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Linking Smallholders to the New Agricultural Economy: An Evaluation of the Plataformas Program in Ecuador

Year of publication 2009

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Product type Document

Series title FAO Agricultural Economics Working Paper

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) This paper analyzes the impact of participation in multi-stakeholder platforms (Plataformas) aimed at linking smallholder potato farmers to the market in the mountain region of Ecuador. It describes and evaluates the Plataformas’ program to determine whether it has been successful in linking farmers to higher-value markets and the effects that such connections have brought, particularly with regard to farmers’ welfare and to the environment. The analysis is run comparing a set of different and c arefully constructed control groups to beneficiaries and using various specifications. Results are strongly consistent across the different specifications and are sound across the counterfactuals, suggesting impacts are adequately identified. Findings suggest that the program was successful in improving the welfare of beneficiaries, while potential negative environmental impacts, particularly with relation to agrobiodiversity and use of agrochemicals seem not to be a concern. Mechanisms through which impacts have been achieved are analyzed. Little spillover effects are found.

Language English

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    The results show that the Plataformas successfully increased the welfare of the participating farmers and suggest that they are an eff ective way of linking smallholder potato producers to the market. The success of the Plataformas can be explained fi rstly by their intervention along the whole value chain and the removing of unnecessary transaction costs; secondly by the introduction of technological innovations to increase yields; and thirdly by an improvement in social capital that is express ed, among other things, as greater trust among the actors in the production chain, and which enables small-scale producers to overcome the obstacles to entering more demanding markets. The full version of this study is available at http://www.fao.org/3/a-ak231e.pdf
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    he FAO Expert Consultation on Strategies for Sustainable Animal Agriculture in Developing Countries was held at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy, from 10 to 14 December 1990.Animal agriculture is a complex, multi-component, interactive process that is dependant on land, human resources and capital investment. Throughout the developing world it is practised in many different forms, in different environments and with differing degrees of intensity and biological efficiency. As a result any meaningful discussion of the subject must draw on a broad spectrum of the biological and earth sciences as well as the social, economic and political dimensions that bear so heavily on the advancement of animal agriculture. There is a growing consensus among politicians, planners and scientists alike that livestock production in the third world is not developing as it should, or at a sufficient pace to meet the high quality protein needs of a rapidly expanding human population. The sobering reality is, despite the many development projects implemented over the years by national, bilateral and multinational agencies and often substantial capital investment, there has been little or no change in the efficiency of animal production in the developing world. Livestock numbers have increased substantially in many countries and while the growth in output is welcome, it does not necessarily equate with sustainable productive growth. On the contrary it can, as it has done in the drought prone arid regions, lead to a lowering of productivity and degradation of the rangelands.The purpose of the Expert Consultation was to discuss and formulate specific criteria and questions relating to the planning and implementation of sustainable livestock production programmes in the developing world. There is increasing concern regarding the conservation of the natural resource base and protection of the global environment and FAO attaches highest priority to the sustainable development of plant and animal agriculture. This Expert Consultation is one of a number of initiatives being undertaken by FAO to ensure the sustainability of it's agricultural development programme. The discussion and recommendations arising from this Expert Consultation have been used to help to focus and guide global, regional and national policies and action programmes on the sustainable development of agriculture and have provided an important contribution to the FAO/Government of the Netherlands International Conference on Agriculture and the Environment held in the hague, 15–19 April, 1991.
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