The goal of WorldFish’s research on markets and value chains is to increase the benefits to resource-poor people from fisheries and aquaculture value chains by researching (1) key barriers to resource-poor men, women and other marginalized groups gaining greater benefits from participation in value chains, including barriers related to the availability, affordability and quality of nutrient-rich fish for resource-poor consumers; (2) interventions to overcome those barriers; and (3) mechanisms that are most effective for scaling up of value chain interventions.
This paper documents learning across WorldFish’s value chain research efforts in Asia and Africa. It has three main objectives: (1) to take stock of WorldFish’s past and ongoing research on value chains; (2) to draw out commonalities and differences between these projects; and (3) to provide a synthesis of some learning that can guide future work.
The analysis highlights that, given the wide range of outcomes and approaches used and their inherently place-based nature, it remains difficult to draw any firm conclusions on the most effective approaches for value chain development. Although some commonalities were identified, including the potential to combine transformative approaches—which spark opportunities for locally led shifts in norms and practices towards enhancing gender and social inclusion and equality—with the scaling of technologies and innovations. Building trust and improving chain linkages and relations also seem to be building blocks for value chain transformation.
Kruijssen F, Audet-Belanger G, Choudhury A, Crissman C, Dalsgaard JPT, Dawson C, Dickson M, Genschick S, Islam MM, Kaminski A, Keus HJ, McDougall C, Banda LE, Muyaule C and Rajaratnam S. 2016. Value chain transformation: Taking stock of WorldFish research on value chains and markets. Penang, Malaysia: CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems. Working Paper: AAS-2016-03.
CGIAR Research Program on Livestock and Fish 