Agribusiness and Agriculture Example Projects

El Salvador Export Promotion for Economic Reactivation of Salvadoran Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises Activity

JAA is a core firm for the EXPRO program consortium in El Salvador. The program is helping Salvadorans to improve the environment for enabling Salvadoran exports through the implementation of incentive structures, and the provision of technical assistance and information to MSMEs and export service providers. JAA is providing technical expertise in competitiveness, marketing, export promotion, and business development.

JAA has helped to establish a network of marketing representatives in the US, and to analyze the US demand for natural tropical fruit juices and concentrates to help Salvadoran farmers/producers understand the opportunities available in the U.S. market, how to export tropical juices and concentrates, and how to position themselves as juice or concentrate exporters rather than fruit exporters. JAA also helped plan and conduct a seminar in Los Angeles, in conjunction with the Produce Management Association Trade Show, on the use of commercial intelligence in export and investment promotion. JAA visited the Salvadoran exhibit at the PMA show and another at Natural Products Expo East to see the products, meet the exhibitors and give them suggestions about marketing.

JAA is currently assisting with the creation of the first Salvadoran Chamber of International Health Services. JAA helped to develop a technical workshop to inform the local medical community about health services marketing and promotion experiences in other countries, as well as to carry out a fact finding commercial mission to México and the United States, in order to exchange experiences, knowledge, abilities, skills and values in current marketing practices in health care services, pharmaceutical products, medicines, medical instruments and biotechnology.

World Bank Toolkit of Analytical Methods to Enhance the Competitiveness of Agricultural Supply Chains and Agribusiness in Sub-Saharan Africa

In this flagship program, JAA was contracted by the World Bank’s Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development (ESSD) Group to prepare a toolkit of implementation approaches centered on value chain principles to enhance the competitiveness of agriculture and agribusiness in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The toolkit provides a number of implementation tools and methodologies based on value chain concepts that can be used in the context of agricultural and agribusiness development programs. The over-arching purpose of this document is to provide practical approaches that focus on improving the competitiveness of agricultural supply and value chains. Value chain analysis is an indispensable part of many approaches; however the tools discussed in this document have been selected for their usefulness in guiding and supporting market-focused private sector initiative and action. The toolkit includes 20+ cases describing how the tools have been effectively implemented. Cases have been selected from many countries: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mongolia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda and Zambia, amongst others.

The bulk of the toolkit is individual tools and approaches. The document also discusses several key themes which the tools apply or take into account. In this regard, however, the important “take-away” from this document is not the identification of common themes, but rather the insight that the use of value chain-based approaches must add value, create opportunity, and reach markets. This toolkit provides planners and decision makers with practical tools for implementing effective value and supply chain development programs. It provides a common framework to public and private stakeholders for prioritizing decisions that will have a competitive impact on sectors and sub-sectors. It also provides practical tools for planning, programming and animating, and provides policy-makers, business leaders, members of the development community, and researchers and practitioners with methods and approaches that can be used to promote the development of traditional and non-traditional value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Rural Enterprise Development Environment Program, Mexico Rural Prosperity and Conservation (Mexico RPC)

To help Mexicans promote sustainable development, JE Austin, in partnership with Chemonics, provides technical assistance to government agencies, producers, rural communities, and NGOs that implement rural enterprise development and environmental programs in targeted watersheds. Through training and support, the project helps Mexicans better manage and conserve watersheds in Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Chihuahua, and also in neighboring Veracruz and Tabasco. This work will support sustainable and environmentally sound employment, trade, investment, and income opportunities that raise living standards in rural areas. Specifically, JAA’s team consists of a Natural Resource Management Expert, a Policy Reform and Analysis Expert, and a Small Farm Production Expert.

In support of the cacao industry, JAA assisted an organization owned by community-organized producer groups to characterize cacao quality factors, identify bottlenecks in processing, and recommend improved facilities. JAA helped this organization to realize that their current processing practices were not producing the quality needed for them to fulfill a purchase contract of 500 tons of organic cacao. Therefore, JAA has assisted in designing and implementing a standardized fermentation regimen and has trained farmers to apply the process. Additionally, JAA has played an important role in organizing a private-public campaign against a serious fungal disease threatening the Mexican cacao production.

In tourism, JAA has assisted in the design of strategies for the development and promotion of tourist activities, as well as advised the officials of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) responsible for areas related to tourism and recreation, to facilitate the process of implementing of the tourism strategy in such a way that is sustainable in natural protected areas (ANP) and priority regions for conservation (RPC).

JAA also carried out the creation of the Governing Plan of Tourism of Angangueo, which provides guidance to the municipality of Angangueo regarding which activities should be developed to promote tourism compatible with the natural protected area (the Reservation of the Biosphere of the Monarch) and simultaneously be a generating source of income for the inhabitants of the area. In addition, it was offered the support of the WWF through the Fund of Rural Prosperity for the signaling of a footpath in the sanctum of Rosario located inside the Reservation of the Biosphere of the Monarch.

Agribusiness Development Assistance in Rwanda (ADAR)

JAA was a core firm in the consortium that carried out baseline studies of the agriculture and agribusiness sector in Rwanda and designed a USAID program to support the growth of the sector. The program design focused on increasing production and marketing, on value added, and on increasing exports. In addition to preparing the draft of the ultimate design, JAA specifically examined policy issues, the transport sector, the packaging industry, and the potential design of an agribusiness support center.

Our consortium was then awarded the implementation of the ADAR project by competitive tender. ADAR has made an immense impact on Rwanda’s agricultural production and exports, and development strategies. The project provides an agribusiness development center—a “one-stop-shop” to help agribusinesses to obtain information and technical assistance, to access markets, and to finalize “deals”. The project also provides special initiatives, loan guarantee funds, training, and partnerships with U.S. agribusiness and environmental NGO communities. JAA has been instrumental in identifying and assessing agribusiness opportunities and value chains of target products, and in providing technical assistance to implement strategies, business models and specific investments. We have worked with pyrethrum, anthurium, tea, honey, roses, horticultural products and coffee.

JAA’s work has been instrumental in helping Rwanda to achieve a 400% increase in coffee production and 500% increase in coffee exports (by value). Through the ADAR project, assistance was channeled to establish 22 privately-owned coffee washing stations. As a result of such assistance, two of these privately-owned washing stations have seen their coffee promoted by Starbucks through their Black Apron Exclusives. In 2006, the coffee from these two washing stations will feature in 5,000 Starbucks outlets.

In the tea sector, JAA advised the Rwandan tea sector on how to move up the value chain by switching from the CDC (crush, tear, curl) process of cut tea to the orthodox process, which is more highly valued in the market place. JAA was able to look at several different tea estates and analyze the costs to switch to the orthodox process and compared with the potential market and recommended whether the returns were healthy enough for a potential investor. Subsequently, JAA helped a major investor develop technical and business plans for the rehabilitation and expansion of privatized tea estates.

Zambia Trade and Investment Enhancement Activities (ZAMTIE)

JAA, as a subcontractor to Nathan Associates for the USAID ZAMTIE Project assisted the Government of Zambia (GoZ) and local businesses bring about an improved trade and investment environment. The project had three main components: (1) reducing barriers to trade and investment; (2) capacity building in the public and private sectors to facilitate economic growth and reduce poverty; and (3) fostering linkages to optimize rural income-generating investment and trade opportunities between and among producers, suppliers, processors, traders, service providers, and consumers within and outside of Zambia.

JAA carried out strategic/management audits of four regional business service organizations: Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce, Kabwe Chamber of Commerce (Central Province), Kabwe District Business Association and Livingstone Tourism Association. Using a highly participative process that emphasized economic growth opportunities and service provision, JAA helped these four associations identify their strategic and management priorities, and develop initial action plans for implementation and project assistance.

For Eastern Province, JAA assisted the regional business stakeholders develop a regional business and investment growth plan, with particular focus on sectoral opportunities, export promotion and improvements in the business environment.

JAA also assisted GoZ and local businesses to develop a strategic plan for marketing maize, which at the time of arrival was severely under performing. These deficiencies resulted in an unstable and unsustainable maize market. JAA’s role was to lead and assist the decision-making and implementation process of a market free of government intervention developed in such a way that all role players would accept. The plan was implemented through a number of integrated programs that included revision of government policy and legislative regulations. Apart from the development of the commercial sector of the market, the programs included the empowerment of small entrepreneurs in the storage, trading and processing of maize in the rural areas. The programs included the establishment of a forum in which government and private sector role players will meet on a regular basis to discuss progress, the performance of the market, objectives and other relevant matters.

Romania Agribusiness Development Project (RADP)

The overall objective of this project is to increase Romania’s competitiveness and capacity to produce agricultural products for the international and domestic markets, by demonstrating that appropriate policy reforms, increased investment, new technologies, and the vertical integration of agricultural production, processing and marketing systems to result in increased sales of selected Romanian products. To achieve this objective, JAA has led a caucus in Romania to explain the practical benefits of clusters (increased incomes, new jobs, higher standards of living) and outline the clustering process, including the roles and responsibilities of prospective cluster members. The goal of the caucus is to support Romanian cluster leaders while they widen participation in the process to include enterprises, associations, government organizations, service providers, financial institutions, and women’s organizations.

The project identified competitive products and cultivated partnership clusters to produce, process and market the products. These clusters facilitate the adoption of new technologies and encouraged foreign and domestic investment and became models that can be easily replicated for other Romanian product sectors.

With JAA’s assistance, Romanian cluster leaders conducted planning sessions in which cluster participants defined their roles, propose solutions to constraints, and develop five-year strategic plans and one-year action plans to support achievement of cluster business targets. JAA helped members identify and reach consensus on priorities for technical assistance or investment and encourage task volunteering by other cluster members. Participatory strategic planning is critical to establishing stakeholder constituencies, promoting strategic thinking, encouraging a competitiveness mindset, and accumulating social capital.

JAA also led working groups through deeper analyses of their respective clusters: teaching working groups to use techniques such as value-chain mapping, SWOT analysis, and Porter’s diamond to diagnose major challenges and opportunities.

Zambia Agribusiness Technical Assistance Centre Project (ZATAC)

The project established the Zambian Agribusiness Technical Assistance Centre (ZATAC) as a self-sustaining agribusiness support organization. The project and organization’s mission was to increase rural incomes through growth of rural non-farm enterprises, and linking production to markets. JAA, as a long-term member of the core team, carried out the baseline survey and established the monitoring system, conducted several commodity-specific and sectoral studies (e.g. oilseeds, dairy, tree crops, coffee), developed the business skills component of the project, and provided short-term technical assistance to various programs. The particular focus of the project was on identifying market demand and business opportunities, commodity system analysis, regional and overseas supply, market and investment issues, transport-related issues, and institutional issues.

The final phases of the ZATAC project focused on the passing of activities to an independent, sustainable Zambian-led organization called ZATAC, Ltd. The primary work of ZATAC, Ltd. is to increase the income and improve the quality of life of rural Zambians through alliances fostered between agribusinesses and rural enterprises that buy from and sell to small producers.

Colombia Alternative Development

Under the Colombia Alternative Development (CAD) program, JAA assessed local and international markets, as well as production and processing technologies, assisted in the identification of agricultural and forest products that small landholders in Putumayo and other parts of Colombia could substitute for coca and poppies. The work involved assessing world markets and technologies for ten product groups, as well as Colombian markets and technologies for twelve product groups. JAA recommended the most suitable products among rubber, bamboo, hearts-of-palm, medicinal plants, vegetable oils and meals, tilapia and trout, beef, dairy products, tuber and starch, agricultural services, wood products, fruits, cocoa, vanilla and horticultural products. The assessments aided in the evaluation of grants.

JAA has also been involved in the ADAM and MIDAS projects on Colombia. ADAM, or Areas for Municipal-Level Alternative Development Program, promotes the eradication of drugs by supporting licit alternatives for those currently cultivating illicit crops. The focus is market-driven; therefore, JAA’s participation in the project has included developing a methodology for analyzing the value chains of competitive licit crops, including tropical flowers and wood and other forestry products. MIDAS, or More Investment for Sustainable Alternative Development, focuses on three business development components: Agribusiness, SME, and Forestry. In SME, JAA is tasked with evaluating business proposals and plans for SMEs looking for financing through the MIDAS program. In Forestry, JAA is responsible for generating a marketing strategy for wood and forestry products and conducting value chain mapping and assessment of these products to identify projects and activities with potential for MIDAS funding.

Support for Accelerated Growth and Increased Competitiveness (SAGIC)

J.E. Austin, as part of a team, is implementing the Support for Accelerated Growth and Increase Competitiveness (SAGIC). This project has three main components: Business Development Services (BDS), Public-Private Dialogue, and Policy Reforms. J.E. Austin is leading the BDS component of this project.

The Business Development Services (BDS) component is playing a catalytic role to involve private and public sector stakeholders in designing, implementing and managing business support programs to accelerate the growth of selected sub-sectors based on a market link value chain approach.

JAA has completed analyses of priority sub-sectors/value chains, identifying key actors, business growth opportunities, and key constraints. The sub-sectors focused on include cashew, mango, bissap, among others. Since the completion of the analyses, JAA has been providing technical expertise to address constraints and foster economic growth for exports of the targeted sectors using tools such as market studies, access to finance, business plans, value-added solutions, etc. For example, JAA brought a fruit fly expert in to the Senegalese mango sector to assess how producers can combat the current fruit fly infestation, and created a special working group on this issue. Pilot programs have also been initiated for the bissap sector, in the areas of seed production and agricultural practices.

Going forward, JAA will continue to bring together working groups in each of the sectors, and work with the stakeholders to develop actions plans based on the value chain analyses.

JAA is also responsible for the identification of BDS needs and local BDS providers able to provide business support services to sectors at the association, firm and sub-sector levels, and a BDS providers database is being set up. JAA is also building the capacity of local BDS providers to strengthen their ability to provide the appropriate BDS in a variety of areas.

JAA is currently working on the policy component as well, developing synergies and focusing efforts between private and public initiatives, having the common goal to increase exports and competitiveness. Specifically, JAA is working on investment climate reforms targeting improvement in Senegal’s ranking in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report using the Report of 2007 as a benchmark/indicator for Starting a Business (cost and time to start a business).

For information on more projects related to Agribusiness and Agriculture, please view our JAA Corporate Capabilities and Qualifications Document