The methodology captures the multifaceted nature of small and medium agrifood enterprises (SMAE) business models, adding contextual insights to the literature and policy formulation processes on these small firms, which are often treated homogenously. The framework upon which the methodology is based links the business model of an SMAE to various policy areas including farmer-market linkages, decent employment (including gender equality and youth inclusion aspects), rural finance and investment, nutrition, food losses and waste as well as food safety and quality. This makes it possible to identify intervention areas that can help reconcile the commercial objectives of SMAEs with sustainable rural development outcomes. There is also scope for adapting the methodology to carry out further research on environmental sustainability and digitalization. Ultimately, more pertinent lessons can be drawn for policymaking purposes only by understanding the complex business arrangements of SMAEs and their interactions with the external environment, including the policy and institutional climate, consumer and supply base, as well as the community in which they operate.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute the large majority of businesses both globally and in Asia and the Pacific. Despite their undeniable importance, the literature on SMEs in general, and agrifood SMEs in particular, is relatively limited. One specific area that deserves deeper consideration is the extent of digital engagement of agrifood SMEs along the agrifood value chain, from farm to retail and food services, in countries in Asia and the Pacific. The goal of this publication is to understand the current status of digitalization of agri-SMEs in Asia and the Pacific, what this process looks like and how to improve it. A value-chain approach was adopted to evaluate the digital maturity of all types of agri-SMEs across previously siloed categories – from farm to fork, and in the core and the extended value chain. The report analyses the benefits of digital transformation for agri-SMEs and the challenges they face in this process. Next, the report outlines practical and actionable measures that governments and other stakeholders may undertake to help agrifood SMEs stay ahead in the digital age. Special attention is given to the creation of a digital environment that enables agri-SMEs to increase the efficiency of their operations and allow them to grow. This is particularly important given that many agri-SMEs are located in rural agricultural areas, (where more than half of the population in Asia and the Pacific still resides), but where the environment is less favourable to digital transformation.

The objective of this publication is multifold. First, it aims to learn from small and medium sized agrifood manufacturers about the role they play in food systems transformation in Senegal and the policy reforms required to harness their potential. Second, and more specifically, it gleans lessons from structured interviews with Senegalese rice millers, based on their day-to-day realities, highlighting the business creativity used by these firms in order to deal with difficult enabling environments. Third, the methodology adopts a food systems approach to analyze the target enterprises; cross fertilizing different disciplinary perspectives in order to develop evidence for the public sector on integrated policy making that better supports the role of small agrifood enterprises in sustainable transformation. Finally, the study shares ideas about innovations related to procurement, operations, logistics, finance, marketing and sales, human resources, and strategic partnerships. An important contribution of this work is to demonstrate the multidimensional and complex nature of the environment within which agrifood manufacturers do business, and the need for the public sector to harness their potential to reduce poverty through off-farm employment generation and to improve food security through the sustainable supply of affordable and nutritious food to domestic and export markets.

This study looks at the business models of small and medium sized rice processors in Kenya in order to better understand the policy and technical support they need to grow and fulfil their role in agrifood systems transformation. More specifically, by employing semi-structured interviews with Kenyan rice millers, the technical study identifies challenges in their day-to-day business activities, including procurement, inbound and outbound logistics, in-house operations, financing, and human resources management. Additionally, the publication looks at opportunities for improving the business enabling environment in which these enterprises operate, providing a set of policy options to foster their role. The methodology cross fertilises different disciplinary perspectives in order to gather evidence for formulating policy in a way that integrates several policy fields and cross-cutting issues such as food safety, quality and nutrition; farmer-market linkages; decent rural employment and gender equality; or rural investment. The paper showcases how small and medium agrifood manufacturers respond to the business enabling environment and also contribute to local development from multiple angles.

Multi-stakeholder collaboration is an important process that can serve as a tool and strategy to solve complex issues and problems such as transforming national food systems towards more sustainable outcomes. This guide aims to support stakeholders working at all levels of the food system in the implementation of actions to transform their food systems. Centered on 5 building blocks underpinning successful multi-stakeholder collaboration for food systems transformation, the guide uses these constructions to illustrate ingredients of the process and show the interconnectedness of the steps needed to be successful. The guide also contains two annexes with a list of tools, and assessment questions. Annex 1 highlights a range of tools to support facilitators and participants with deeper guidance on a specific topic. Annex 2 contains a checklist of questions, customized to the content provided under each Building Block, and serves as an ongoing monitoring tool that can be used alongside the recommendations provided.

For the most part, small food manufacturers were allowed to remain open during the COVID-19 crisis to ensure food security, but their operations were nonetheless hampered from a range of perspectives. The aim of this report is, first, to analyse how small food manufacturers were impacted by the fall-out from the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of government measures enacted to halt its spread, and second, to provide recommendations that contribute to the recovery of the small food processing sub-sector in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). In so doing, the study identifies measures that can mitigate the disruptive impacts on agri-food manufacturers and which also contribute to building a resilient business environment for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across agrifood value chains. It also provides data to inform the process of structural reforms and systems change needed at the national level of targeted countries.