Inclusion of Small- and Medium-Sized Producers in High-Value Agro-Food Value Chains
This paper uses the global value chain methodology to analyze Inter-American Development Bank Multilateral Investment Fund (IDB-MIF) initiatives in Latin America that aim to include high-value agriculture small producers in the national, regional and global chains. Based on extensive primary and secondary research, we propose a holistic model for these interventions. The model is based on the common constraints that producers face to compete in national and international markets: access to market, access to training, coordination and collaboration building and access to finance. We present key lessons learned from five interventions carried out by the IDB-MIF in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Peru. In addition, we highlight three best practices from interventions initiated by other development agencies. We find that a market approach which considers these producers as productive agents is essential to success; the group “small- and medium-sized producers” is heterogeneous and producers have different levels of development that require different support; holistic interventions to overcome major constraints tend to be more successful than those that solve constraints one at a time; an exit strategy must be incorporated from the beginning of project design to ensure sustainability; and implementation should be carried out by a trusted actor with local experience and expertise that can leverage synergies with other agencies to maximize on scarce resources and ensure all necessary equipment and infrastructure are available for the intervention’s long term success.
