Thematic reviews, briefing notes, ECPs and reports

Darwin Initiative toolkit for SMEs

2.2 Agro-forestry

2.2.1 Overview

This section is the second of five specific biodiversity related markets and focuses on Agro-forestry. The World Agro-forestry Centre define Agro-forestry as: the wide range of working trees grown on farms and in rural landscapes. Among these are fertiliser trees for land regeneration, soil health and food security; fruit trees for nutrition; fodder trees that improve smallholder livestock production; timber and fuel-wood trees for shelter and energy; medicinal trees to combat disease; and trees that produce gums, resins or latex products. Many of these trees are multipurpose, providing a range of benefits.

2.2.2 Two key resources

These resources were chosen to provide the best overview for this field, but it is also worth checking out the other resources in this section.

FAO - Business management for small-scale agro-processors

Addresses micro and small-scale entrepreneurs who wish to improve and scale-up their business operations. It emphasises simple procedures to plan, monitor and control production, finance, inventories, quality and staff. Market research, product development and waste management are also covered.

FAO- Market research for agro processors

Describes, in fairly simple terms, the market research that agro-processors can carry out, and some of the ways of doing such research.

2.2.3 Market research (Agro-forestry)

Tools/guidelines/methodologies

FAO- Community-based tree and forest product enterprises- market analysis and development

The goal of this resource is to assist local people in developing income generating enterprises while conserving tree and forest resources.

EcoEnterprises- Technical Assistance fund

A technical assistance fund which covers fund management costs and provides business advisory services to prospective and portfolio projects which include, Business planning; Marketing; Training in technical subject areas such as ecotourism and organic agriculture; Financial control and accounting; Establishment of environmental indicators and monitoring programs.

IIED- Case studies of biodiversity markets for forest environmental services

Looks at the demand and supply of a selection of biodiversity markets from around the world including Carbon Sequestration and watershed protection.

ICRAF- Short training course on Agro-forestry Marketing and Enterprise Development Support

The course on Agro-forestry marketing and enterprise development support was identified as a capacity strengthening priority for the Southern Africa region (Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) based on the Centre’s experiences in collaborating with national research, development, training and education institutions in the region and through consultation with the Centre’s Trees and Markets Theme staff. This narrative report describes how this training event was planned, organized and implemented. It serves as a record to those who were involved in it and a guideline for those who intend to implement a similar activity in the future.

Moving Ahead with Market-Oriented Agro-forestry in Western Kenya: Outcomes and ideas from the 29-31 January 2002 workshop in Kisumu

The major goal of the workshop was to learn about demand for agroforestry products within selected parts of Africa. The full copy of this report is available from ICRAF directly.

Rainforest Alliance- Sustainable Forestry “TREE” programme

A number of links which seek to help improve the effectiveness of forest certification in conserving biodiversity and in providing economic support to local communities. One important activitiy is explained which seeks to create models of market links to support small landowners in their efforts to practice sustainable forestry and achieve certification.

Russell, D. and FranzelI, S. (ICRAF)- Trees of prosperity: Agroforestry, markets and the African smallholder

It is now being recognized that expanding market opportunities for smallholders particularly in niche markets and high value products is critical to the success of agro-forestry innovations. Some recent work presented in this paper on marketing agro-forestry products in Africa, linking farmers to markets and assisting farmer organizations, shows how constraints are tied to both long-standing market structures as well as shifting market imperatives. Forest policy, physical and social barriers to smallholder participation in markets, the overall lack of information at all levels on markets for agro-forestry products, and the challenges to outgrowing schemes and contract farming inhibit the growth of the smallholder tree product sector in Africa outside of traditional products.

Reports/literature

IIED- Making the most of market chains in Vietnam

Shows that efforts to assist farmers (and harvesters of natural produce) to get better and more reliable prices need to take into account full market chains - not just what happens at the "farm gate".

FAO- Microfinance and forest-based small-scale enterprises

Examines microfinance needs and constraints of small-scale enterprises. It analyses the different types of microfinance institutions, the role that they can play in the forest sector given the characteristics of small enterprises and forest communities, and their impact on local livelihoods and environment.

FAO- Community Forestry Enterprises- A case study of The Gambia

Outlines a selection of enterprises in the Gambia and provides lessons for similar initiatives or governments supporting community-based enterprises.

ICRAF- Banana Market Chain Improvement –Enhance Farmers� Market Linkages in West Java, Indonesia

Ongoing work to assist Nanggung farmers improve their tree garden management to enhance both the quantity and quality of the products and strengthen their ability to respond to market opportunities. Banana is used as an example of how to achieve success.

FAO- Empowering communities through forestry: Community-based enterprise development in the Gambia

A discussion of the development and implementation of effective ways to strengthen the role of sustainable forest management in meeting the livelihoods needs of rural populations in The Gambia, with a section looking at market constraints.

Rights and Resources- Small and Medium Forest Enterprises: Instruments of Change in the Developing World

Attempts to help address this information gap, in part, by synthesizing much of the relevant literature on small enterprises, with a section that identifies forests products services and markets.

2.2.4 Business planning (Agro-forestry)

Tools/guidelines/methodologies

EcoEnterprises- Technical Assistance fund

A technical assistance fund which covers fund management costs and provides business advisory services to prospective and portfolio projects which include, Business planning; Marketing; Training in technical subject areas such as ecotourism and organic agriculture; Financial control and accounting; Establishment of environmental indicators and monitoring programs.

ODI- Stakeholder incentives in participatory forest management (PFM)

The first part involves an introduction to economic concepts applied to PFM. The second and main section is the Economic Stakeholder Analysis (ESA) toolbox. The tools are organised in six main ESA stages covering characterisation of the stakeholders; understanding the decision-making context; physical quantification of costs and benefits; valuation of the costs and benefits; economic comparison of the decision-making alternatives; and participatory analysis and monitoring.

EcoVentures- Agri-planner

Assists growers and farmers to run successful Agri-businesses by having participant teams run simulated businesses. The Agri-planner Simulation runs at progressive levels starting simply and building to planning and running a complex Agri-business at the higher levels.

Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre (CATIE)

The CATIE-based Center for Competitiveness of Ecoenterprises (CeCoEco) is committed to stimulating rural eco-enterprise competitiveness in increasingly globalized agricultural and forestry markets. Together with providers of business development services (BDS), they support eco-enterprises in capitalizing on opportunities in specialty markets, among them organic produce, fair trade and gourmet markets. Their goal is a true reconciliation between economic development and environmental conservation.

Reports/literature

FAO- Community-based commercial enterprise development for the conservation of biodiversity in Bwindi World Heritage Site, Uganda

The project showed that natural resource-based enterprise development with communities involved an intensive investment in capacity building, and it can take many years before enterprises are sustained and profitable.

ODI- The business side of sustainable forest management: Small and medium forest enterprise (SMFE) development for poverty reduction

Argues (with suggestions for business planning) that there are still significant challenges to the development of viable SMFEs and that government and non-governmental agencies, as well as the SMFEs themselves and their business partners, have important roles to play in the process.

IUCN/Shell- Building biodiversity business

Collaboration between The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and Shell International Limited, in a joint effort to identify potential new business opportunities and market-based mechanisms to conserve biodiversity, with a specific section on Agro-frestry.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers- Sustainable Investments for Conservation

A contemporary outline of the market for "green" investments with an outline of success factors.

CIAT- A Territorial based Approach to Agro-Enterprise Development

Sets out a strategy to address the current climate and to support rural communities in agriculture through a Territorial Approach to Rural Business Development and support to pro-poor policies that work towards enabling rural innovation with greater equity in the marketplace.

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