Global Newsletter July 2007

June 26, 2007 |

Regoverning Markets analyses growing concentration in the processing and retail sectors of national and regional agri-food systems and its impacts and implications for rural livelihoods and communities in middle and low income countries. The overall aim is to provide strategic advice and guidance to the public sector, agri-food chain actors, civil society organizations including economic organizations of producers, and development agencies on approaches that can anticipate and manage the impacts of the dynamic changes in local and regional markets.

Welcome to the first Regoverning Markets newsletter

This newsletter is in html format to provide a more interactive experience. If your mail client cannot display this correctly, please copy the link below into your browser to view it online.
http://www.regoverningmarkets.org/newsletters/regoverning_markets_newsletter/global_newsletter_july_2007.html

In this issue: New Publications, Mapping a Way Forward - from theory to action, Website, Forthcoming Happenings, News Roundup

New Publications

June sees the launch of two new publication series from Regoverning Markets as part of the research and policy outreach mandates of the programme. These series include multiple case study examples with a common set of questions within each series to allow for commonalities to be drawn out, and comparisons to be made at the policy level.

Innovative Practice

The Innovative Practice Series of the Regoverning Markets programme comprises 30 different case studies providing examples of specific innovation in connecting small-scale producers with dynamic markets at local or regional level. The first round of these (16 publications) are now complete and available for public download. There will be also be further series of desk studies entitled "Innovative Policy".

Case Study Selection

Based on significant fieldwork activities, the variation of the following four factors was critical in selection of the case studies:

  1. Stage of Restructuring - countries in different stages of market restructuring;
  2. Procurement Systems that vary in their stage of development
  3. Forms of Inclusion in chain development
  4. Drivers for Inclusion - highlighting the role of different drivers for inclusion

Content

Across the case studies the following common questions are asked:

  1. The innovation and its context: What are the main characteristics of the innovation and its immediate context, both at the level of the supply chain and of directly relevant meso and macro trends, policies and institutions?
  2. Evolution: How did the innovation emerge over time and how did its evolution lead to greater inclusion of small-scale farmers and/or rural SMEs? What were the key incentives faced by small-scale farmers? What were the critical stages and the critical factors in the evolution of the innovation?
  3. Evidence of inclusion: What are the costs and benefits of the innovation, and how are they distributed across different actors in the supply chain? What is the evidence of effectively greater inclusion of small farmers and/or rural SMEs, as a result of the innovation? What did the small farmers and/or rural SMEs gain or loose? Are these results sustainable?
  4. Drivers: What explains the greater degree of inclusion? What were the key drivers in terms of policy principles, business models, collective action and support systems?
  5. And now what...? What is the potential for upscaling or replication? What are the key challenges?

The studies highlight policy lessons and suggest working methods to guide public and private actors.

A brief description of each Innovative Practice study along with a link to the executive summary and full report download is available on the Innovative Practice page of the Regoverning Markets site.

 

Agrifood Sector Studies

The Agrifood Sector Studies series looks at specific agrifood sectors within a country or region.

Research studies have been undertaken in China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, Poland and Zambia. These countries represent both a broad geographic coverage and a range of stages of market concentration. Sectors studied are horticulture, dairy and meat.

The research comprises inter-linked, modular studies, taking elements from both a national (macro) context and 'meso studies' which look at the organisation of the entire supply chain. At the national and sub-national levels, food industry change is explored through key informant interviews, commodity value chain analysis, and product and factor market assessments. At community level, institutional, social, and organizational contexts are examined using Participatory Rural Appraisal methods.

The aim is to look at the mechanisms (including both policy and non-policy reasons) behind the following two big questions:

(1)    How are food industry segments restructuring, and why?

(a)    the general context of food sector restructuring

(b)    the national-meso (sectoral) and local-meso (study zone) context.

 

(2)    How is the interface between the actors in the food industry, and the farmers, restructuring?

(a)    How is the procurement system of the buyers (the segments of the food industry) transforming

(b)    Why is it transforming?

 

A brief description of each Agrifood Sector Study along with a link to the executive summary and full report download is available on the Agrifood Sector Studies page of the Regoverning Markets site.

Separate reports will be available on results of surveys at the farm enterprise level, to determine the impact of these changes on primary producers.

 

Mapping a Way Forward - from theory to action

Working meetings on dynamic market change and implications to small-scale producers

The new and emerging wholesale and retail structures have implications to consumers, producers and market chain actors including the agri-processors and public policy.  The importance of developing both public and private sector policies and interventions that can anticipate and accompany these changes is being recognised in many regions.  Single and multi-stakeholder meetings are seen as one way to open space for dialogue and debate.

The key questions for producers, for the dynamic market sector, and for public policy makers including development partners include:

  • Can the new agri-food business drivers be partners in enabling broad-based procurement?
  • Can small-scale producers and their organisations be partners in new business?
  • Can anticipatory public policy help to ensure that small-scale producers and processors are able to participate in dynamic markets?

 

Framework for Action

Through working together with representatives of the public sector, the private sector, farmers and their organisations, civil society and the media on a collective understanding of the value chain, key trends are identified. Moreover insight into the drivers for these trends and possible future scenarios opens up space for new ways of thinking and exploring both anticipatory policy and intervention. 

Identifying these key trends and drivers is part of an approach, or framework, which has been developed to explore with single and multi-stakeholder groups options for greater small-scale producer participation and strategies to support change - moving from theory to action.

The framework structure which guides the working groups is as follows:

The Regoverning Markets Programme has supported and moderated multi-stakeholder meetings in Turkey, Indonesia, Morocco, South Africa, the Philippines and Bangladesh. The programme comprises single and multi-stakeholder working sessions and recognises the unique institutional and economic policy environment of the given country. Where available the teams draw on the evidence generated through the studies of the programme and other centres of excellence.

Emerging lessons and observations

These include:

  • the working meetings were valued and appreciated by the stakeholders in all the countries
  • there are only either limited or weak structures in place at country level where multi-stakeholders can explore opportunities for enhanced or enabled small-scale producer participation
  • the voice and concerns of the small-scale producers are rarely called upon and included in policy dialogue and there are major gaps in information flows at all levels
  • the tools and methods applied provided an open and non confrontational space for dialogue and for the generation of new or changed modes of working
  • all meetings called for better sharing at country level and between countries of good and innovative practice for small-scale producer inclusion and of public policy and intervention in the light of rapidly changing markets
  • outputs from meetings have fed into wider national policy dialogue and contributed to next stage actions in some cases.

Training and Capacity

In May 2007, the Regoverning Markets Programme held a capacity building short course for moderators interested to develop and strengthen their skills in working with stakeholders on small-scale farmer inclusion in dynamic markets. This short course, held in the Philippines, attracted some 21 participants from Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. They represented the public and private sectors as well as NGOs

For more information contact the policy outreach and learning coordinators through the webform at http://www.regoverningmarkets.org/contact

 

Website

www.regoverningmarkets.org is currently receiving over 5,000 individual visits and 10,000 page vvews per month. Each section of the site, divided by region e.g. Latin America, and also by interest group e.g. Researcher has its own news, articles, and resources tailored to these areas. Click on the left menu from the group homepage to enter a section, and keep up to date by subscribing to our global newsletter or RSS feeds described below. South Asia has also launched their own newsletter, available from the South Asia homepage.

If you or your organisation would like to contribute news and pages then please contact us. Sign-up to add comments and take part in future forums.

RSS for Global News New: RSS News Feeds

You can subscribe to RSS Newsfeeds for Regoverning Markets news at www.regoverningmarkets.org. Each section of the Regoverning Markets site has its own individual newsfeed for both feature articles and general news articles. So for example to receive news articles only from Southern Africa, click on the Southern Africa homepage in the left-hand menu and click directly on the RSS symbol RSS for Global Newsnext to "Southern Africa News" in the Quicklinks menu on the right (also available directly above the news breakdown). To receive a news roundup from across ALL of Regoverning Markets click on the RSS symbol next to "All Regoverning News" in the Quicklinks menu (or click here now).

For more information on RSS and why it could be useful for you click here.

 

Forthcoming Happenings

The work on Innovative Practice case studies is continuing with a second round whcih learn and build from the first 16. Out of an open competitve process with 81 entrants, 14 empirical case studies have been selected from 10 countries, plus three desk studies of policy innovations.These are due to complete over the next few months. We will keep you posted as to when they are available for download.

September sees the Regoverning Markets Synthesis Workshop in Morelia, Mexico. The specific objective of the meeting will be to bring the outputs of the four Regoverning Markets modules together, review the findings in the context of the diverse market contexts, draw out generic and replicable lessons, and create a framework for cross-cutting analysis. It will also reflect more widely on the lessons learnt in the context of future models of procurement in the dynamic agribusiness sector. The workshop will take place in association with an International Seminar hosted by the state government of Michoacán.

January 2008 will be the final conference for Regoverning Markets, emphasising lessons learned, policy outreach, and future ways forward. This will be open to the general public - location to be confirmed!

 

News Roundup

Programme

Book Announcement - Regoverning Markets: A Place for Small-Scale Producers in Modern Agrifood Chains?

Regoverning Markets: A Place for Small-Scale Producers in Modern Agrifood Chains?
Edited by Bill Vorley, Andrew Fearne and Derek Ray

Gower Sustainable Food Chain Series.

This book offers a contemporary look at what happens when the modernisation of food supply chains comes face to face with the livelihoods of rural and poor people. The authors are drawn from eighteen countries participating in the 'Regoverning Markets' programme, which aims to not only improve our understanding of the way modernisation and re-structuring of food supply chains is affecting food production and distribution systems, but also identify best-practice in involving small-scale producers in supermarket supply chains, and ascertain the barriers to inclusion which need to be removed.

World Development Report 2008 includes two ReGov case studies

The World Bank is preparing its 2008 World Development Report (WDR2008) on "Agriculture for Development" to be published in September 2007. The World Development Report is a highly influential publication that will be used by many multilateral and bilateral international organizations, by national governments and by academic and civil society networks and groups, to support their decision-making processes.  Two Regoverning Markets case studies -- on China watermelon and Norminveggies -- cases will be included as boxes in the WDR2008 chapter 5 on markets.

Africa: Country Information Sheets available from Regoverning Markets

This series of Information Sheets provides a summary of market changes taking place at national level within key high value agrifood commodity chains. The intention is to serve as a point for public sector, donor and private sector discussions with particular focus on securing and improving income among the rural poor through their participation in new and dynamic markets.

The Information Sheets were prepared in association with a working meeting 15-17 May 2007, in Zambia, of the Regional Resource Centre for Rural Development (RRD)-Sida together with the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

read more...

 

General Interest

July 3, 2007 | Workshop in Beijing: Emerging Links between Retail Transformation and Agrifood Trade in Asia

A workshop on "Emerging Links between Retail Transformation and Agrifood Trade in Asia" will be held in association with the meetings of the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium (IATRC) in Beijing from July 8-9 2007.  Among presentations will be papers from Regoverning Markets program partners from Philippines and Indonesia. The Workshop keynote on the "Asia Supermarket Revolution and Potential Trade Implications" will be delivered by Thomas Reardon. There are also speakers from Carrefour, Metro, focusing on fresh productsand Lanbo, a leading supplier of mushrooms to supermarkets in China.
read more...

June 22, 2007 | Second European Rural Forum calls for dialogue between donors and supermarket chains

The Second European Forum on Sustainable Rural Development took place during the week of 18 June 2007 in Berlin. The event brought together 400 participants, including policy makers and practitioners from the European Commission and EU Member States' governments and development agencies, parliamentarians from EU and African countries, as well as expert speakers from developing countries governments, civil society organisations, research institutes and international organisations.

June 22, 2007 | CHINA: Retail giants strike deal on food safety standards

Seven major retailers have agreed on a benchmark for food safety standards, allowing suppliers a faster and less costly route to new distribution agreements. The benchmark standards, developed after seven years of discussion, were announced by industry body CIES at its annual summit in Shanghai today (20 June).

June 21, 2007 | Indian retail policy attacked

Resistance by India's politicians to the entry of large-scale retailers in the food and grocery sector could be costing the country up to the equivalent of 1.7 percentage points of lost economic growth, a study suggests.

The study by Crisil, the Indian affiliate of Standard & Poor's, found the virtual absence of corporate investment in modern infrastructure to connect the country's mostly impoverished farmers to urban consumers is leading to huge wastage of food en route to market and is driving up inflation.

June 21, 2007 | UK: M&S Talks Food Miles from Kenya

"We are aware there have been recent discussions in Kenya about the issue of food miles. As part of our wider commitment to make M&S a carbon neutral business, we are looking at ways of reducing our use of air freight. However, I want to emphasise that we aim to do this by using alternative modes of transport, like shipping, and not by reducing our trade with developing countries."

June 19, 2007 | Licensing regime considered in India

 Source: Planet Retail 19 June 07

According to reports in the Indian press, the government is planning a licensing regime to regulate grocery, fruit and vegetable retail in the country. It is understood that any outlet over 929 square metres will be obliged to seek a licence from the local urban body administering that area. The objective is to check the unfettered growth of grocery retail and protect small kirana stores by restricting the mushrooming of organised retail outlets in a particular catchment area. When implemented, the licensing policy will have a direct impact on new hypermarket outlets now being planned by the likes of Reliance and Bharti. The retailers would only be allowed to operate in a specified catchment area, minimising the scope of competition between them and local kirana shops.

June 13, 2007 | UNCTAD: Are private sector standards a barrier to trade?

Geneva 08 Jun 07

Fears have been expressed that the increasing use of voluntary private standards may exclude small producers in developing countries from global supply chains, marginalizing those most in need of the benefits of international trade. This and other developmental and market access issues will be addressed at an UNCTAD-WTO meeting on 25 June 2007.

June 11, 2007 | USAID Workshop in Mali Explores Competitiveness and Financing in Agricultural Value Chains

USAID's Microenterprise Development office (MD) and USAID Mali hosted the workshop:  "Developing and Financing Value Chains: Increasing their Productivity to Reduce Poverty" April 10-13, in Bamako, Mali.

The workshop drew a wide variety of stakeholders, including banks, producers, transporters, and exporters, as well as donor and project staff, to discuss the competitiveness and finance issues of the tomato, potato, rice, and shallot value chains.

June 10, 2007 | Malaysia eases restrictions on foreign operators

Planet Retail 8 June 2007

The Malaysian Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Shafie Apdal, in a recent interview has said that the country is preparing to ease restrictions on foreign hypermarket operators, "We like competition, it's good for the consumers." According to Shafie, Wal-Mart has signalled that it is interested in setting up stores in Malaysia and the ministry is talking to Metro. In January 2004, new hypermarkets were banned in the Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru and Penang areas for five years. Operators wanting to open in other areas had to apply for permits two years in advance. The result is 50 foreign hypermarket outlets serving a population of more than 26 million.

June 6, 2007 | TESCO reveals details of global operating mode

As reported in Retail Week, Tesco has released more details on the new operating model that it is rolling out to its countries of operation. Tesco enterprise architect for infrastructure Charlie Hope-Lang expanded on the model at an industry event last week, stating that the company recognises it is important to repeat the business processes, but also to use the same systems for economies of scale and to simplify things.

June 5, 2007 | Philippines: Gov't urges farmers to sell directly to consumers

Inquirer
Last updated 06:07am (Mla time) 06/05/2007

The Department of Agriculture has launched its second food caravan to showcase the government's efforts to make the farm sector more profitable and food prices more affordable.

May 31, 2007 | Carrefour sigue campaña de precios en Colombia

La cadena de supermercados seguirá publicando en lugar visible los listados de precios comparativos con sus principales competidores.

Tras aceptar la sugerencia de la Superindustria y Comercio (SIC) a su campaña Garantía de Precios Bajos, la cadena Carrefour Colombia anunció que la extenderá no solo a productos no perecederos sino a las líneas de bazar, electrodomésticos y confecciones.

source: www.portafolio.com.co

May 28, 2007 | UK: Supermarket code 'not effective', finds watchdog

Financial Times, May 24 2007. Article by Elizabeth Rigby

The voluntary code regulating supplier and supermarket relations is not effective, the Competition Commission said yesterday, raising speculation that it might introduce stricter guidelines as part of its probe into the £120bn-a-year supermarket sector.

In a working paper published yesterday, the Competition Commission said that many of the issues it raised in its first inquiry into supermarkets in 2000 were still evident seven years later.

May 14, 2007 | Investor forces supply ethics on to Tesco agenda

A small shareholder has amassed enough support to force the issue of ethical trading with suppliers onto the agenda at Tesco's annual shareholders' meeting.