NORTH-SOUTH CENTRE - ETH - North-South Centre North-South ...

Governance, collective action and development
interventions in vegetable value chains
High-value agriculture is the fastest growing agricultural
sector in developing countries. Vegetables are a typical example
of high-value products, because they have relatively
high unit values and a high income elasticity of demand.
The demand for high-value vegetables is expected to rise
for the following reasons: First, rapid urbanisation is coupled
with the emergence of a middle class consumer group
of relative wealth. Second, altered consumer preferences
occur both at the regional and at the global level.
An increased demand for vegetables may have potential
beneficial outcomes such as a positive impact on the health
of vegetable consumers, and increased employment for a
predominantly female work force. Because of these opportunities,
vegetable production, marketing and consumption
has recently gained increasing interest of development
cooperation agencies. Our project aims at identifying
the potential and the modalities of smallholder integration
into the possibly profitable vegetable sector. Thereby a
value chain approach is being applied. The project comprises
the components (i) value chain governance, (ii) smallholder
participation, (iii) collective action and entrepreneurship,
as well as (iv) intervention by external facilitators.
Northern Tanzania, our study region, is a major vegetable
growing area. We follow a comparative case study metho-
dology, investigating both domestic and export-oriented
value chains. In 2009, the project focused on the identification
of key actors, institutions, and organisations. Explorative,
informal interviews with resource persons and participating
observance were used to obtain qualitative data on
the value chains. Subsequently this information was complemented
by semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders.
Based on this information, we mapped the value
chains and developed a typology of generic vegetable value
chains. The typology includes the following value chains:
local green markets;
urban green markets;
vegetable seed production;
processed vegetable value chains;
institutional buyers and tourism industry;
fresh vegetable export to developed countries.
At first, we investigated the local and urban green markets
in more detail. Preliminary data suggest that these domestic
green market value chains are governed by a high degree
of spot-market arrangements. In addition, individual
actors often hold powerful positions within the chains.
Further research on the other value chain types will continue
in 2010.
Research fellow
Marc Zoss, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
75
Supervisor
Bernard Lehmann, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Collaborators
Sophie Réviron, ETH Zurich, Switzerland;
Abdou Tenkouano,
World Vegetable Center AVRDC, Tanzania;
Katinka Weinberger,
World Vegetable Center AVRDC, Taiwan;
Andrew Temu,
Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania
Duration
August 2008 – July 2011
Capacity development
Research fellowships
High quality produce ready for delivery
to hotels and restaurants, Tanzania