PhAction has developed a post-harvest R&D agenda in collaboration with partners in the public and private sector.

Four thematic areas have been selected for development:
1. identifying market opportunities,
2. improving agri-business support services,
3. fostering technology innovation and uptake, and
4. enhancing product quality.

Market Opportunities

Identifying market opportunities and analysing inefficiencies in supply systems can be achieved by developing tools and products that can be used by research partners, and private sector clients.

Such tools will ensure that a market-oriented approach becomes fundamental to mainstream research over the next five yeas, so research agendas are driven by market demands.

This will allow private sector clients to evaluate existing and new market opportunities within a regional framework - and enable entrepreneurs to improve their business activities, achieve higher incomes, and gain a better understanding of potential market options for future investments.

Agri-business Support Services
This work aims to improve supply chain efficiency and effectiveness by working with government agencies and the private sector.

A combination of activities at policy and enterprise levels will be used to improve supply chain efficiency, including:

policy changes that support agro-enterprises,
improved organisational structures in the market supply chain,
developing sustainable support services that deliver useful marketing and technical information to specific sectors, and
finding ways to enable SMEs to access fiscal and technical support tools, and advice to improve their decision making.

Examples include provision of market information services, development of ethical trade links, and creating business models to accommodate more dynamic change.

Fostering Technology Innovation
Adding value and improving quality to a product can be achieved by giving farmers and processors access to new ideas, techniques, and technologies.

Much information and technology already exists but technology flow-on presents a problem in many countries. To overcome this, new mechanisms are needed to link businesses that successfully use innovative technologies with those that do not.

Collaborative links between developing countries can play a major role. Where technology gaps exist, close-working relations will be established with target enterprises to enable small-scale operators to 'upgrade' technologies within an achievable credit range.

The objective is identification of information and technologies for evaluation to increase competitiveness within a range of markets.

Enhancing Product Quality
Reduced tariff barriers and quotas through WTO negotiations have opened markets, bringing quality related issues to the forefront.

Many developing countries are encountering difficulties meeting marketplace safety and other quality standards, which have become more stringent responding to consumer concerns.

To meet this quality challenge, participatory R&D involving governments, consumers, producers, processors, and traders is needed to:

Develop quick and effective techniques to identify sources of quality problems in the supply chain,
Develop appropriate quality standards,
Identify effective and lowest cost quality assurance systems, and
Provide information outreach and training to foster widespread development of a 'quality culture'.

Global Market Change
Producers and processors in developing countries need help to compete in the new global economy and contribute to economic growth in their own countries.

Producers and processors have been affected by:
withdrawal of government controlled commodity-marketing boards,
market reform and trade liberalization
reduced tariff barriers and quotas, and
creation of free trade zones.

Consequently, the private sector has taken a stronger role but is hampered by:

Lack of government support policy
Failure of some governments to support market information systems, and
A decline in rural banks with restructuring of rural credit, making access to credit difficult for small entrepreneurs.

Help can be provided by linking farmers to markets through post-harvest R&D focused on market requirements and opportunities.
This will be directed to provide an investment in global trade and stability.

Intervention Opportunities
Despite slow growth in some countries, market opportunities are increasing - driven by factors including; population increases, urbanization, rising incomes, improved communications.

Globalisation and associated changes in international trade are affecting market access. This is reflected in changing dietary habits, rapid concentration and vertical integration of the food industry with a market power shift from food producers and processors to retailers.

As demand for agricultural products increases, consumers are becoming more discriminating, leading to increased market place competition.

To survive and prosper in this competitive environment, small- and medium-scale operators need initial support.

PhAction's research agenda aims to provide such support and make a strong contribution to:
economic development,
food security, and
poverty alleviation

Membership of PhAction - the Global post-harvest Forum - currently consists of the following national and international R&D organisations:

ACIAR Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research,

CIAT International Centre for Agriculture in the Tropics,

CIP International Potato Center

CIRAD Centre for International Co-operation on Agricultural Research for Development (France)

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

GTZ Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit (Germany)

ICFR New Zealand Institute for Crop and Food Research

IFPRI International food Policy Research Institute

IITA International Institute for Tropical Agriculture

IRRI International Rice research Center

JIRCAS Japanese International Research Centre for Agricultural Sciences.

NRI Natural Resources Institute (UK)

Further information is available from the PhAction joint Secretariat:

NRI, Food Security Department, Central Avenue,
Chatham Maritime, Chatham, Kent ME4TB, UK.
Email: r.j.hodges@greenwich.ac.uk

CIRAD, Programme CALIM, BP 5035-34032 Montpellier
Cedex!, France. Email: jean-leu.marchand@cirad.fr

GTZ, Agri-Food Systems/Agribusiness,
Section 4541, PO Box 5180, D-65726 Eschborn,
Germany. Email: christian.henckes@gtz.de

PhAction News can be accessed on the web: <http//www.iita.org/info/phnews4/content.htm>