Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are a distinct group of nations with unique development challenges, such as skill shortages, lack of economies of scale, high transport and energy costs, poor ...infrastructure, small domestic markets with a heavy reliance on a few distant external markets, and limited opportunities for private sector growth. A development strategy based on natural resources where local and regional producers can secure some level of intellectual property value has been recommended for Pacific SIDS to break out of commodity and low value-added trade. This paper explores the potential for developing niche forest product value chains that are inclusive of small-scale producers in the island nation of Vanuatu. Using existing academic and grey literature and on- site research for three forest products, the paper describes the current situation with the industry and then proposes inclusive value chains (IVC) that improve on the business-as-usual scenario. Our results indicate that although market analyses confirm the potential for smallholders to benefit from participating in niche product value chains, difficulties inherent in sourcing from smallholders, which are aggravated in SIDS, must first be overcome. Problems such as small production volumes in numerous dispersed plots with difficult access, high transport costs, low technical know-how, difficulties in accessing inputs and finance, unreliability of supply in terms of quality and quantity, and lack of reliable information about the resource base hinder IVC development. Increased vertical and horizontal coordination within the value chains address many of these issues, but in the Pacific context, some forms of coordination may be more feasible than others. The Pacific region does not have a strong cooperative tradition, so temporary horizontal coordination, long-term agreements, and contracts between producers, processors, and buyers may be necessary to make IVCs for niche island products achievable.
•There is potential for smallholders in Vanuatu to benefit from participating in niche forest product value chains.•Difficulties inherent in sourcing from smallholder producers in SIDS must be overcome for inclusive value chains to perform.•Vertical and horizontal coordination can address the difficulties identified.•Cooperation and coordination in SIDS present their own set of unique challenges.
Many smallholder tree growers in developing countries and those advising them, hold a view that if they plant trees a market will materialize when the time is right. However, despite strong ...international demand for timber and potential for smallholders to supply this demand, this ‘Field of Dreams’ approach, i.e. if you grow it, buyers will come, is not generally a sound strategy. In this study, we aimed to identify the conditions that enable the development of viable timber value chains around smallholder tree growers in developing countries. We reviewed literature on the integration of small-scale producers into value chains, smallholder tree growing, and smallholder commercial forestry to identify conditions, and used four case studies in the Asia-Pacific Region to understand how these influence outcomes for smallholder tree growers in different settings. This analysis provided a basis for recommendations for policymakers and advising agencies on how to support timber value chains for smallholder tree growers. These included deeper understanding of biophysical suitability of locations for tree growing, smallholder capabilities and interests, and provision of clear land tenure, infrastructure, and streamlined regulations sympathetic to smallscale timber operations. Tree growing can generate financial value for smallholders in regions with high human population density, quality road networks and proximity to processing markets and ports. Careful policy design is required to make it ‘fit for purpose’ at local levels, as conditions vary widely even within a single country. This can identify catalytic interventions and work with existing or near-term market drivers and simplified regulations in the value chain to generate benefits for smallholders.
•Smallholder tree planting must target specific end uses.•Adequate planning is essential to develop timber value chains for smallholders.•Within one country, conditions for developing viable timber value chains will vary.•Some regions display better characteristics for commercial utilization of woodlots.•Policies to promote tree growing must be targeted to the specific regional context.
► Third party certification (TPC) may impact catfish farmers in Vietnam and Bangladesh. ► We assess the implications of TCP for catfish producers and the environment. ► Environmental gains from TPC ...are likely to be somewhat limited. ► Inequalities in market access are likely to deepen among Vietnamese producers. ►TPC supports the interests of food buyers and standard setting organisations.
Certification is an increasingly pervasive form of market governance through which retailers and NGOs are able to exert control over producers of primary products in order to secure their commercial and institutional interests. This paper assesses the likely outcomes of emerging certification standards intended to govern production of a new global commodity, Pangasius catfish. This evaluation focuses on Pangasius producers in Vietnam and Bangladesh, and one of the key areas which standards seek to regulate; the environment. We conclude that certification is likely to result in greater differentiation and polarisation between larger and smaller farm operators and will increasingly act to exclude of the latter from access to Western European and North American markets, and that any local environmental gains produced may be of relatively minor significance.
We use global value chain (GVC) theory to understand governance of Vietnam’s shrimp farming industry. We describe this GVC as buyer-driven with important food safety standards imposed by governments ...of importing countries and new certification systems promoted by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Governance relations are clear between governments in importing countries and Vietnam, and between importers and NGOs. Governance relations become more fragmented further down the chain where large numbers of small-scale producers and traders operate. This fragmentation may adversely affect access to the most lucrative markets and have the unanticipated effect of marginalizing small-scale farmers and traders.
Even prior to COVID, there was a considerable push for food system transformation to achieve better nutrition and health as well as environmental and climate change outcomes. Recent years have seen a ...large number of high visibility and influential publications on food system transformation. Literature is emerging questioning the utility and scope of these analyses, particularly in terms of trade-offs among multiple objectives. We build on these critiques of emerging food system transformation approaches in our review of four recent and influential publications from the EAT-Lancet Commission, the IPCC, the World Resources Institute and the Food and Land Use Coalition. We argue that a major problem is the lack of explicit inclusion of the livelihoods of poor rural people in their modeling approaches and insufficient measures to ensure that the nature and scale of the envisioned changes will improve these livelihoods. Unless livelihoods and socioeconomic inclusion more broadly are brought to the center of such approaches, we very much risk transforming food systems to reach environmental and nutritional objectives on the backs of the rural poor.
En México, los agricultores de pequeña escala presentan deficiencia en conocimientos y en la organización para aprovechar efectivamente el potencial natural y el capital social, que son aplicados en ...la transferencia de tecnología en los sistemas productivos, a pesar de la incidencia de programas de capacitación por parte del gobierno y otras organizaciones. La investigación se realizó en dos comunidades rurales con marginación alta; participaron catorce productores que fueron seleccionados mediante un muestreo no probabilístico y como criterio para participar fue que cada uno de los participantes se dedicaran a cultivar y que en sus terrenos tuvieran frutales de durazno. Se encontró que los efectos de enseñanza –aprendizaje que se aplican en las escuelas de campo (EC’s), para el manejo de la milpa intercalada con árboles frutales (MIAF), no influyeron en el capital social, ni la formación de redes sociales para la difusión de tecnología. Se concluye que las EC’s, a pesar de utilizar ciertas dinámicas para fortalecer el aprendizaje, es necesario que, en su metodología, inicialmente implementen estudios para conocer intereses, actitudes y habilidades de los productores.
Forming a backbone of the wood supply in Vietnam, approximately 50% of plantation areas are managed by individual households. Of the planted species, the Acacia (Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. ex ...Benth. × Acacia mangium Willd) hybrid is one of the most preferred by timber growers. Yet, information on the potential of this timber species for rural livelihoods is lacking. Taking Nam Dong and Phu Loc districts in Thua Thien Hue province as case studies, this paper aimed to explore the (i) characteristics of small-scale Acacia hybrid timber producers; (ii) contribution of Acacia hybrid timber production and commercialization to rural livelihoods; and (iii) socio-economic and contextual factors which determine the income from Acacia hybrid timber. We applied a mixed-methods approach including review of secondary data, interviews of 26 key informants, eight focus group discussions, direct observations and a survey of 300 Acacia hybrid producer households selected through multistage and purposive sampling. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed using thematic, descriptive and inferential statistics, such as variance analysis, correlation analysis and Bayesian model average (BMA) analysis. The results demonstrated the diversity of socio-economic characteristics, resource access and management as well as determinants of timber income of small-scale timber producers between the cases. Accounting for 33–56% of total household income, Acacia hybrid timber plantations played a crucial role in the current livelihood system. Nevertheless, timber income was skewed toward the wealth status of timber producers and ranged between 327 USD/household and 3387 USD/household in Nam Dong and between 397 USD/household and 9460 USD/household in Phu Loc district. Despite the substantial contribution the income from Acacia hybrid plantations could make to local poverty reduction, it was the main contributor to the overall income inequality. While this income source reduced the Gini coefficient by 1% in Nam Dong, it increased the Gini coefficient by 18% in Phu Loc district. Our study can be of interest for further policy interventions focusing on sustainable reforestation and livelihood development in Vietnam.
This paper explores the different pathways of technology diffusion and the resulting impacts on technology adoption that can emerge following a strategy to incorporate vulnerable communities of ...small-scale producers into traditionally top-down governance agribusiness systems. Building on the Contract Farming Arrangements (CFA) literature, we suggest that despite high levels of top-down control and the mono systems of diffusion that these practices imply, diffusion forms can vary considerably according to the motivations that drive different types of producers and the variances in local governance. We summarise these diffusion forms as a diffusion pathway of governance dictated by dominant change agent control and a diffusion pathway of governance dictated by change agent control and user participation. An important contribution of the paper is to highlight the critical role of formal rules in defining the types of governance for the creation of these different pathways. However, additional factors associated with the participation of smallholders such as attachment to land, engagement in collective action and long-term sustainability visions also introduce variations in these pathways and define the results of technology adoption. The study focuses on the Colombian oil palm sector; a key agribusiness sector targeted by policy makers with a strategy to integrate small-scale farmers into the agribusiness value chain as a means to relieve poverty and reduce levels of rural violence associated with conflicts over land and production of elicit crops.
•Formal rules are a critical factor in the theory of innovation diffusion.•Different diffusion forms can emerge within centralised-diffusion systems.•Technology adoption can vary due to degree of attachment to agricultural production and long/short term vision.•Technology adoption can vary due to engagement in collective action and motivation of agents.•Values of trust embedded in agreements and technical relationships can impact the adoption of short-term practices.
Location of markets determine how producers and consumers interact temporally and spatially. In arid and semi-arid lands this is of significant importance because market patronage is largely dictated ...by availability and the distribution of market facilities. Since close to 67% of population in Kenya live in the most food insecure rural regions often characterised by rain failure and famine, market purchase of food comprise main source of food and nutrition needs for communities living here. To understand how market location and patterns of market use influence food and nutrition security, a case study of Tharaka subcounty was used. Tharaka sub county besides lying in semi-arid region has some of the highest malnutrition rates of 30% compared to the average national rate of 20.9%. To achieve the fore mentioned objective, the study employed mixed method where spatial modelling and statistical analysis was used. Results indicate limited number of households actually used markets for their food and nutrition needs compared to the potential number modeled in the study. It was also discovered that food markets were most used throughout the year compared to livestock markets whose use peaked during the lean months of August and September a period coinciding with food shortage months. Generally, spatial distribution of open-air food and livestock markets as well as geographic isolation of villages from markets influence market patronage in Tharaka subcounty. These observations are closely linked to the perennial problem of food and nutrition insecurity experienced in the area. To reverse the trend, concerted efforts are needed to increase market participation of smallscale livestock and food producers in food distribution and supply chain. Moreover, Initiatives to improve service delivery and build local production capacities for these farmers should be considered.
In the context of the marginalising effects of agro-food chain dynamics on upstream suppliers, this paper examines the extent to which geographical indications may improve the positioning of ...small-scale producers. Making an original distinction between established and nascent geographical indication systems, the paper undertakes a case study of the latter type (the Makó Onion Protected Designation of Origin, Hungary), hitherto overlooked in the literature. The study adopts a global value chain perspective to analyse three means by which geographical indications may facilitate upgrading (capturing higher margins, stimulating collective action and enabling diversification), finding that none have been delivered via the Makó Onion Protected Designation of Origin. The paper examines the reasons for this, identifying the role played by the political and institutional context. Recommendations are made for improving the upgrading potential of geographical indications when applied to nascent systems.
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