Agri-Business Cluster
Development
- pioneering initiative in the OECS
WINFA’s
Consultancy Implementation
Strategy
A mentor-mentee regime designed to
facilitate capacity development and
the mapping of a realistic plan of
action for the development of the
mentee’s enterprise.
Mentor firms with the capacity to
provide best practices learning and
hand-on experience for developing
(less developed) members of the
cluster.
A platform for the establishment of
a services-based mechanism that
can provide administrative,
financial, technical and institutional
support to the respective members
of the cluster.
A management information system, for
collecting, processing, storing and
disseminating information relevant to
the production and marketing needs of
enterprises within the cluster; as well as
the demand/supply responses of the
consumers.
Prerequisites for Success
 Member-participation
 Commitment
 Trust
 Co-operation
Reality ?
• the majority of the targeted
firms are home-based and
managed by women
Sustainability of Strategic
Direction
Need to Focus on:
Household Dynamics
Gender Imperatives
Key ELEMENTS
Actions
Change Process
• Diagnose / Analyse the
Situation
• Collaborative strategy
• Build interest and
participation
• Identify and define cluster
• Build commitment and
mechanisms to establish the
Cluster
• Identify and prioritise
challenges and actions with
stakeholders
– What needs to be done to
develop and promote the
Cluster
• Mobilise Resources
• Implement /Manage
Change
Need to adopt a
participatory approach, to
ensure that firms and
institutions
involved in the cluster OWN
the process.
Through dialogue
and joint decision-making with
those involved,
internal strengths and
weaknesses can
be identified and external
threats and
opportunities highlighted.
The cluster strategy will identify:




where interventions are
appropriate,
how these should be targeted,
when these should be carried out
what is needed to make the change
happen?
o the likely cost / resource requirements.
The Vincyklus Inc
VALUE CHAIN CLUSTER
 This initiative takes account of the full
range of activities which are required
to bring a product or service from
conception, through the different
phases of production (involving a
combination of physical transformation
and the input of various producer
services), delivery to final customers,
and final disposal after use.
Regional and International
Niche Markets
Wholesalers
Export Agencies
Meat & Dairy
Sea Foods
Hotels
&
Restaurants
Customs and Excise
AgroProcessing
Firms
Poultry
Cassava
Fruits
Vegetables
Spices
Supermarkets
Input Suppliers
Port Authority
Plantain
Eddoes
Tannia
Dasheen
Coconuts
Technical & Administrative Support Agencies
VINCYKLUS INC.
VALUE CHAIN
The chain actors who actually transact inputs, services
and products as the process transitions from seed / crop
to the table for consumption
•
the ultimate goal is a product or service that is competitive
i.e. at a cost that exceed the cost of production / marketing production of = PROFIT
With improved networking
and stakeholder participation
RESULTS !!!
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Improved information flow
Better advice and support
Co-ordinated Actions
Increased Efficiency
Reduced Cost
Become Competitive
Increase Earnings
Sustainable Livelihood
Improved socio-economic well-being
Constraints & Opportunities
Constraints

Uneconomical Production Units
–
–

Farm
Firm
Inconsistent Supply of Inputs
–
Crops
o
o
–

Packaging
Non-competitive Products/ Lack of Comparative Advantage
–
High Cost of Production
o
o
o
Inefficient system layout
Low productivity of labour
High cost of technology / capital
–
–
Cheaper Imported Substitutes
Poor Consumer Appeal
–
–
Not up to International Standards
Markets not guaranteed
o

Production not agro-industry driven
Non-committal agro-processing supply
Poor Branding / packaging / lack of identity in the market
Inadequate Support Services
—
—
—
—
—
—
Input Supply
Production Scheduling
Quality Assurance
Product Certification
Marketing
Distribution / shipping
Opportunities
Vincyklus Inc.
 Consolidation of Efforts along the
Value Chain
 Improved Information Flow
 Better Decision Making
 Cost Reduction
o Inputs
o Labour
o Capital / technology
 Timely Supply of Inputs
 Standards for Certification
 Product differentiation
 Increased Market penetration
 Joint marketing
 Diversified / New / Secure Market
 Increased Sales / Income
The success of this cluster initiative hinges
on the intensity of interaction among
potential members and the intrinsic
capacity for collective decision-making in
terms of how to alter the mix of inputs and
enhance the marketability of outputs in
order to guarantee the competitiveness of
firms within the cluster.
Analysis of the Relations of Production
• provides insights into the nature of the
relationship between the persons engaged in
particular activities and the means used to
accomplish such tasks.
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Analysis of the Relations of Production
• provides insights into the nature of the
relationship between the persons engaged in
particular activities and the means used to
accomplish such tasks.
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NEED for Focus on :
1. TIME USE
2. Access to /Control over Resources such as
 Infrastructure
 Inputs e.g. packaging
Transportation / shipping
Sales / INCOME
TECHNOLOGY
RELATIONSHIPS
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QUESTIONS???
• How do social relations of production / marketing /
consumption influence the structure and character
of demand / supply responses as this relates to agro
processing?
• Is there the domestic capacity to adequately
respond to the dictates of the increasingly
competitive international trading environment ?
• Do we understand the dynamics of the people
involved in the production (and marketing) of agroprocessed commodities.
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CLUSTER MISSION:
To improve agricultural (rural household)
livelihoods by strengthening linkages within
the agri-business value chain and increasing
return to agro-processing ventures.
CLUSTER OBJECTIVE:
To sustain the production and marketing of
agro-products /services that are compliant
with international competitiveness standards
GENDER RELATED Asymmetries
Preferential
Trading
Uncompetitive
Marginal
Resource poor
Liberalized
Trade
Competitive
Mainstream
Resource endowed
Internal / Domestic
focus
Global / Export
oriented
Informal / un-recorded
Formal / recorded
Care / Reproductive
economy
Subsistence Mode of
Production
Use value
Un-paid / non – economic work
F E M A L E gender work
Market (Monetary)
Economy
Capitalist Mode of
Production
Exchange value
Paid / economic work
M A L E gender work
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