Area-based Approach for Rural Agroenterprise Development

This guide provides the starting point for applying the strategy developed by CIAT’s Rural Agroenterprise Development Project (RAeD), to address the entrepreneurial development needs of institutions that support rural communities. The methods, tools, and learning approaches described here, were the result of many collaborative projects undertaken over the past 10 years in Latin America, Africa, and South East Asia. The implementation draws heavily upon participatory methods that assist the facilitating institute to focus on realizing new business opportunities for rural communities. The basic steps in the process include: (i) Developing partnerships, area-based analysis, and planning. (ii) Market opportunity identification. (iii) Analyzing production chains and generating business plans. (iv) Implementing agroenterprise projects. (v) Strengthening business development services in rural areas. (vi) Evaluating and advocating for improved marketing policies. This approach was developed in response to demand from partners who wanted a systematic method for shifting from a food security strategy that focused on increasing production to a market-oriented approach that emphasizes local empowerment and building local skills for income generation and market engagement. The approach aims to provide rural communities with the basic skills to understand their market environment, identify market opportunities, design new agroenterprise projects, and integrate projects within market chains. This process is flexible and decisions will enable smallholders to adopt the most appropriate marketing strategy to assist their prospects for increased income, such as: 1. Improving the competitiveness of products in local and regional markets. 2. Achieving economies of scale through collective action and group marketing. 3. Diversifying into improved or higher value products linked to growth markets. 4. Adding value to products by changing farming practices to accesses higher income markets enhance product quality and incorporate processing activities.