This theme will cover the entry and sustainable participation of farmers, especially small farmers, and SMEs in the food industry supply/value chain by developing transaction-based mechanisms and viable business solutions to fill gaps along the chain. It will focus on creating market access for these farmers and food processors, linking producers with buyers, including industrial processors, retailers (including large-scale ones), restaurant chains, and other food suppliers, such as the World Food Programme (WFP). An important goal is the empowerment of farmers, both by developing greater access to small-scale infrastructure (e.g. compact processing units and packing houses) and by providing them with greater market information, thus increasing their competitiveness and helping to overcome the vulnerability of their position in the supply chain.
Theme Manager
Thomas Reardon
Tom Reardon is Professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Michigan State University, where he has researched and taught since January 1992. From 1986 through 1991, he was Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), in Washington DC. From 1984 to 1986 he was Rockefeller Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow attached to IFPRI and also working with ICRISAT in West Africa. Tom finished his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics at University of California at Berkeley in 1984. Tom’s work focuses on food industry transformation in Asia and Latin America. Tom is widely recognized as the leading global expert in links between the “supermarket revolution” and agrifood value chains and farmers in developing regions. His work has nearly 5000 citations by 2008 in Google Scholar, and he is listed in “Who’s Who in Economics” since 2003. Ashok Gulati of IFPRI and Tom are co-directors of the IFPRI/MSU Joint Program on “Markets in Asia” since 2007. Tom cofounded in 2000 at MSU the program “Partnerships in Food Industry Development” that focuses on developing innovations in linking farmers to modern markets and fomenting private-public partnerships. His current work focuses on horticulture, rice and shrimp/fish value chains in India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Nicaragua, and private-sector “rural business hubs” in India. His past work included extensive work in Africa and Latin America on farmer participation in food markets and rural nonfarm labor markets.
