KIT Chain

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IV. Special Topics

A. The Value Chain Approach in Conflict-Affected Contexts

B. Vulnerable Populations and the Value Chain Approach

KIT Chain Empowerment: Supporting African Farmers to Develop Markets^[1] (2006) discusses securing market access for smallholder farmers in Africa through upgrading, product development, establishing market linkages and building organizations and their capacity. It includes many different experiences from practitioners brought together in a six-day “writeshop” in which each participant brought a short paper they had prepared. It contains many case studies to illustrate its points. The approach is less systemic than USAID’s, and although it includes many of the same chain-wide elements (vision, information, knowledge, trust, cooperation), it is framed more around improving the position of individual farmers in the chain.

This paper includes a good description of what a value chain is using hypothetical, easy-to-understand examples. It defines the difference between value chain and supply chain as the level of trust and willingness to invest: In a value chain, each of the actors is prepared to invest in the chain, support other actors and make sure it functions smoothly. The goal of interventions in this model is to turn supply chains into value chains.

Tool. Strategy focuses on position of farmer in chain, broken down into four modes of smallholder participation, shown in a matrix of four quadrants:

chain actors, who perform one function and are not involved in the management of the chain
chain activity integrators, who perform more than one function but still do not exert influence on the management of the chain
chain partners, who specialize in one activity and exert some influence over the management of the chain, for example by being a member of an association that has influence on pricing
chain co-owners, who have increased activities and influence by moving up the chain (this is basically like catalytic firms in USAID terminology)

The quadrant is used to show interventions and changes in the value chain in terms of movement of actors among the various quadrants. This is useful for understanding an individual farmer’s position, but less useful for understand functions or relationships. The strategy for improving value chains in this model is to work on “chain activities” or “chain management” or both.

Four strategies for empowering farmers in chain development: