Critical review of the rural agro-based industries project proposal

Revisa los proyectos para establecer industrias agricolas de pequena escala con enfasis en operaciones de tipo artesanal que sirvan como incentivos para aumentar la produccion primaria y permitir la participacion de la poblacion rural en su propio desarrollo.

Report on a survey of agro-industrial activities in the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States

Includes bibliography

Competitiveness of the manufacturing and agro-industrial sectors in the Caribbean with a focus on Dominica, Guyana, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago

Includes bibliography

Application of the concepts of agro-tourism, agricultural diversification and food and nutrition for the development of Caribbean communities with reference to standards and priority setting

Introduction There is a renewed call for a new approach to development with emphasis on community empowerment or participation, with the belief that more sustainable activities will be undertaken in those communities. Much of that call, however, is coming not from within the communities, but primarily from advocates of change who may have little to do with those communities. What then will the new approach bring apart from a change in who are the decision-makers? And how do we ensure that the change that is called for will, in fact, bring added benefits to the communities themselves? To be sure, there are some successful stories of a community approach to problem solving. However, there are also many more stories of project failures. Serious analytical work, therefore, needs to be done to determine the factors that promote a successful community-based approach; when this approach should be used; and the methodology that should be employed. In an attempt to determine these factors, a brief analysis will be made of some of the governing structures in the subregion and their possible impact on the proposed new approach. Some of the earlier efforts at stakeholder and community approach to projects will also be examined as well as the new development strategy that is prompting the call for this new paradigm. The new paradigm focuses to a large extent on decision-making and community empowerment. With few exceptions, it is short on the promotion of tangible activities that are based on the resource inventory of the communities. This is not surprising, since, as noted before, the advocates of community empowerment may have very little connection with the communities and, in most cases, are unfamiliar with the resource base. Hence, a theoretical case is made, suggesting more style than substance. Another obvious shortcoming of this new paradigm is its continued over- dependence on assistance from the outside to build communities. Externally funded projects, seminars and meetings outside of the communities and foreign technical assistance continue to dominate these projects. While, of course, all communities have basic common needs such as water, health, education and electricity, there is sufficient diversity within communities to allow for tailoring of activities and programmes such that their differences become assets. It is in that context, that agro-tourism activities, standards, agricultural diversification, food and nutrition and priority setting have been chosen as aspects and activities for promoting community development, drawing on the various strengths of communities, rural or urban.

Formaciones empresariales en el agro latinoamericano a partir de las estructuras fundiarias de producción

Incluye Bibliografía

Linkages between agro-industry and small-scale agriculture in Guyana

Includes bibliography

La participación organizada en el desarrollo agro-rural del Paraguay: desafíos y propuestas

Incluye Bibliografía

Contratistas, cambios tecnológicos y organizacionales en el agro argentino

Hasta no hace muchos años, en Argentina, la tenencia de la tierra era casi una condición suficiente para la producción agrícola. En los últimos años, el crecimiento en las cantidades obtenidas de granos, se ha dado en el contexto de una nueva forma de organización, donde son muy importantes otros factores productivos (capital –maquinarias-, capacidad empresarial), nuevos insumos (semillas transgénicas, nuevos agroquímicos y fertilizantes) y donde la tecnología que ambos tienen incorporada se potencia en agentes que acumularon un importante stock de conocimiento tácito. Más que por quién usa la tierra, el eje pasa por cómo la misma se utiliza. Los cambios tecnológicos y organizacionales tienen mucho que ver en la expansión agrícola argentina de las últimas décadas. Relacionado con estos factores e insumos, se destacan nuevos y remozados actores que, en conjunto con los productores y los eslabonamientos con la industria y los servicios, conforman y trabajan en forma de red (Bisang y Kosacoff, 2006). Como aporte a la descripción de este fenómeno, el objetivo de este trabajo es estudiar uno de esos protagonistas: los prestadores de servicios o contratistas. Se plantea como hipótesis que los cambios tecnológicos evidenciados en el agro fueron, en parte, canalizados hacia los productores por un actor (contratistas) que, especializado en la tenencia de un factor productivo (maquinaria), conjuga capacidad empresarial y financiera, necesidad por aplicar los cambios tecnológicos junto con conocimiento tácito, mayor posibilidad de diversificar el riesgo agropecuario y estrechas relaciones con el resto de los actores (dueños de la tierra, Centro de Servicios, etc.). A lo largo del trabajo se resume la interacción histórica entre los contratistas y la agricultura como una forma de caracterizar a estos empresarios y resaltar los aspectos que han influido en su expansión, convirtiéndolos en una peculiaridad de la agricultura argentina. Este repaso ofrece claros indicios sobre la hipótesis planteada -luego confirmados con información estadística- que, además, permite medir el peso de estos actores en la economía y su evolución reciente.

Upgrading value chains through professional and supporting services: Lessons from three agro-industry chains in El Salvador and Guatemala

Includes bibliography