Enhancing the Public-Private-Community Partnerships in the Banana Value Chain in Mutasa District, Zimbabwe

Abstract

The paradigm shift from the New Public Administration to the New Public Governance underlines the significance of multi-stakeholder collaborations in attending to complex societal challenges. In this vein, Public-Private-Community Partnerships are a feasible mechanism for enhancing the banana value chain in Mutasa District of Zimbabwe. Bananas are extensively eaten fruits in the world with smallholder farmers playing a vital role in production, particularly in developing nations like Zimbabwe. Yet smallholder farmers’ economic returns in the banana value chain are a cause of concern. Thus, this study focuses on enhancing Public-Private-Community Partnerships in the smallholder banana value chain. A concurrent mixed methods research design allowed for both objectivity and detailed analysis. The target population comprised public, private, and community stakeholders in the banana value chain. The multiplicity of stakeholders motivated a mixture of quota, purposive, and snowball sampling techniques to ensure representation. Questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions were the data collection methods. There was descriptive analysis of quantitative data, while qualitative data were analyzed thematically, and related findings were grouped together. Public-Private-Community Partnerships are attractive because they reduce information asymmetry, enhance transparency, ensure fairness in pricing, facilitate risk sharing, increase productivity, and enhance value addition. Public-Private-Community Partnerships are not “magic bullets”, necessitating attention to their potential deficits, which include power imbalances, conflicts of interest among partners, and challenges associated with ensuring active participation by diverse stakeholder groups. Pathways for strengthening Public-Private-Community Partnerships include consensus building, clear definition of partners’ roles, fair sharing of risks and benefits, monitoring and evaluation, selection of competent actors, and farmer capacity building. Effective Public-Private-Community Partnerships facilitate active participation among the public, private, and community actors along the entire value chain.