Guidelines for rapid appraisals of agrifood chain performance in developing countries

by Carlos A. da Silva and Hildo M. de Souza Filho.

FAO, Agricultural Management, Marketing and Finance Occasional Paper 20, 2007

This publication presents a methodological strategy for the analysis of agrifood value chains.  Simply stated, chains can be seen as sets of interrelated activities that are typically organized as sequences of stages. In the agricultural, food and fiber sector, chains encompass activities that take place at the farm level, including input supply, and continue during first handling,  processing and distribution. As products progressively move through the successive stages,  transactions between chain actors - producers, processors, retailers, etc, - take place. Money  changes hands, information is exchanged, and value is progressively added. Seen from a broader, systemic perspective, the chain concept includes also the ‘rules of the game' - laws, regulations, policies and other institutional elements - as well as the support services, which form the environment where all activities take place. Value chain analysis under such a broad view seeks to characterize how chain activities are performed and to understand how valueis created and shared among chain participants. It seeks also to evaluate the performance of chains and identify what, if any, are the barriers for their development.

Available for download at http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/a1475e/a1475e00.htm