MSU is a leading research institution that strives to live the true land grant university spirit of creating and validating knowledge for the benefit of others. Being PFID-F&V hosted at the heart of MSU's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, faculty and graduate students are involved in the debate on how to improve the lives of resource-poor, rural entrepreneurs by linking them with more profitable markets. Several educational institutions around the world are also engaged in the same debate, but very few have the opportunity to try new approaches in the field. PFID-F&V has provided MSU with this unique opportunity where practitioners and scholars meet to devise new and better ways to work with farmers and marktes. This is why having a model is important for others to validate and improve. After 8 years of reworking, the PFID-F&V model is in fact a representation of how excellent results have been obtained in most of the project interventions. The PFID-F&V model consists of the following steps:
First, the Value Chain Analysis of the product or industry where farmers wish to enter is analyzed to assess the minimum requirements in terms of physical and environmental characteristics to satisfy production requirements.
Second, a Market Access Analysis is developed guided by specific market opportunities identified. Sometimes, language barriers, poor asset endowment to produce sufficient volume or other challenges are found that signal market access failure. In these cases, farmers are advised to access less sophisticated value chains where their capacities match market requirements.
And third, for the cases where it is possible to access a higher paying market, potential weaknesses are addressed by customizing business development efforts in terms of training, farmer upgrading and promoting better market organization.
PFID-F&V has learned that every case is different, and the model needs to be flexible enough to accomodate the particular characteristics of suppliers and buyers in every opportunity. Despite the high degree of customization of services, there are activities such as training on compliance with international food service standards that apply to a high number of beneficiaries. PFID-F&V has played a strong leadership role in providing this type of training abroad.
