Pro-Poor Value Chain Development - Capacity.org

Chapter 6
Study on BOAM outcomes
Roldan Muradian, Claire Chagwiza and Worku Tessema
In the first half of 2011 a research team from Hawassa University and the Centre
for International Development Issues Nijmegen (CIDIN) at Radboud University,
The Netherlands, carried out an external study of two value chain interventions
that received BOAM support. The overall goal of the study was to understand
the mechanisms through which value chain interventions can contribute to rural
economic development by integrating smallholder farmers into the market. More
specifically, the researchers examined how such interventions (a) affect the
upgrading capacities and economic performance of different actors along the value
chain system and (b) under what conditions smallholder farmers can be successfully
integrated into agricultural markets.
In this chapter the researchers elaborate on these conceptual contributions based on
empirical evidence and lessons drawn during the execution of BOAM’s pro-poor value
chain development approach in the period 2006-2010. The chapter will specifically
deal with the changes induced in the economic performance of stakeholders through
four mechanisms; value chain governance, social structure (networks and social
capital), the development of entrepreneurial and managerial capacities, and value
chain finance. The chapter will conclude with insights derived from a comparison of
the two cases.
Introduction
The two selected cases are considered to be SNV ‘best practices.’ The first case
explores how BOAM facilitated inclusive business models in the honey sector.
BezaMar Agro-Industry Plc is one of the pioneer honey processing companies in
Ethiopia and the first to export honey to the European Union. The firm relies on
a supplier network of hundreds of smallholder farmers. Through a combination of
high-quality training and technology transfer to the smallholder farmers on the one
hand and the provision of business development services to BezaMar on the other,
BOAM helped to foster a mutually beneficial relationship between a lead firm and its
suppliers.
The second case similarly involved a combination of training support for members
of the Didaa Farmers’ Cooperative Union, and the setting up of an oilseeds
multiplication system. The project was undertaken with the support of several value
chain actors and support organisations including local extension workers, private
service providers and the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research. BOAM’s role
as a knowledge broker and network facilitator led to the establishment of the first
informal linseed multiplication system at the smallholder farmer level in Ethiopia.
Study on BOAM outcomes
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