Making Markets More Inclusive Lessons from CARE and the Future of Sustainability in Agricultural Value Chain Development

Most studies of doing business at the "bottom of the economic pyramid" focus on viewing the poor as consumers, as micro-entrepreneurs, or as potential employees of local companies. Almost no analysis focuses on the poor as primary producers of agricultural commodities—a striking omission given that primary producers are by far the largest segment of the working-age population in developing economies.

Making Markets More Inclusive bridges the management literature with original research on agricultural value chains in developing and emerging economies. This exciting work is the first to delve into the skills, capabilities, strategies and approaches needed for inclusive value chain development. McKague shows how NGOs and companies can connect poor producers in developing economies with the right markets to better create social and economic impact. He also analyzes one of the leading agricultural value chain initiatives in the world, which is being replicated by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in several different value chains in Malawi, Tanzania, Ghana, India and Mali.

Kevin McKague is Visiting Professor at Cape Breton University, Canada; Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, USA; Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Peace, Democracy, and Development at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA; and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability at York University, Canada.

Muhammad Siddiquee is Coordinator of Agriculture and Value Chains under the Extreme Rural Poverty Program at CARE Bangladesh and is the Team Leader of the Strengthening the Dairy Value Chain Project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in northwest Bangladesh.

PART I: MAKING VALUE CHAINS MORE INCLUSIVE
1. Strengthening the Dairy Value Chain in Bangladesh
2. Value Chain Development
3. Value Chain Selection and Mapping
4. Value Chain Intervention Strategies
PART II: FIVE KEY OBJECTIVES OF VALUE CHAIN DEVELOPMENT
5. Productivity and Producer Groups
6. Increasing Access to Inputs
7. Increasing Access to Markets
8. Strengthening Value Chain Relationships
9. Improving the Enabling Environment
PART III: CROSS-CUTTING THEMES
10. Gender
11. Lead Firms
12. Microfranchising
13. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
14. Scale
PART IV: THE FUTURE OF VALUE CHAIN DEVELOPMENT
15. Moving Forward
Appendix: Quantitative and Qualitative Data Sources and Analysis