A method for strategic planning of food and bioenergy chains (CHAINPLAN) applied to the sugarcane chain in Brazil

Abstract

Global competition and environmental factors make it increasingly necessary in many countries to establish a strategic plan for various national food and bioenergy chains. Neves (2007) developed a simple method (CHAINPLAN) to help in the process of developing a strategic plan for a food chain, which has been applied to chains in various countries. The objective of this paper is to report the results of a new application of (part of) this method: to the sugarcane chain in Brazil. As this chain has an important trade association (UNICA – Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association) for coordination of collective actions, the paper focuses on two specific steps: the mapping and quantification of the chain; and the elaboration of the strategic plan. The chain mapping and quantification procedure, which is the second step of the method, quantifies an industry's contribution to the country's GDP, as well as to job creation, tax generation, and the distribution of economic activities. In relation to the sugarcane chain in Brazil, it was found that the sugar-energy sector GDP in 2008 was US$ 28.15 billion, equivalent to 2% of the total Brazilian GDP. The estimated total value of sales of the various links that comprise the sugarcane chain reached US$ 86.8 billion. Completion of step 2 of the CHAINPLAN method allows the chain's agents to conduct a macro-environmental and internal analysis of the chain to identify strategic projects (collective actions) to improve the chain's competitiveness. This step was also carried out on the Brazilian sugarcane chain.