Note: the major part of the program will be approximately 30 case studies that will be selected on a competitive basis from throughout the Middle East, North Africa and other developing countries. The Call for Case Study proposal can be found below. Monday, December 5, 2005 is the deadline for submitting case study proposals; selection of the case studies to be presented at the workshop will occur on December 9th by an international panel. The lead author of the case studies selected will be notified on Monday, December 12. On or before Friday, December 16, 2005, a revised program will be posted on this web site, including the keynote speakers who have confirmed.

The Consultation will begin with a keynote speaker who will set the stage for the entire workshop. This will be followed by a Senior Industry Panel that will share its (their) perspectives and insights about the global food chain and issues to be considered in linking developing country farmers to this rapidly evolving global food system. Next, a number of case studies, representing different supply-chain innovations, will be presented in a series of concurrent sessions. People who are currently working in innovative projects that deal with any of the following supply-chain issues will be invited to submit case study proposals for possible inclusion in one of these sessions:

Diversification into Higher-Value Products and Markets

• Livestock Products, including dairy and meat products
• Fisheries, including aquaculture
• Fresh horticultural crops, especially for export
• Natural Products, including herbs, medicinal and aromatic crops
• Organic food products

Organizing to Supply High-Value Domestic and International Markets

• Building a safe and efficient supply chain for dairy or meat products
• Improving supply chain management, including traceability
• Establishing quality assurance standards and certification systems for key export markets (e.g., EurepGAP, organic)
• Organizing, training, and linking small-scale farmers to high-value markets
• Making contract farming a “win-win” relationship between producers and buyers

Other Interrelated Issues

• Capacity building and building public-private partnerships
• Moving up the food chain: Can farmers be successful in value-added processing?
• Increasing the role of rural women in producing and processing agricultural products for domestic and global markets
• Training farmers to be reliable food-chain partners

Proposed Wrap-up Sessionson day five of the Consultation will synthesize the lessons learned and successful practices around organizational and policy frameworks, such as:

• Macro-economic and policy requirements needed to support this new approach to agricultural development
• Trade policy requirements to build sustainable supply chains
• Building competitive marketing channel alliances
• The need to establish an international network to give producers and firms continuing access to information and learning opportunities about this dynamic global food system.

The final afternoon of this Regional Consultation will involve an Implementation Panel comprised of donor, industry, NGO and university representatives who will build on the lessons learned to formulate the elements of an “action plan” for future donor investments in linking producers to both domestic and global markets.

Call for Case Study Proposals

Regional Consultation on Linking Farmers to Markets:
Lessons Learned and Successful Practices
Cairo, Egypt
January 29-February 2, 2006

Concept
The Regional Consultation on Linking Farmers to Markets workshop will provide a unique opportunity for public and private leaders to consider alternative approaches and models for linking farmers to markets, especially the global food chain. This regional consultation will assist participants from throughout the Middle East, North Africa and beyond to learn how food chains operate. In addition, they will review different approaches of organizing, training and linking farmers to the rapidly changing global food system. The process of successfully linking small- and medium-scale farmers to these dynamic markets will directly impact farm income and rural employment. Speakers will present a range of case studies across different commodities or products in different countries. These case studies will outline successful linkages of farmers to new and different markets, including problems they confronted and overcame. All participants will have the opportunity to fully discuss the successful practices presented and to probe the lessons learned from these cases.

Opportunity
This invitation is for individuals or organizations, directly involved in projects or activities related to some aspect of linking farmers to markets, to come to Cairo and share these successful practices and/or lessons learned. Individuals who are selected to present their case studies at this workshop will have their travel expenses paid by USAID or one of the other co-sponsoring organizations, including airfare (least-cost economy class), hotel, meals, incidental expenses and workshop fees. Note: only the travel expenses for the lead author will be paid to attend this workshop. Also, no honoraria will be paid to any case-study presenter. Each individual selected to present a case study will be expected to prepare a 15-minute PowerPoint slide presentation for delivery in English at the workshop, plus a 10-12 page, single spaced, case study that will be shared with the workshop participants and made available on the workshop’s website. It is planned that all PP presentations will be loaded on the web, with the speaker’s audio narration, so these case studies will be available indefinitely to government and development officials, as well as agribusiness professors and students who were unable to attend this Consultation.

The Case studies should:
Highlight successful examples, preferably from the Middle East or North Africa, as to how producers were successfully organized and linked to markets, including such things as the business model used, how investment credit was secured and/or how farmers were trained to successfully supply these markets.

• Describe in detail how these supply chains were established or how specific problems, such as traceability or quality control, were addressed and solved.
• Identify specific problems that were confronted in developing these supply chains and describe how these problems were solved.
• Where appropriate, describe how this successful case or pilot project is being scaled up.

Case-study proposals should be submitted in one or more of the following Topics of Interest:
Diversification into Higher-Value Products and Markets

• Livestock Products, including dairy and meat products
• Fisheries, including aquaculture
• Fresh horticultural crops, especially for export
• Natural Products, including herbs, medicinal and aromatic crops\
• Organic food products

Organizing to Supply High-Value Domestic and International Markets

• Building a safe and efficient supply chain for dairy or meat products
• Improving supply chain management, including traceability
• Establishing quality assurance standards and certification systems for key export markets (e.g., EurepGAP, organic)
• Organizing, training, and linking small-scale farmers to high-value markets
• Making contract farming a “win-win” relationship between producers and buyers

Other Interrelated Issues

• Capacity building and building public-private partnerships
• Moving up the food chain: Can farmers be successful in value-added processing?
• Increasing the role of rural women in producing and processing agricultural products for domestic and global markets
• ßTraining farmers to be reliable food-chain partners

How to Submit Your Case-Study Proposal

Potential authors should submit by e-mail an abstract of less than 1,000 words [maximum of two pages, after the title page; single space, using12 pt Times Roman font, with 1-inch margins submitted either as a Word Document (doc) or in Rich Text Format (rtf)] in English outlining the elements of the proposed case study (or comparable paper) to be presented. The abstract should include information about the target group, the product or commodity concerned or the issue to be addressed (e.g., how a traceability system was established or how quality standards for a specific market were achieved), a description of the steps undertaken and the resulting outcome, plus any lessons learned. Preference will be given to successful cases/practices, but unsuccessful cases will be considered.

A separate first page of all submissions should only include:

• The title of the proposed case study, including the name of the country or case study setting.
• Each author’s full name, title, institution, full address, telephone number (including country and city codes) and Email address.

In general, all communications will be by e-mail. Case-study proposals, including the separate page, should be sent in either Word (doc) or rich text format (rtf) to Megan Puzey, the Workshop Coordinator, at: mpuzey@uiuc.edu

The deadline for submission of case-study proposals is Monday, December 5, 2005.

All case study proposals will be screened by the planning committee and the lead author of the selected case studies will be notified via e-mail on or before Monday, December 12, 2005. In addition, a small number of proposals will be selected as alternates, in case some authors are unable to participate. Each lead author will be expected to send a confirming e-mail to the workshop coordinator, indicating his/her agreement to meet the specified deadlines for (1) submitting a proposed case study (January 20, 2006), (2) preparing their PowerPoint presentation for presentation at this Regional Consultation, and (3) their agreement to have both documents, including their audio presentation, loaded on the Consultation website. The Consultation Director will then arrange for a nonrefundable, economy class airline ticket to be booked and sent to the lead author. Per Diem and other allowable travel expenses will be paid to each case-study author upon arrival at the workshop in Cairo.

Other Deadlines
All written case studies must be forwarded to the workshop coordinator by January 20, 2006. All case study presenters should bring their PowerPoint presentations with them to the workshop, either on a CD ROM or a flash drive.

Workshop Structure
Regional Consultation on Linking Farmers to Markets will take place in Cairo, Egypt. The workshop will begin with a two-day session with case studies presented concurrently. Case studies will be followed by a two-day field trip in Upper Egypt to study the successes and problems being confronted by the Agricultural Export for Rural Income (AERI) project. The AERI project is working to increase farm income and rural employment of small and medium-scale farmers in Upper Egypt by expanding the export of horticultural crops, especially to the European Union (EU), and expanding the production and improving the supply chain for milk and other livestock products for the growing domestic market in Egypt. On the fifth day, participants will reconvene in Cairo for cross-cutting sessions that focus on lessons learned and successful practices.

Organizing Institutions
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Chemonics International, Midwest Universities Consortium for International Development (MUCIA), International Arid Lands Consortium (IALC), and the organizations implementing the Agricultural Export for Rural Income (AERI) Project, including CARE International, ACDI-VOCA, The QED Group, Chemonics International and MUCIA.

Sponsoring Organizations
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank and other international agencies and bilateral donors to be named later.

Important Dates:

Social Activities: