Title: To Complete, Launch and Disseminate The "Guide to Developing Agricultural Markets and Businesses"

This project aims to develop a tool kit, in the form of an interactive Web site with accompanying CD-ROM for assessing and improving the performance of agricultural markets and agro-enterprises in developing countries featuring the world's top agribusiness experts gathered in one volume. One of the papers that make up this compendium are précised in this newsletters, see Grades and Standards, page XXXXX.

Project to be executed by The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture
Budget $245,000 over a 2 year period.

Purpose
The most fundamental changes that liberalization and globalization have had on agricultural markets for developing countries are the radical increase in competition and shift in power from producers to the marketplace.
For developing countries that depend upon sales of raw agricultural commodities, these changes have offered more challenges than opportunities.
For many countries, particularly in Africa, they do not currently have the capacity or knowledge of markets and agro-enterprise development to support their shift from subsided export systems into the world of volatile market dynamics.
The recent fall in commodity prices has however, underlined the urgent need for developing countries to adjust their economies to the changing world environment. Strategies to counter reliance on traditional export crops include diversification programs and investment in value adding agro-enterprises that can tap into higher value, emerging markets.
Success in these strategies however, requires new skills and there is a pressing need for guidelines and best practices to be made available to assist practitioners and producers in their shift towards greater competitiveness and value addition. Information is required on all aspects of the process including market identification, crop quality, transport, grading, storage, processing, packaging, and selling.
This information must be in a digestible format that will "Guide" the practitioner and private sector towards their goals. Support to this sector will provide new opportunities for non-farm rural employment and make a significant impact to the GDPs of countries who are currently facing falling terms of trade in the traditional markets.

Product
The "Guide" to Developing Agricultural Markets and Agro-enterprises comprises 11 general thematic topics including analytical and policy tools as well as state-of-the-art best practice in competitiveness, finance, investment, trade, risk management and SME and co-operative development. Cases will be studied and experiences drawn from a number of developing countries in every region. In these countries the development of such concise Learning Tools will enable much more efficient analysis, design, and implementation of programs to support the development of agro-enterprises such as: Identification of market opportunities, grades and standards, trade and export development, seed and fertilizer markets, post-harvest storage, support to producer organizations, food safety, approaches to competitiveness

Target audience
The Guide is aimed at both the private sector and development professionals: project designers and analysts, task managers, project officers, country level Ministry staff, NGOs and executing agencies, and investment/trade promotion personnel.

Objectives to the Guide
The Guide/Toolkit is designed to benefit projects in developing countries that are involved in establishing and promoting food security, agro-food systems, agro-enterprises, and agricultural exports. The objectives of the Learning Tools are to:

Provide up-to-date references to collaborative partners, relevant information and experts in each field.

Pose the key questions which project managers, Ministry officials and other practitioners should ask when initiating specific analyses or intervention designs

Provide an operational step-by-step road map through the project cycle or through various analytical and consultative processes

Include a number of illustrative good practice cases and innovative ideas

Status:-
Project concept note developed and under review by partners.