Module 7 - Horticultural Exports from Developing Countries

• Base analysis and planning on identified market demand and recognize the risk inherent in horticultural markets, along with the need to enter them with a long-term perspective. Strategic planning must be flexible enough to adapt to changing competition and demand.
  
  
• Enable private investment and capacity to comply with standards and certification requirements for product quality and safety and with environmental and labor standards.
  
  
• Provide public goods that reduce supply chain transaction costs, such as information systems, research and extension, certification capacity, and risk management. Public involvement must not distort market mechanisms. It should foster participation. Grant schemes can be effective, but exit clauses are usually necessary.
  
  
• Build capacity in government agencies to certify product safety and standards and to expedite inbound products and outbound produce at national borders.
  
  
• Monitor impacts on the poor, on women, and on minority groups, recognizing that most poverty reduction impacts will be indirect.

Selected Readings

Asterisk (*) at the end of a reference indicates that it is available on the Web. See Appendix 1 for a full list of Websites.

Jaffee, S. 1992. Exporting High-Value Food Commodities: Success Stories from Developing Countries. With P. Gordon. Discussion Paper 198. Washington, DC: World Bank.*

Reardon, T., and J. Berdegué. 2002. “The Rapid Rise of Supermarkets in Latin America: Challenges and Opportunities for Development.” Development Policy Review 20(4): 371-388.*

References Cited

FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization). 2003 “The Market for Non-Traditional Agricultural Exports (NTAEs).” Rome: FAO.

Lambert, A. M. 2002. “A Scoping Study for Detailed Case-Studies of Trade Facilitation/Export Promotion Projects for Non-Traditional Agricultural Products in Sub-Saharan Africa.” World Bank, Washington, DC.

McCulloch, N., and M. Ota. 2002. Export Horticulture and Poverty in Kenya. IDS Working Paper 174. Brighton: Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex.