In August 2017, Fair & Sustainable was awarded a contract by the German agency GIZ in Malawi, to perform an in-depth value chain analysis for the selection of value chains and inclusive business models. Fair & Sustainable implemented the assignment together with Imani Consultants Limited in Malawi.
GIZ has been implementing the More Income and Employment in Rural Areas (MIERA) project since 2015, focusing on four agricultural value chains: cassava, groundnuts, soybean and sunflower. From 2017, MIERA will be scaled up through additional funds from the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) KULIMA project. For the scaling up of MIERA, Fair & Sustainable was asked to advise on the selection of 2-3 additional value chains out of six pre-selected value chains: paprika/chillies, macadamia, bamboo, rice, tea, and beans.
During a mission in September 2017, primary data was collected through field visits to stakeholders in all (pre-)selected value chains in North, Central, and South Malawi. A stakeholder workshop was held on 14th September 2017 at Bingu International Conference Centre in Lilongwe, with over 60 participants from government, donor communities, non-governmental organisations, and private sector, linked to the ten value chains. Group work sessions were held to get stakeholders’ inputs on (i) barriers and opportunities to inclusive agribusiness in Malawi and (ii) the main challenges, opportunities, priorities in specific value chains.
As a result, (simplified) value chain maps were developed, with main barriers (in red) and opportunities (in green) for development. For each value chain, positive and negative factors for inclusion in the project were identified, and value chains were scored against project-specific criteria in five categories: (i) market demand & value addition, (ii) private sector, (iii) income, employment, & inclusion, (iv) environment, and (v) feasibility/additionality. Selection was further guided by the “Guidelines for Value Chain Selection”, which was developed by Jochem Schneemann and Trude Vredeveld of Fair & Sustainable and published by GIZ in 2015. Below is an example of the simplified VC map for tea.
At the time of writing, the assignment has not yet been concluded and selection of 2-3 new value chains is ongoing.
