceeding 60 percent. [Author] Minimizing food losses not only bolsters productivity for agripreneurs but also improves food security and nutrition for all, from vulnerable smallholder farmers to micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). [Author] To address these challenges, Indonesia has enacted national law No. [Author] 13/2020 on horticulture, encompassing fruits and vegetables, with the aim of creating jobs, enhancing production, productivity, quality, added value, competitive advantage, and market share. [Author] In a recent study conducted between June and December 2022, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Center of System, a logistics research institution, analysed food losses in chili, cabbage and shallot supply chains. [Author] These commodities, predominantly cultivated by smallholder farmers, play a vital role in stabilizing food prices, controlling regional inflation, and ensuring food availability and accessibility. [Author] The study not only identifies the extent of quality and quantity losses but also provides practical solutions for their reduction. [Author] Crucially, enhancing the implementation of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), good manufacturing practices (GMP), and good hygiene practices (GHP) is emphasized, particularly during harvest, transportation, handling and storage. [Author] Recommendations include establishing post-harvest technical assistance facilities, agrologistic centres, and value-added processing facilities to mitigate losses due to quality degradation. [Author] Furthermore, the abstract underscores the need for innovation in technology, private-sector investment, and raising public awareness as decisive elements in substantially reducing food loss. [Author] In conclusion, addressing food loss is paramount for enhancing food security, supporting sustainable livelihoods, and fortifying the overall food system in Indonesia. [Author]
