Guidelines for value chain analysis, Lecture notes of Qualitative research

Download Guidelines for value chain analysis and more Lecture notes Qualitative research in PDF only on Docsity!

Guidelines for value chain analysis

Jon Hellin and Madelon Meijer,

November 2006

Table of contents

• GUIDELINES FOR VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS ................................................................................
  • 1. INTRODUCTION ...........................................................................................................................
  • 2. MAPPING THE MARKET ...............................................................................................................
    • 2.1 What is a value chain? .....................................................................................................
    • 2.2 Mapping a value chain .....................................................................................................
    • 2.3 The Market Map ...............................................................................................................
  • 3. PRACTICAL USE OF THE MARKET MAP FRAMEWORK ...................................................................
    • 3.1 From theory to practice: the challenge ............................................................................
    • 3.2 The case of Chiapas, Mexico: the first coats of paint.......................................................
    • Selecting a project area ..................................................................................................................
    • Seed distributors ...........................................................................................................................
    • Despachos.....................................................................................................................................
    • Fideicomisos Instituidos con Relación a la Agricultura (FIRA) ..................................................
    • Farmers ........................................................................................................................................
    • Maize buyers.................................................................................................................................
    • So what have we learnt so far?.....................................................................................................
    • Next steps in Chiapas ...................................................................................................................
    • 3.3 The case of Bolivia and Ecuador: the first coats of paint ..............................................
    • Context: trends in the agricultural economy ................................................................................
    • Identify barriers and opportunities and impact on natural resources ..........................................
    • Topics for the farmer focus groups...............................................................................................
    • Semi-structured interviews ...........................................................................................................
    • Experts from Proinpa and other institutions ................................................................................
    • What have we learned so far? Example Ecuador .........................................................................
  • 4. SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................

2. Mapping the market

2.1 What is a value chain?

The first step in mapping the market is to delineate the value chain. The flow of seed to farmers and grain or tubers to the market occurs along chains. These can be referred to as value chains because as the product moves from chain actor to chain actor e.g. from producer to intermediary to consumer it gains value. A value chain can be defined as the full range of activities which are required to bring a product or service from conception, through the different phases of production (involving a combination of physical transformation and the input of various producer services), delivery to final customers, and final disposal after use.. The chain actors who actually transact a particular product as it moves through the value chain include input (e.g. seed suppliers), farmers, traders, processors, transporters, wholesalers, retailers and final consumers. A simplified version of a value chain is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 A simplified value chain

Seed suppliers → Farmers → Traders → Processors → Exporters/importers → Retailers → Consumers

In reality, value chains are more complex than the above example, in many cases, the input and output chains comprise more than one channel and these channels can also supply more than one final market. A comprehensive mapping therefore describes interacting and competing channels (including those that perhaps do not involve smallholder farmers at all) and the variety of final markets into which these connect (see Figure 2).

2.2 Mapping a value chain

Value chains can be mapped and analyzed using value chain analysis (VCA) which can include qualitative and/or quantitative tools. There are no fixed rules on which research approach is better but there are strong grounds for recommending that a qualitative approach is used first, followed (time and resources permitting) with a quantitative study (see Box 1). The analogy is one of painting a house: the first coat (the undercoat) is provided by short qualitative study (guidelines for the qualitative research per se are given below).

The initial study adds a little color but several coats of paint are needed in order to appreciate the final effect. What we have done to date is the equivalent of our undercoat. We can see who the different value chain actor are but we have no idea of the relationships between them, the prices and quantities of seed moving through the first bit of the chain, the crop diversity found in farmers’ fields, the prices and quantities of grain or tubers as they move to the right of the chain, the rationale for why farmers are purchasing seed x , y or z. We need more color: we need more layers of paint. We can add this color via qualitative (e.g. semi-structured interviews and focus groups) and/or quantitative (e.g. household survey or a questionnaire) tools (see

Figure 3). If time and funds are short it may be best to focus on qualitative research bearing in mind that a great deal of information on prices and quantities can still be gleaned from qualitative research and often secondary sources such as national statistics.

Figure 2 A more complex value chain*

*Defying convention, Figure 2 reverses the direction of the chain. It shows the flow of income from markets along the chain to primary producers, rather than (as is conventional) the flow of goods in the opposite direction. This counter-intuitivism emphasises a demand-led perspective.

Box 1 Unlocking the complexity of value chain actors’ realities: combining qualitative and quantitative research

Endeavours to find out about the realities of different value chain actors are plagued by difficulties. Inevitably, researchers like us are dependent on information from the different actors themselves. We need to question continuously whether the indicators developed are valid i.e. do they measure the concept they are designed to measure, and whether the information we collect is reliable i.e. a question is of little use if a some of the value chain actors such as farmers answer it in one way one day and another the next. Ensuring a high degree of validity and reliability is one of the persistent concerns in any social science research strategy. It can be particularly difficult in the context of smallholder agriculture and value chains.

One of the most widely used quantitative research tools are questionnaires. There are many advantages to questionnaires of course but the drawback of relying exclusively on a research tool such as a questionnaire is that there is no way in which increased rigour during analysis can compensate for the unknown and degree of inaccuracy involved in the measurement process. Furthermore, questionnaires may entail interpersonal relationships of power and distort value chain actors’ realities by fitting them into centrally pre-set frameworks. Questionnaires may also suffer from the same degree of subjectivity as that normally attributed to qualitative research by reflecting the predisposition of the researcher.

2.3 The Market Map

If we want to understand more about the rationale behind farmers’ decisions vis-à-vis the types of seeds that farmers purchase etc. then we also need to know about the extraneous factors that influence the way that the value chain works. This is where the market map comes in useful. The market map is a conceptual and practical tool that helps us identify policy issues that may be hindering or enhancing the functioning of the chain and also the institutions and organizations providing the services (e.g. market information, quality standards) that the different chain actors need in order to make better informed decisions.

For example, a group of farmers may not know that a particular seed supplier has on offer a seed type that no other seed supplier has in stock. If the farmers do not know the seed is on offer, they may not buy it and, consequently, that particular variety will not be planted. Another example is that farmers might hear from the radio that there is an increasing demand for a particular type of maize. On hearing this on the radio they may well then go and seek out seed of the maize type in question. In order to understand farmer decision-making vis-à-vis what seed they purchase, it is important to note where farmers do or do not get their information from.

The Market Map is made up of three inter-linked components (see Figure 4):

• Value chain actors (see above)
• Enabling environment (infrastructure and policies, institutions and processes that shape the market environment)
• Service providers (the business or extension services that support the value chains’ operations)

The enabling environment consists of the critical factors and trends that are shaping the value chain environment and operating conditions, but may be amenable to change. These “enabling environment” factors are generated by structures (national and local authorities, research agencies etc.), and institutions (policies, regulations and practices) that are beyond the direct control of economic actors in the value chain. The purpose of charting this enabling environment is not simply to map the status quo, but to understand the trends that are affecting the entire value chain, and examine the powers and interests that are driving change. This knowledge can help determine avenues and opportunities for realistic action, lobbying and policy entrepreneurship (admittedly activities that we are unlikely to be engaged in as part of the Seed Markets project).

Figure 4 The full market map

In most effective value chains the actors who actually form the chain (i.e. transact the main product) are supported by business and extension services from other enterprises and support organisations (e.g. seed suppliers and intermediaries). There is an on-going need for chain actors to access services of different types both market and technical. The third component of the Market Map framework is concerned with mapping these services that support, or could potentially support, the value chain’s overall efficiency. The services that can potentially add value is huge and include:

• Input supplies (seeds, livestock, fertilizers etc.)
• Market information (prices, trends, buyers, suppliers)
• Financial services (such as credit, savings or insurance)
• Transport services
• Quality assurance - monitoring and accreditation
• Support for product development and diversification

We have already introduced above the middle layer of the market map – the value chain – but the other layers – the enabling environment and service providers – have a big impact on how the value chains function and, hence, in our case the impact of markets on crop diversity (see Box 2).

Figure 5 Actors in seed input chains in La Frailesca, Chiapas

We had, therefore, already applied more than one coat of paint. Had we not had this information, we would have had to build up a rough map of the different chain actors and explore in more detail how they interacted with each other. As it is, despite our knowledge of the key chain actors, we knew that the situation was fluid and that the relationship between the actors had probably changed. Hence, we went back to basics. We identified a number of issues that we wanted to explore further during the qualitative research:

1. Types of maize seed that farmers are demanding
2. Reasons why farmers choose particular seed (the seed’s attributes, the existence of government subsidies for different seed types)
3. Frequency with which farmers purchase seed
4. Extent to which improved seed is entering the informal seed system.
5. Reasons why farmer continue or discontinue growing land races
6. Structure of the maize grain market and prices offered to farmers
7. Impact of grain market on farmer decision-making vis-à-vis what types of seed to plant

The above list can be seen as our predetermined topics (see section 3.1 above). These topics could only be comprehensively addressed by talking to all actors in the chain. For example, by talking only with the seed distributors we could have dealt with number 1 (types of maize that farmers are demanding) but not number 2 (the reasons why farmers chose particular seed), this could only come about by talking to the farmers themselves.

Our qualitative value chain analysis enabled us rapidly to gain a greater understanding of the different actors in the input (seed) chains and output (grain). We achieved this by talking to key informants e.g. going into a village and talking to farmers, then driving to the nearby town and talking to the seed distributors and the grain purchasers. The qualitative approach is very much an ‘anthropological’ one.

Seed distributors

We knew that the formal seed market only dealt with hybrid and open pollinated varieties (OPV) of maize and we already had a list of all the seed distributors in La Frailesca. We also knew that almost all of them had their distribution centre in Villaflores - the major town. We (Jon and Dagoberto, a CIMMYT research assistant) spent two days visiting the seed distributors (see Photos 1 and 2) and talking about the seed distribution system.

Photo 1 Seed distributor of Cristiani Burkard seed

why the role of the despachos has changed. The seed distributors had given us a list of some of the despachos so we went to visit their offices in VillaFlores.

Despachos

The semi-structured interviews with the despachos focused on their (changing) role in the seed supply chain:

• Can you explain how you work?
• What is your relationship with the seed distributors?
• What sort of maize seed do farmers ask for?
• How is you work financed (we knew that the despachos’ work is partly subsidised)

The despachos were quite open that the situation had changed: working with farmers had proved difficult because of farmers not paying for the technical packet that the despachos offer (despite this packet being subsidised). Some despachos had ‘given up’ on the agricultural sector and were offering technical and marketing advice to those working in small-scale manufacturing. It became clear during the interviews that the continued role of the despachos in terms of agriculture and maize rested on their being a conduit for farmers’ groups to access subsidised credit. We decided to go and talk to the organisation that provides credit.

Fideicomisos Instituidos con Relación a la Agricultura (FIRA)

FIRA is the government body dependent of the Bank of Mexico that provides credit to farmers. The meeting with FIRA was straightforward because we basically wanted to know more about FIRA:

• What it does
• How it channels credit to farmers
• Its views on the future of smallholder maize production

We explored these topics during a 90 minutes relaxed conversation in FIRA’s office in VillaFlores. Out of this meeting, we gained more insight into the ways that farmers access seeds and credit. FIRA lends money at low interest rates to a number of banks who in turn provide credit to farmers at lower interest rates than would be the case if the banks were lending their own money. FIRA and the banks such as HSBC used to support the agricultural sector more then they do now: the day-to-day work was out- sourced to the despachos. The banks, FIRA and despachos only work with groups of farmers and not individuals. There is, therefore, an incentive for farmers to organize. The despachos make money by selling a technical package to groups of farmers. FIRA also subsidizes the producer groups so that they are better able to pay for the technical package that the despachos provide. FIRA reduces the subsidy on a sliding scale from 70% of the package in the first year to 20% in the fourth year. FIRA confirmed what the despachos had told us i.e. the farmers often defaulted on loans and that the despachos were increasingly working with small enterprises.

Farmers

It was time to go into the field and talk to the farmers. Again, CIMMYT took advantage of the fact that we had worked in several of the farming communities in La Frailesca. It was relatively easy to turn up in the villages, arrange a meeting for later on in the day, and in the intervening hours visit farmers’ fields and talk to those farmers we met. The focus group meetings (see Photo 3) were conducted in a similar way to the semi-structured interviews in terms of us having selected a few predetermined topics.

Photo 3 Focus group meeting with farmers in Chiapas

Going back to the list above, the discussions with farmers gave us the opportunity to explore in more detail:

• Types of maize seed that farmers are demanding
• Reasons why farmers choose particular seed (the seed’s attributes, the existence of government subsidies for different seed types)
• Frequency with which farmers purchase seed
• Reasons why farmer continue or discontinue growing land races

Farmers explained why they worked (or didn’t) with the despachos, they explained how the seed subsidy system worked and the fact that there was more chance of obtaining subsidised seed if they made a request as a group rather than as individuals. We asked about the use of land races and what types of maize farmers grow. Farmers

• Are there extraneous policy issues that account for why traders bulk seed i.e. a government subsidy for the number of bags of seed sold irrespective of the type of seed?
• Would farmers prefer the seed to remain differentiated?
• Do traders understand that farmers would prefer that seed lots be kept separate?
• Would farmers be prepared to pay more for differentiated as opposed to pooled seed?
• Do traders know that farmers would be prepared to pay more for differentiated seed?
• How much more would farmers have to pay for differentiated seed in order to make it worthwhile for traders to provide this?
• Would farmers be prepared to pay more for differentiated seed if there was a market for differentiated grain?
• Would traders be able to sell more seed (and at a higher price) if they provided farmers with differentiated seed and information on the seed? i.e. are the same quantities of seed per farmer in the left hand and right hand chains?

These questions can be gleaned by using qualitative and/or quantitative research tools. In this case, we are adding more coats of paint and by doing so we are seeing more details (more color). By adding more color, we can document the transaction costs involved in selling seed, the prices and quantities of seed moving through the chain and the crop diversity found in

farmers’ fields etc.

In the Chiapas case, we wanted to know why farmers in the left hand chain sow seed lots separately when the grain they sell is pooled by the grain merchants (this we gleaned by talking to the farmers (see above). It is also of interest to know why the grain is pooled: is there no market demand for differentiated maize? To help us answer these questions we went

to talk to the two biggest maize purchasers in the region: Buenaventura who produce chickens and MASECA who produce maize tortillas (see Photo 4).

Semi-structured interviews with Buenaventura revealed that the company sources grain locally (predominantly white maize) and from the United States (yellow maize). Buenaventura commented that it is more expensive to transport maize from the local area to factory then it is to import maize from the United States (this warrants further investigation) In 2005, Buenaventura needed 120,000 t of maize for its operations: it imported 100,000 t and purchased 25,000 t locally from i) contracted farmers and ii) from local farmers. Buenaventura pointed out that the chickens don’t care what sort of grain they eat and, hence, there are no incentives to separate out grain from land races, OPVs or hybrids.

Similarly MASECA sees no reasons to offer premia prices for different types of maize: the industrial maize tortilla process uses whatever type of maize assuming that it meets certain minimum quality standards. Further research is still warranted to see whether there is a market demand for differentiated maize and, hence, the opportunity to make markets work for crop diversity.

Photo 4 MASECA is one of the biggest maize buyers in Chiapas

So what have we learnt so far?

Through the use of some secondary literature but mostly through qualitative work, CIMMYT has built up a comprehensive picture of the seed input and maize output chain actors, the relationships between them and the policy environment that influences how the chains are structured and function. Throughout the process, the market map proved to be an invaluable conceptual tool to help us understand why the chains are as they are and why they function as they do. We have much more information but in summary the chains are structured as follows:

Seed certification is carried out by the Certificadora Nacional de Semillas (SNIC)s which is part of the Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentación (SAGARPA). SNIC certifies seed when it is shipped from the hybrid maize production sites (mostly in the north of Mexico). On arrival in La Frailesca, the hybrid seed is again Frailesca. The second test is to ensure that the germination rate meets with quality requirements. OPV seed is also tested but this seed is produced locally.

Several seed companies including well-known ones such as Pioneer sell hybrid and OPV maize seed in La Frailesca. The seed is sold through official distributors the vast majority of whom have outlets in the town of Villaflores, the major town in La Frailesca. CIMMYT discovered in the early 1990s that a key actor in the agricultural

reduces their transaction costs. While in theory individual farmers can access the subsidy, the process takes longer and farmers have more chance of receiving subsidized seed if they are part of a group. Farmers have to make a request for the subsidized seed to the Secretaría de Desarrollo Rural (SDR). According to the SDR, the seed subsidy in 2006 was sufficient to cover 20,000 bags of seed. In June 2006, just before the beginning of the planting season, farmer requests for subsidized seed had reached 36,000 bags. Hence, some farmers (groups or individuals) would not have received their seed.

Farmers in the focus group meetings as well as interviews with the seed companies and despachos confirmed that groups of farmers stood a far higher chance of securing subsidized seed rather than individuals. On applying for the subsidy, farmers receive a voucher that can be used to purchase subsidized seed from the seed distributors (e.g. Pioneer, Monsanto and Christian Burkard). One seed distributor explained that he supplied over 800 bags of subsidized seed to one village. He did so because the farmers in the village in question were very well organized. He ‘helped’ them access the seed subsidy and because of the volume of seed that they purchased, he was able to offer them a further discount on top of the 300 pesos per bag subsidy.

The seed subsidy seems to be a critical factor in preventing a collapse of maize farming in La Frailesca. The almost universal opinion among all the actors along the seed input and maize output chains is that if the government removed the seed subsidy fewer farmers would purchase improved seed, many more maize producers would stop growing maize or at least reduce the area grown to maize, they would either diversify into other crops or exit farming all together. A removal of the subsidy would also have a huge impact on the seed distributors. Semi-structured interviews with eight distributors showed that over 60 % of their seed sales were made up of subsidized seed. However, it is also clear that the seed subsidy, essentially a distortion of the market, is leading to more farmers getting hold of hybrid and OPV seed. While the removal of the seed subsidy may well lead to more farmers abandoning maize production, it is also possible that those remaining will use more criollo and creolized seed which is acquired through farmer re-cycling of seed i.e. using seed from the previous harvest.

The government organization ASERCA fixes the grain price that farmers receive. Farmers sell grain to buyers called bodegas who set up buying centers outside villages throughout La Frailesca. Farmers bring their grain to these centers and assuming that the grain meets certain quality standards, the farmers will receive from the buyer 1,400 pesos/t (the price fixed by ASERCA). The farmer is issued with a document confirming the amount of grain that has been sold. The document subsequently enables the farmer to access a federal government subsidy of 300 pesos/t of grain sold. There is no differentiated market for maize i.e. farmers receive the same price irrespective of whether the grain in question is a land race, OPV or hybrid. Furthermore, there is no price differentiation for white or yellow maize (the vast majority of maize grown in Mexico is white maize).

Next steps in Chiapas

It became clear from early on in the research process that a key factor in determining the types of seed that farmers are buying is the policy environment and particularly

the seed subsidy that the government provides for hybrid and OPV seed. CIMMYT is, therefore, exploring the whole policy environment (at the macro- and meso-levels) so as to better understand the impact of current policies and programs on crop diversity. This is being carried out via a desk-based literature review and

3.3 The case of Bolivia and Ecuador: the first coats of paint

Context: trends in the agricultural economy

A similar approach to the Mexico case study was used in Bolivia and Ecuador, although it started from a different entry point: from the predetermined topics as mentioned in section 3.2, emphasis was put on bullets 6 and 7, i.e. the structure of the potato output market and the impact of changes in this market on farmers’ production systems. So the main topics were:

• Mapping the different market outlets
• Identifying trends in these markets
• Identifying the type of farmers supplying these market outlets

FAO started by drawing up a map and describing the value chain actors. The purpose was to get a first idea of the chain-organization (“the first layer of paint”): how many actors do we find in each of the chains? This serves two objectives:

a) To understand the relative power balances in the chain (it is common to find many small scale farmers, many intermediaries but few in each village, few processing companies, and many consumers. b) Get the information required for the sampling frames for the household survey and the retail market surveys.

Where possible, FAO obtained a list of names of traders that will be used shortly to identify the sample population for the quantitative research.