Agricultural Value Chains

Abstract

The promotion of agricultural value chains is a key approach in German and international development cooperation for integrating smallholders into national and international production and trade processes. Its aim is to improve agricultural production and processing so that higher incomes and more paid employment are generated for the target groups. Since the food crisis of 2007/2008, value-chain promotion strategies have increasingly been used to support the development objective of food security as well as that of poverty reduction. The evaluation comprised analyses of documentation and literature, a portfolio review of German development cooperation projects and programmes, expert interviews, and four comprehensive case studies. Data for the latter were gathered on the different intervention levels and the various stages of the value chains selected for analysis. The results provided a basis for drawing conclusions, with reference to the OECD-DAC criteria, on such questions as the extent to which promoting agricultural value chains contributes to poverty reduction and food security in different contexts. The evaluation also explored the implications for two important trans-sectoral themes of German development cooperation: gender equality and environmental sustainability.