Tropentag, September 20 - 22, 2017 in Bonn "Future Agriculture: Social-ecological transitions and bio-cultural shifts"

Bottlenecks for the Sustainable Development of the Beef Value Chain in the Colombian Cauca Department

¹University of Cauca, Dept. of Agricultural Sciences, Colombia
²International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Colombia

Abstract

The development of a competitive beef value chain for accessing formal and specialised national and international markets is among the principal goals of the Colombian agricultural development plans. However, cattle production in Colombia is very diverse in terms of e.g., climatic conditions, agro-ecological zones, farm sizes and production systems. This is influencing the nature of the aligned value chains and their potential for development and for accessing more sophisticated markets. While in some Departments (e.g., Córdoba) a stronger development and export orientation can be observed, in other Departments (e.g., Cauca) the beef value chains are rather characterised by their informality and limited access to formal markets.
In order to understand why the development is slower in the Cauca Department compared to others, a full in-depth value chain analysis was conducted with the goal to identify the most crucial bottlenecks for a sustainable development. Data was obtained between 2015 and 2017 for all direct and indirect actors along the value chain, by applying semi-structured surveys (>800), personal interviews with experts and value chain actors (15), and workshops (5). Data is currently being analyzed.
Among the expected results we will be able to show a complete map of the value chain, focusing on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for each group of actors as well as for the value chain itself, and the external factors influencing the chain. This will help in identifying the major bottlenecks and possible strategies for achieving a stronger, sustainable and more market-oriented development of the value chain. The results will be of high relevance for the involved decision- and policy-makers and support them in the formulation of adequate development strategies and sector policies. The results will also be of relevance for the value chain actors, as the identified bottlenecks and strategies directly present opportunities for improving competitiveness.

Keywords: Cattle production, competitiveness, public policy, sustainability, value chain analysis

Contact Address: Stefan Burkart, International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Trop. Forages Program, Km 17 Recta Cali-Palmira, Cali, Colombia, e-mail: s.burkartcgiar.org