Value chain analysis of rice, in CHAURU Ltd, Tanzania

Last week, Agriterra business advisors, Chabota Nelson Miyoba and Ibrahimu Harry Mwankanye, together with the Agripool expert from Rabobank, Gea Bakker-Smit, carried out an assignment in Tanzania for CHAURU Ltd.

CHAURU Ltd is an irrigation scheme registered as agricultural and marketing cooperative societies LTD (AMCOS) under the Cooperative Act of Tanzania, serves about 900 members and is actively working with Agriterra. CHAURU’s main crop is rice but has the potential for horticultural crops and other perennial crops.

The main objective of the assignment was to identify opportunities for CHAURU Ltd to increase the income of the farmer members and profit of the cooperative by the development of services and improvement of the farming practices that create new value. In doing so, the employed the Agriterra value creator tool.

A few words about the Agriterra value creator tool

The Agriterra Value Creator can be applied in agricultural value chains – like fruit, vegetable, maize, dairy - in any country. It entails the analysis and interventions on functions, actors and activities. We take the farmer and cooperative as a starting point. The value chain analysis and Intervention module give business advisors and cooperatives the practical information and tools to map new value chains and business options as well as to determine the cooperative’s strategic role in the value chain. Therefore, a Value Chain is a sequence of functions, actors and activities from input supply to consumption. The goal of the Agriterra Value Creator is to analyse agricultural value chains and come up with interventions and a priority setting for farmers organisations.

The Value Creator is used with the objective to

• Make cooperatives and farmers autonomous in developing new business opportunities; which lead to more income
• Make cooperatives and farmers better understand the dynamics of the value chain and how to improve the position of the farmer in that value chain
• Make business options and interventions tangible, understandable and manageable for cooperatives and farmers
• Gives Agriterra insight into the client’s needs for intervention in the business development part of the annual action plans

Expected results

• Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis and macro picture
• New Value Chains and explanation
• Business calculations and options
• Opportunities and interventions
• Assessment and Validation

5-day programme of the value creator for CHAURU LTD

The execution had three main steps:

• Pre-study & data collection: Including interviews with farmers, schools, traders and banks, Field visits to Fertilizer -, Input- and Spares- suppliers, as well as stakeholder visits in the Agricultural Seed Agency in Morogoro and the Agricultural Research Institute in Ifakara (Day 1 & 3)

• Analysis & calculations: SWOT Analysis at CHAURU Ltd office, Value Chain Mapping with the CHAURU board and management, developing business options, development of new and improved value chains (Day 2 & 4)

• Assessment & Action Plan: The last day ended with a Validation workshop and the elaboration of the strategy and action plan with the board and management of CHAURU Ltd (Day 5)

All things considered, it was a constructive 5-day programme which provided CHAURU Ltd with the toolkit and insights for the next step in the chain, which is processing and selling rice. Most importantly, the participating organisation developed an action plan, which with its realisation can bring the cooperative to the next level. The added value of the Agriterra value creator tool is the positive impact it can have on the family income for the 900 small scale farmers.

Watch a movie, CHAURU Ltd made, about the assignment:  https://youtu.be/RZcMLR2X5Kg

Gea Bakker-Smit (Rabobank) Agripool expert

Chabota Nelson Miyoba (Agriterra business advisor)

Ibrahimu Harry Mwankanye (Agriterra business advisor)