The development of vegetable value chains integrated with community capacity - an initial study in the southern Philippines

This study involved smallholders in assessing and prioritising potential improvements to value chains and opportunities for associated improvements in community capacity and sustainability. While value chain development is relatively well-known, the contribution of improved value chains to sustainable improvements in smallholder livelihoods and the function and capacity of rural communities is unclear. Also the capacity and function of communities is likely to influence the development of value chains. The study investigated value chains for five vegetables: eggplant (Solanum melongena L.), tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), ampalaya (Momordica charantia L.) and leafy vegetables. It identified community issues and the circumstances of smallholders and local community capacity at five sites - Leyte, Bohol, Samar, Misamis Oriental and Davao. Group discussions and interviews were conducted and data collected on community and value chain characteristics. The study found that smallholders face a range of logistic, economic and commercial barriers to the effective marketing of vegetables including poor postharvest handling, poor roads, lack of consumer feedback and inconsistent supply. Many farmers also lacked resources to buy seeds and other inputs and borrowed money at high interest from wholesalers to fund basic farm operations. Key community issues were internal migration affecting the structure and function of communities, inability to afford to send children to school consistently, lack of access to health and other services and malnutrition especially among children. Three value chains were identified as priorities for development - supermarket-led, wholesaler-led and farmer cluster-led. Increased smallholder income was likely to lead to long term community benefits with income most likely to go towards sending children to school, improved health care and improvements to housing and living conditions. It would also be invested in farm inputs such as seed and fertiliser and in reducing debt. Communities can support value chains through improved organisation and leadership