Agro-food Chains and Networks for Development

Proceedings of the Frontis Workshop on Agro-food Chains and Networks for Development
Wageningen, The Netherlands, 6-7 September 2004

Editors: Ruerd Ruben
Development Economics Group, Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Maja Slingerland
Sustainable Development and System Innovation Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Hans Nijhoff
International Agricultural Centre, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Series editor:
R.J. Bogers
Frontis – Wageningen International Nucleus for Strategic Expertise
Wageningen University and Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands

About the book | Table of Contents

Agro-food chains and networks play an increasingly important role in providing access to markets for producers from developing countries. In developing countries companies become integrated into geographically dispersed supply networks that link producers, traders and processors from the South with retailers and consumers in urban centres and in the North. Globalization of trade and integration of supply chains lead to new demands regarding food quality, safety and health.

Companies involved in global food and agri-business chains and networks face fast changes in their market and business environment. New procedures and practices for organizing food supply networks – based on co-innovation between primary producers, processors and retailers – are emerging to cope with food grades and standards. Optimizing chain performance asks for cooperation between all agents involved in the supply chain. Agro-food companies communicate consumers’ demands to smallholders to guarantee stable market access. Public and voluntary agencies may provide important contributions for reinforcing the supply-chain environment.

This volume combines insights from theory with a large number of business cases to enable a better understanding of the opportunities and constraints that supply-chain integration can offer for stimulating rural development. Key stakeholders from the communities of science, public policy and the business sector shared their experience in a joint effort to overcome the barriers to trade.

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available from Springer Science+Business Media (former Kluwer Academic Publishers)