Agribusiness Value Chains Research Articles

Viable insertion in agribusiness value chains? Seaweed farming after Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in Iloilo Province, the Philippines

This article provides one of the first academic assessments of upstream agribusiness value chain and rural livelihood challenges after the November 2013 Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), which devastated many coastal communities in the central Philippines. Based on a survey and semistructured interviews among fisherfolk, seaweed farmers and other stakeholders in Iloilo Province, this article lays bare the limited viability of the seaweed value chain as a result of the recurring typhoon threat, other environmental pressures and an ineffective regional political economy. Since Typhoon Yolanda, the marginalized communities have depended on horizontal coordination and support from international civil society. The empirical results show that enhanced information dissemination and public sector cooperation are necessary for the seaweed value chain to become more inclusive. The results could also have a wider significance for rural development in other coastal areas in Southeast Asia, namely in the spheres of adaptive strategies amidst vulnerability, upstream vertical coordination and upgrading.

The influence of value chain integration on performance: an empirical study of the malt barley value chain in Ethiopia

The purpose of this study is to examine the interplay between value chain integration dimensions and value chain performance along the malt barley value chain in Ethiopia. The analyses were based on survey data sets obtained from 320 farmers and 100 traders and qualitative interview responses captured from sixty-two key informants selected from members of the chain. The structural equation modelling technique was employed to seek answer for the question of how value chain integration dimensions are related to performance. The results of the analyses showed the existence of positive relationships between coordination of activities and performance; between joint decision-making and performance at farmers-cooperatives interface; and between commitment towards long-term relationships and performance at farmers-traders interface. The study has made important empirical contributions in areas of value chain integration and performance and their interplays within the context of the studied malt barley value chain. The key findings of the study make important policy implications for agribusiness value chains in the developing countries. The study would open a venue for robust investigation based on a wider database from various agribusiness chains in Ethiopia or even beyond, for better validation of the findings.

Is agricultural extension positioned to promote agripreneurship in South Africa?

A shift from agriculture to agribusiness is an essential pathway to revitalise small-scale agriculture in South Africa and to make it more attractive and a profitable venture. The question is whether small-scale farmers can become entrepreneurs and how well is extension positioned to support farmers to foster entrepreneurship? There are two parts to entrepreneurship, the first is the managerial skills required to start and run a profitable farm business. Second is the "entrepreneurial spirit". Important to realise is that you cannot create an entrepreneur, but you can create the environment that will help them thrive. Governments and donors must invest in institutions and infrastructure that support them. Economic policies and financial incentives must be put in place to inspire a generation of agripreneurs. This paper aims to emphasise the importance that farmers must be linked to markets to take advantage of the opportunities arising along the agribusiness value chain. Successful entrepreneurship requires a strong enabling environment of which political will and leadership is important, but also strong private interest. Extension has a critical role to play in supporting farmers to develop their entrepreneurial skills through training and by providing technical assistance.

Branding as innovation within agribusiness value chains

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how traditional agribusiness firms can differentiate their product through innovation and branding at the value chain level, through the application of entrepreneurial marketing (EM). Traditionally, fresh vegetable products have been marketed as unbranded commodities. Design/methodology/approach – To address the research aim, this paper used a case study, which included semi-structured interviews with managers and personnel and unstructured observation of supply chain processes. Findings – The findings are based on a Tasmanian fresh broccoli value chain and suggest that EM could be effectively integrated at a multi-firm level. Clear communication, knowledge sharing, and trusting relationships are necessary to create a shared vision and a sustainable value chain. Research limitations/implications – An increasing number of firms in the agribusiness sector are looking for strategies that can enhance value for themselves and members of their chain. EM as a strategy can help an entire value chain achieve product differentiation and co-innovation, with flow on benefits to the consumer. Originality/value – There is limited research at the entrepreneurial and marketing interface that explores the application of EM at an inter-organizational level. This paper is one of the first to investigate EM in context of a supply chain management, using a value chain innovation framework.

Private roles in food safety provision: the law and economics of private food safety

Private food safety standards play a crucial role in ensuring the safety of the foods we consume. A voluntary instrument, private standards are so widespread to have become de facto mandatory for suppliers who wish to access the most profitable markets. Developed by retailers and business coalitions and enforced through third-party certification, private food safety standards constitute one of the principal food safety governance instruments of agribusiness value chains. Albeit private and voluntary, such standards have profound public implications because they contribute to food safety and protect consumers’ health. This article uses law and economics theory to identify their strengths and vulnerabilities and understand the relationship between public and private regulation. Specifically, it examines whether private standards can fulfill the public interest objective of protecting consumers’ health and whether they compete with or rather complement public regulation. The article argues that private standards have emerged in response to food scares to coordinate complex food value chains and have become ever more relevant in the context of intense market globalization, an area in which public regulation often failed. Among the advantages of private standards, are their flexibility and ability to rapidly respond to new risks. Through their focus on management-based regulation and strong market incentives for producers, private standards promote compliance better than traditional inspection methods. Private standards also present several gray areas including increased risk of capture due to their limited transparency and gaps in enforcement by third-party certifiers. The article suggests areas that deserve additional scrutiny, especially the opacity of standards vis-a-vis consumers and the public sector and the quality and reliability of third party certification.

Planning Marketing Channels: Case of the Olive Oil Agribusiness in Portugal

Abstract Marketing channels play an important role in the competitiveness of agribusiness value chains. Thus, this paper proposes a model for planning marketing channels in agribusiness that also considers transaction costs. This model is developed in two steps, diagnostic and decision, and is applied to the olive oil agribusiness in Portugal. The diagnostic step includes analysis of the agribusiness chain value, marketing channels, transaction characteristics, and institutional environment. The decision step fits the information from the diagnostic into a qualitative cost–benefit analysis, based on a multi-criteria problem of ordering preferences.

The Role of Case Studies in Informing Systems: Introduction to the Special Series

Introduction This Special Series is dedicated to a particular type of case study that Grandon Gill, Professor of Business Administration now teaching at the University of Southern Florida, has defended and championed in academic circles over the past three decades: the discussion case. A central motivation for the special series on The Role of Studies in Informing Systems was to help us better understand the versatility of the discussion case. Of particular interest has been the ability of the discussion case to enable informing flows within and between the worlds of students, researchers, and practice. Method Management It is appropriate, then, that the first article in this Special Series, Case Method Management, addresses the role of the discussion case in the education of managers. In this article Harry Strachan, business school professor turned practitioner, argues from experience that the most effective senior managers practice case method teaching in leading and developing their management team. He describes the role of the case method teacher as focusing early on the decision, forcing involvement, challenging assertions, setting the rules of engagement, allowing pauses for reflection, articulating consensus, demanding analytic rigor, but also inspiring, making students and subordinates feel that sees gold in me that even I can't see. Strachan cautions us that not all teachers who use cases are using the case method. A founding partner in Bain & Co. and former INCAE and Harvard Business School professor, he prefers whiteboards to power point presentations, which he believes can subvert the learning goals of the case method by providing students with answers rather than building their analytic muscles in preparation for the heavy lifting they must perform in their jobs after graduation. Teaching Cases and Research The practice of case method management, essential for the formation of future business leaders, requires a case for discussion. This may be a as Strachan describes in consulting situations where the problems and action alternatives are sketched out on whiteboards. The first classes at the Harvard Business School were live cases, presented by Boston businessmen for discussion by students. As the School developed, however, the cases were documented. No one has contributed more to that process than Ray Goldberg, author or supervisor of over a thousand discussion cases. In an interview with Grandon Gill, reproduced in the second article in this Special Series, Goldberg relates how these cases became a critical part only not only of the teaching objectives but of the research objectives of the agribusiness faculty at HBS. The agribusiness cases developed by Goldberg, often in collaboration with colleagues from other parts of the world, relate to specific commodity systems and specific institutions. By insisting that these cases be both authentic and detailed, he made little distinction between teaching and research. On the contrary, he observed that the discussion of a case may be used as a means of bringing diverse research disciplines to a common understanding of a problem, building trust among members of the agribusiness value chain, and enabling private-public partnerships in research in the food system. Case: ECOM Coffee This is precisely what occurred in the ECOM coffee case, described by Bernard Kilian and Roy Zuniga, in which an innovation (hybrid plants) developed by a Spanish multinational in cooperation with a French public research organization is not adopted by most small Nicaraguan coffee farmers. The problem is studied by a group of MBA students and discussed as a case among the students, the various protagonists, and the faculty supervisors, leading to a common understanding. The reason for the low adoption rates was not that the small coffee growers are irrational but that the new technology, under the terms proposed by ECOM, increased their risk of loss. …

Modernizing African agribusiness: reflections for the future

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to look forward to explore the links between projected rapid rates of agribusiness expansion and Africa's economic growth, equity and spatial development.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws inferences from 30 years of agribusiness value chain research in Africa.FindingsAfrica's agribusinesses stand poised for exceptionally rapid growth over the coming 40 years. Because of strong interdependencies between agribusiness and agriculture, productivity growth in agribusiness systems will critically affect Africa's overall economic growth rate, its spatial development patterns and progress toward poverty reduction. But the necessary efficiency gains in agribusiness performance will not appear automatically. They will require substantial private investments, a competitive private sector and heightened public attention in areas where governments have historically proven weak: promoting regional trade, improving town and regional planning, financing scientific research, funding higher education and building commercially viable rural financial systems.Research limitations/implicationsResearchers can help by assembling empirical evidence in these topic areas and by examining value chain models that stimulate private sector investment, accelerate efficiency gains and facilitate access and egress by the poor.Originality/valueDrawing on 30 years of value chain research in Africa, the paper examines links between agribusiness trajectories and economic growth, equity and spatial development.

Agricultural Insurance In Nigeria And The Economic Impact: A Review

Agricultural production faces myriad of risks. Nevertheless, two major risks are of concern to the agricultural sector- price risk caused by potential volatility in prices and production risk resulting from uncertainty about the levels of production that primary producers can achieve from their current activities. It is likely that these major risks will increase in the future – price risk due to liberalization of trade and production risk caused by the effect s of climate change. Agricultural risks not only affect farmers, they also affect the whole agribusiness value chain. Each of the participants along the supply chain, from the Government, Financial Institutions, suppliers of inputs, the distributor, the trader, the processor and the end consumers, are subject to these risks. Agricultural investments unfortunately are among the most risky economic ventures one can embark upon, the absolute dependence on unpredictable weather conditions, like storm, flood, drought and other natural hazards make income from crop products and agricultural products like livestock poultry and dairies to be very unstable. Agricultural Insurance policies serve as securities for banks as indemnification for financial losses suffered by farmers and those in the agricultural value chain resulting from damages to their products, and also provides funds for servicing such loans. This paper is concerned exclusively with the role of agricultural insurance in the agribusiness and in the development of the economy. It gives an introduction and a review of the agricultural sector that led to the agricultural insurance decree in 1993. The paper describes the various products available under the agricultural insurance while a section was devoted to analyzing the economic impact of agriculture Insurance

Editorial: The urgent need to transform small-scale subsistence farming in Africa towards sustainable agribusiness value-chains

Editorial: The urgent need to transform small-scale subsistence farming in Africa towards sustainable agribusiness value-chains

Agricultural Insurance in Nigeria and its Economic Impact

Agricultural production faces myriad of risks. Nevertheless, two major risks are of concern to the agricultural sector- price risk caused by potential volatility in prices and production risk resulting from uncertainty about the levels of production that primary producers can achieve from their current activities. It is likely that these major risks will increase in the future – price risk due to liberalization of trade and production risk caused by the effect s of climate change. Agricultural risks not only affect farmers, they also affect the whole agribusiness value chain. Each of the participants along the supply chain, from the Government, Financial Institutions, suppliers of inputs, the distributor, the trader, the processor and the end consumers, are subject to these risks. Agricultural investments unfortunately are among the most risky economic ventures one can embark upon, the absolute dependence on unpredictable weather conditions, like storm, flood, drought and other natural hazards make income from crop products and agricultural products like livestock poultry and dairies to be very unstable.Agricultural Insurance policies serve as securities for banks as indemnification for financial losses suffered by farmers and those in the agricultural value chain resulting from damages to their products, and also provides funds for servicing such loans. This paper is concerned exclusively with the role of agricultural insurance in the agribusiness and in the development of the economy. It gives an introduction and a review of the agricultural sector that led to the agricultural insurance decree in 1993. The paper describes the various products available under the agricultural insurance while a section was devoted to analyzing the economic impact of agriculture Insurance on the economy, then conclusion and recommendations.

Policy Implications of Trends in Agribusiness Value Chains

Production and export of non-traditional agricultural products offer potential for economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. However, market access for small farmers is being undermined by the increasing complexity of global value chains in agribusiness. Increasing vertical coordination in global agribusiness value chains changes the requirements placed on small farmers. Policies aimed at supporting such farmers need to be realistic about the prospects for small farmer upgrading by large firms in global value chains and about how to respond to the new challenges posed by public and private food safety standards. In the light of these challenges, consideration should be given to policies that shift small farmers away from the most demanding global markets and global buyers. La production et l'exportation de produits agricoles non traditionnels presentent un potentiel pour la croissance economique et la reduction de la pauvrete dans les pays en developpement. Toutefois, l'acces au march...