Five Force
Agriculture and the Porter’s Five Forces Model
Wandering across the internet I recently came across this poverty alleviation program by IFAD. For the uninitiated, IFAD – in their own words – are the agriculture specialists of the United Nations. Primarily a development body, it has been involved in many far reaching poverty alleviation projects world wide. So, as I was saying I happened to come across this program run by IFAD in Tanzania – called the Agriculture Marketing Systems Development Program (AMSDP) – and my reaction was instantaneous – “This is Brilliant”.
What made me say so – simple!! As I read through the various components of the program – the thought that struck me was – This is a brilliant example of some one using the Porters five forces model as a base for structuring a poverty alleviation program. Come to think of it, consultants have been using the Porters model for years to analyze industries and provide cutting edge solutions to their clients. Can the same model hold true in the agricultural space also. After all isn’t the farmer a business man too.
Over the following sections, I will elaborate on this concept. For the sake of providing background to the uninitiated - I would like to adopt the following structure to this article:- * A quick brief on AMSDP * A brief on the Porters Model (in light of agriculture) * Understand AMSDP in light of the Porters Model * Replicability of such programs
1 The AMSDP Program in Tanzania
The IFAD program – (AMSDP) – works with primarily small and medium farmers and essentially targets a poverty alleviation intervention through the following three steps:- * Help create village level infrastructure – building of warehouse and enabling use of warehouse receipts as a negotiable instrument through setting up of co-operative banks that provide loans - enable farmers to have a greater choice with their produce. * Bring farmers together – a co-operation based model – to harness the
Wandering across the internet I recently came across this poverty alleviation program by IFAD. For the uninitiated, IFAD – in their own words – are the agriculture specialists of the United Nations. Primarily a development body, it has been involved in many far reaching poverty alleviation projects world wide. So, as I was saying I happened to come across this program run by IFAD in Tanzania – called the Agriculture Marketing Systems Development Program (AMSDP) – and my reaction was instantaneous – “This is Brilliant”.
What made me say so – simple!! As I read through the various components of the program – the thought that struck me was – This is a brilliant example of some one using the Porters five forces model as a base for structuring a poverty alleviation program. Come to think of it, consultants have been using the Porters model for years to analyze industries and provide cutting edge solutions to their clients. Can the same model hold true in the agricultural space also. After all isn’t the farmer a business man too.
Over the following sections, I will elaborate on this concept. For the sake of providing background to the uninitiated - I would like to adopt the following structure to this article:- * A quick brief on AMSDP * A brief on the Porters Model (in light of agriculture) * Understand AMSDP in light of the Porters Model * Replicability of such programs
1 The AMSDP Program in Tanzania
The IFAD program – (AMSDP) – works with primarily small and medium farmers and essentially targets a poverty alleviation intervention through the following three steps:- * Help create village level infrastructure – building of warehouse and enabling use of warehouse receipts as a negotiable instrument through setting up of co-operative banks that provide loans - enable farmers to have a greater choice with their produce. * Bring farmers together – a co-operation based model – to harness the