Seedlings being transported for sale in Rwanda
Seedlings being transported by boat for sale in Gisenyi, Rwanda photo by Steven Franzel

Overview

Market-oriented production and commercialization of agriculture contribute to increased incomes and alleviation of poverty. However, access to and participation in input and output markets are often constrained by market failures such as high transaction costs or transaction costs skewed towards small and poor producers' households or other less well endowed actors in the supply chain.

Research questions

Our research targets the overall question: How can sub-sector and value chain analyses better inform market actors for improved marketing strategies and performance? Specifically, we examine:

  • What improved methods and rapid appraisal tools can be used for analyzing sub-sector and value chains, particularly for the benefit of poor and women farmers?
  • What are key constraints and opportunities in selected agroforestry product value chains and how can stakeholders (farmers, policy makers, private sectors, and facilitating organizations) address them

Answering these questions will help assess ways to expand smallholders' access to value chains for agroforestry products and to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the chains so as to improve smallholder livelihoods.

Key Partners

Funding

Locations

Cameroon, Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Philippines, China, Bolivia, Peru

Publications

1. Assessment of growth in mushroom production and trade in southwest China and implications for promoting other non-timber forest products.

He, J. (2010). Globalised forest-products: commoditization of the matsutake mushroom in Tibetan villages, Yunnan, Southwest China. International Forestry Review Vol.12(1): 27-37.

2. Assessment of the economics of Prunus africana in Cameroon, including its profitability, acceptability and market potential. Highlights the dilemmas involved in promoting non-forest tree products: increased market opportunities benefit collectors in the short run but production and biodiversity risks collapsing in the absence of institutions to govern harvesting.

Franzel, S., Ayuk, E., Cunningham, A.B., Duguma, B., and Asanga, C. (2009). Bark for sale: The economics of Prunus africana as an agroforestry tree for small-scale farmers in Cameroon, In: Cunningham, A. B. (ed.) Bark: Use, Management and Commerce in Africa, Advances in Economic Botany Vol. 17.

3. Assessment of farm-level coffee costs and returns and the how market structure affects farm-level returns in Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

Aithal, A.; Pinard, F. 2008. Can good coffee prices increase smallholder revenue?. Les Cahiers d'Outre-Mer, Revue de Géographie de Bordeaux 61 (243)

4. A curricular framework and teacher's guide on markets for agroforestry products using case studies of market assessments of four products across five countries of Southeast Asia.

SEANAFE 2007. A teacher's guide on markets for agroforestry tree products: Curricular Framework and Case studies. Bogor, ICRAF

5. Characterization of the first major example of processing and marketing of leaf meal for livestock feed in Africa. Development of a model to assess the feasibility of leaf meal enterprises in other African locations.

Franzel, S.; Wambugu, C.; Nanok, T.; Kavana, P.; Njau, T.; Aithal, A.; Muriuki, J.; Kitalyi, A. 2007. The production and marketing of leaf meal from fodder shrubs in Tanga, Tanzania. A pro-poor enterprise for improving livestock productivity World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Working Paper No. 50.

6. Synthesis of evidence on the benefits of agroforestry to women in Africa. Addresses the degree to which women participate in agroforestry, manage agroforestry enterprises, benefit from agroforestry, have access to information, and are involved in and benefit from agroforestry product markets.

Kiptot, E. and Franzel, S. (forthcoming) Gender and the adoption of agroforestry in Africa: Are rural women benefitting?

Contacts

Dagmar Mithöfer
Marketing Specialist
Email: d.mithoefer@cgiar.org