Developing market opportunities through value chain action research

About 300 local farmers, collectors, government officials and representatives from private companies recently participated in project activities such as orientation and feedback workshops, value chain mapping, SWOT analysis, focus-group-discussion, in-depth interviews and baseline surveys.

Tea is highly valued as one of the main agricultural crops that poor farmers have been cultivating for a long time in the Northern provinces of Vietnam. Although it has become an important source of income for local farmers, tea production and marketing is still hounded by different problems and issues such as lack of technical support and market information, increasing cost of farm inputs and climate change impacts. Herbal plants have also been cultivated for many years and the traditional ways of healing using herbs are an important part of the culture in rural areas. However, herbal farmers also face many constraints such as market uncertainty, price fluctuations, unavailability of seedlings, insufficient technical training and financial support in setting up their own processing facilities.

Hence there is a need to analyze the participation of farmers in producing and selling indigenous tea and herbal products and assessing the impacts of the different linkages of stakeholders in the industry in order to address these problems and sustain farmers' livelihoods. In 2010 SRD launched some value chain research study in Yen Bai province, with one study on tea in Dong Khe commune of Van Chan district, another on herbal plants in Cam An commune of Van Chan district, and one on both tea and herbal plants in Dao Thinh commune of Tran Yen district. These studies evaluated the economic condition of tea and herbal plant farmers, identified intervention activities and recommended tailor-made solutions to increase the farmers' share of benefits in the industry.

About 300 local farmers, collectors, government officials and representatives from private companies participated in project activities such as orientation and feedback workshops, value chain mapping, SWOT analysis, focus-group-discussion, in-depth interviews and baseline surveys. The value chain PRA activities highlighted the gaps and constraints of local farmers that need immediate attention. The study's findings and recommendations are also aligned with cross cutting issues of climate change adaptation and mitigation for farmers. Some key findings of the VCA study of tea were that farmers suffer from: (a) low quality of tea harvest (b) rising cost of farm inputs such as pesticides, fertilizers, and seedlings (c) a lack of market information, leaving them vulnerable to price manipulation (d) price fluctuations (e) insufficient technical support and supporting policies and (f) negative effects of climate change on tea plants. The pilot project at Dong Khe commune had also forged partnerships with some private companies in advancing tea farmers' position in the value chain through price information sharing and expansion of market outlets via direct selling of tea harvest from poor farmers. With regards to the study of herbal plants in the value chain, the main challenges for farmers were identified as: (a) limited volume of herbal plants due to limited area and unavailability of seedlings (b) market uncertainty brought about by lack of information regarding price and current demand (c) price instability and (d) insufficient technical support.

The value chain approach is a new and more comprehensive approach through which SRD strives to help poor farmers strengthen their ability in adding more value to their products and enhancing their business knowledge and experience in order to sustain their livelihoods.

-SRD-