Agricultural value chains in developing countries

Sustainable development of the agricultural sector is recognized as an important factor in the economic growth of all developing countries. This recognition has led to a growing interest among governments and development agencies to support business development and integration of farmers in markets and value chains. As a consequence of the increasing globalization and internationalization of markets, agricultural value chains are becoming ever more global and complex. Local farmers and agribusinesses are offered new opportunities by this increasing globalization as well as urbanization. However, participating in local, national and global markets is not without challenges, as farmers are often faced with many institutional and economic barriers and lack access to inputs, information and capacity building.
Professionals working in the agricultural sector need to understand the inherent complexity of agriculture-based value chains and the dynamic interaction among different types of actors. In this course we aim to provide the participants with knowledge, skills and competences to analyse agricultural value chains in developing countries.

Knowledge
· Describe and define agricultural value chain related terminology and concepts
· Refer to the theoretical stream of value chain literature
· Understand the main value chain analysis approaches and their application
· Understand the complexity of institutional and governance dynamics of the agricultural sector in developing countries
· Describe the role of agriculture in economic development in developing countries

Skills
· Collect and process relevant information for value chain analysis
· Reason about the institutional and management dynamics in the agricultural and agribusiness sector
· Discuss policy and management tools for upgrading and developing agriculture and agribusiness
· Discuss the feasibility of interventions for upgrading and developing agricultural value chains
· Communicate ideas for agricultural value chain development in developing countries to stakeholders
· Develop an analytical framework to guide data collection and analysis
· Learn in an interactive and collegial learning environment

Competencies
· Apply relevant theories/concepts to analyse institutions, the enabling environment and agribusinesses in relation to agricultural value chains
· Apply value chain analysis approaches to design value chain interventions and upgrading
· Argue coherently and reflect critically within the parameters of a particular academic discipline, including self- assessment on Learning.