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Abstract:
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"This paper gives an overview of guidelines and manuals for value chain analysis in agriculture and forestry. The publications were compiled through web search using key words such as value chain manuals, value chain guidelines,value chain handbooks. Information was also gathered by requesting key informants to provide any guidelines they knew of. The value chain concept has been applied in different ways by different organizations. Thus, this paper starts by reviewing the commonalities and differences in the definition of value chain and other relevant terms. Four stages of value chain analysis are described: appraisal, design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation. It then lists 32 guidelines and manuals, breaking them into four groups: (1) those that deal with all four stages of value chain analysis, (2) those focusing on the first two stages, appraisal and design, (3) those that focus on forest products, and (4) those examining special topics cutting across the other guidelines such as collective marketing, farmer-trader relations or gender analysis. For each guideline or manual, there is a brief overview of the contents, the specific survey instruments, case studies and the web address or other means of accessing it. Future work should include a more detailed analysis of the approaches and methods used in the different manuals and their strengths and weaknesses."
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