Multisectorial study published for Central America!
To explore the potential of a multisectorial programme in Central America the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) assigned ProFound – Advisers In Development and the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) to conduct a value chain analysis (VCA) for 5 pre-selected sectors in 6 countries: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. The multisectorial ‘Connecting Central America’ Programme is financed by the European Union and coordinated by the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA), in the framework of the EU-financed Central American Regional Economic Integration (INTEC) project, and co-financed by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The VCA report elaborates on the different Value Chains: 1) Specialty Coffee, 2) Cocoa and Derivatives, 3) Fresh Fruit and Vegetables, 4) Processed Fruit and Vegetables and 5) Fish and Seafood, and addresses the following elements for each Value Chain:
- Key European market characteristics and Central America’s competitiveness on the European market
- Structure, governance and sustainability of the value chain
- Value chain bottlenecks, risks and opportunities
- Proposed solutions and support actions
The VCA report concludes that each sector has potential to generate impact in terms of increased European exports and sustainability performance by Central American Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) and cooperatives, in different ways and at a different pace. Processed fruit and vegetables scored the lowest among all sectors and is the sector providing the least opportunities for a CBI intervention in the region. Based on the VCA and close consultations with its partners, CBI decided to implement activities in the following sectors:
- Specialty Coffees
- Cacao & derivatives
- Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
- Fish and Seafood
The full report and a Spanish version of the executive summary are publicly available on our website.
More information on CBI’s ‘Connecting Central America’ Programme can be found here.