Business profiling and nutrition assessment of agrifood small and medium-sized enterprises and enterprise support organizations

FAO

Business profiling and nutrition assessment of agrifood small and medium-sized enterprises and enterprise support organizations

Report

Year of publication 2024

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 53 p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Booklet

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) This report presents the findings of an analysis of the business profiling information and capacity gaps of agrifood small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and enterprise support organizations (ESOs) across Ethiopia, Haiti, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Papua New Guinea and South Sudan. This activity was carried out as part of a project under the Flexible Multi-Partner Mechanism (FMM), currently known as Flexible Voluntary Contribution (FVC).The data collected and the analysis provide valuable insights to policy makers and practitioners into the capacity and learning gaps to be addressed and of the challenges that SMEs and ESOs face in the targeted countries.  The results showed that most of these enterprises are micro-enterprises, almost half are managed by women, and they develop a diversified portfolio of activities including production, processing, and retailing mostly in grains value chains. Most agrifood SMEs mentioned the following as their primary business challenges: limited access tofinance, input costs and infrastructure development.

Cite this content as:

FAO. 2024. Business profiling and nutrition assessment of agrifood small and medium‑sized enterprises and enterprisesupport organizations – Report. Rome.

https://doi.org/10.4060/cd0244en

Language English

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

Booklet

Business profiling and nutrition assessment of agrifood small and medium-sized enterprises in Ethiopia, Malawi and Mali
Report
2024

Also available in:

No results found.

This report presents the findings of an analysis of the business profiling information and capacity gaps of agrifood small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and enterprise support organizations (ESOs) across Ethiopia, Malawi and Mali. The data collected and the analysis provide valuable insights to policymakers and practitioners on the capacity and learning gaps to be addressed and on the challenges that SMEs and ESOs face in the targeted countries.  The results showed that most of these enterprises are micro-enterprises, almost half are managed by women, and they develop a diversified portfolio of activities including production, processing, and retailing mostly in grain value chains. Most agrifood SMEs mentioned the following as their primary business challenges: limited access to finance, input costs and infrastructure development.
Book (stand-alone)

Promoting the digitalization of small and medium-sized agrifood enterprises in Asia and the Pacific 2023

Also available in:

No results found.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute the large majority of businesses both globally and in Asia and the Pacific. Despite their undeniable importance, the literature on SMEs in general, and agrifood SMEs in particular, is relatively limited. One specific area that deserves deeper consideration is the extent of digital engagement of agrifood SMEs along the agrifood value chain, from farm to retail and food services, in countries in Asia and the Pacific. The goal of this publication is to understand the current status of digitalization of agri-SMEs in Asia and the Pacific, what this process looks like and how to improve it. A value-chain approach was adopted to evaluate the digital maturity of all types of agri-SMEs across previously siloed categories – from farm to fork, and in the core and the extended value chain. The report analyses the benefits of digital transformation for agri-SMEs and the challenges they face in this process. Next, the report outlines practical and actionable measures that governments and other stakeholders may undertake to help agrifood SMEs stay ahead in the digital age. Special attention is given to the creation of a digital environment that enables agri-SMEs to increase the efficiency of their operations and allow them to grow. This is particularly important given that many agri-SMEs are located in rural agricultural areas, (where more than half of the population in Asia and the Pacific still resides), but where the environment is less favourable to digital transformation.
Book (series)

Enabling micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in legal timber production and trade
Transformational changes generated by the FAO-EU FLEGT Programme
2022

Also available in:

No results found.

Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) play a critical role in meeting the growing demand for forest products worldwide, with potential to contribute to responsible supply chains that combat illegal logging while promoting economic growth. However, a growing number of countries are adopting demand-side control measures that require proof of legality of forest products. Forest sector MSMEs will require significant support – and changes to the types of support they receive – to fulfil and even take advantage of these new and emerging market requirements and related opportunities. This paper draws from 110 initiatives in 20 countries supported by the FAO-EU Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) Programme between 2016 and 2022 and seeks to provide examples of how to support forest sector MSMEs cost-effectively and at scale to integrate them into domestic and international legal timber value chains. The initiatives discussed in this paper offer a wealth of experience and knowledge, which can be capitalized upon to boost forest-dependent livelihoods and promote both social equity and sustainability within timber supply chains. Implementing a portfolio of these strategies in a comprehensive support package generate “transformational changes” that help realize the potential of MSMEs to move past traditional business-as-usual modes of operation towards sustainable growth and more inclusive, resilient economies.