FLAGSHIP 3 – INCLUSIVE VALUE CHAINS AND EFFICIENT TRADE: APRIL – JUNE 2017 UPDATES

• The Ag-Incentives Consortium of international organizations (OECD, FAO, IDB, IFPRI, World Bank, and others) for measuring the policy environment for agriculture, supported by PIM through Flagship 3, launched its website, a user-friendly online database that aggregates agricultural policy data from various sources into an interactive tool for guiding more informed policy. Since 2013, the Consortium members have worked to harmonize their approaches and to provide a seamless experience allowing users to obtain standardized measures of agricultural incentives for 80 countries. Read more and watch the video about Ag-Incentives here.
• The recently released double edition of Enterprise Development & Microfinance edited by Jason Donovan, Dietmar Stoian, and Shaun Ferris explores how VCD initiatives involving smallholders and small and medium enterprises are designed, implemented, and assessed.  Several researchers and collaborators involved in Flagship 3 (from the World Agroforestry Center, Bioversity, CIAT, CIMMYT, Wageningen University and Research, and KIT) have contributed to the special edition. Read more in this post and see the citation below.
• The CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) organized two workshops in Uganda on June 6-9 focused on demand-led approaches to drive post-harvest innovation and nutritious RTB products. Claudio Velasco (CIP) attended these workshops as part of the collaboration between RTB and PIM activity under Flagship 3 on post-harvest losses.  The first workshop focused on lessons learnt during the recently completed RTB-ENDURE Project. Participants analyzed experience and results of adopting the Participatory Market Chain approach (PMCA) and Gender Sensitive Tools for Value Chain Development in potato, sweet potato, cassava and banana value chains in Uganda. These results are an important source of information for the PIM AR4D Hub in Africa South of the Sahara and for south-south exchange, especially with the Andes Hub.  The second meeting was dedicated to the strategic design of the RTB cluster 4.1 that focuses on post-harvest innovation and nutrition and opens ample opportunities for further collaboration with PIM. Read more about the Uganda meetings in this RTB blog.

Selected publications

Abate, Gashaw T.; Bernard, Tanguy; de Brauw, Alan; Minot, Nicholas. 2017. The impact of the use of new technologies on farmers’ wheat yield in Ethiopia: Evidence from a randomized control trial. Presented at CSAE Conference 2017: Economic Development in Africa. St Catherine's College, Oxford, March 19-21, 2017. https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=CSAE2017&paper_id=801

Ambler, Kate; de Brauw, Alan; and Godlonton, Susan. 2017. Measuring postharvest losses at the farm level in Malawi. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1632. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI): Washington, D.C. https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131143

Bernard, Tanguy; Hidrobo, Melissa; Le Port, Agnès; and Rawat, Rahul. 2017. Nutrition incentives in dairy contract farming in northern Senegal. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1629. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131128 (PIM & A4NH, also linked to Flagship 4)

Donovan, Jason; Stoian, Dietmar; and Ferris, Shaun (eds). 2017. Value chain development in agriculture: improved support for smallholders and SMEs. Special edition of Enterprise Development & Microfinance. Volume 28, Issue 1-2, March 2017. https://www.developmentbookshelf.com/toc/edm/28/1-2

• Donovan, J., Stoian, D. & Ferris, S. 2017. Editorial: Towards Leaner and More Effective Value Chain Development. Enterprise Development and Microfinance 28 (1-2): 1-5.
• Donovan, J., Stoian, D. & Poe, K. 2017. Value chain development in Nicaragua: Prevailing approaches and tools used for design and implementation. Enterprise Development and Microfinance 28 (1-2): 10-27.

Gouel, Christophe and Guimbard, Houssein. 2017. Nutrition transition and the structure of global food demand. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1631. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131130

Penny, Mary E.; Meza, Krysty S.; Creed-Kanashiro, Hilary M.; Marin, R. Margot; and Donovan, Jason. Fruits and vegetables are incorporated into home cuisine in different ways that are relevant to promoting increased consumption. Maternal and Child Nutrition. Article in press. First published August 10, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12356 (PIM & A4NH)

Ragasa, C., S. Thornsbury, and S. Joshi. 2017. Dynamics of EU food safety certification:  A survival analysis of firm decisions, Agricultural and Food Economics 5:11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40100-017-0080-2  (also related to the work of Flagship 2)

Sekhar, C.S.C.; Roy, Devesh; and Bhatt, Yogesh. 2017. Food inflation and food price volatility in India: Trends and determinants. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1640. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131171

Yang, H.; Vernooy, R.; Leeuwis, C. 2017. Farmer cooperatives and the changing agri-food system in China. China Information. Online first paper (12 JAN 17) ISSN: 0920-203X; https://hdl.handle.net/10568/81245 

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