Experts in carrying out analytical assignments, including agricultural value chain studies, market analyses, food security research, field surveys, and enabling environment studies.
Technical Areas and Products
Our team has both deep experience in conducting short-term assignments for donors and clients and practical experience working directly with agribusinesses and farmers in emerging markets, having carried out analytical assignments across 30 developing countries for a wide range of clients, including USAID, MCC, and IFC. We also provide demand-driven, short-term market intelligence services, feasibility studies, farmer impact surveys, agribusiness enabling environment assessments, and other studies in support of government, donor, and agribusinesses to improve the environment for doing agribusiness.
Markets and Value Chains
- Market analysis by crop, country, and region (high value export & food security crops)
- Value chain and market system studies
- Cross-border trade and standards assessments
Food Security
- Food assistance and agricultural markets research
- Design of food assistance transfer modalities and local procurement programs
- In-depth and snapshot analysis of major food security constraints
Agribusiness Enabling Environment (AgBEE) and Policy
- AgBEE analysis and Agribusiness Commercial Legal and Institutional Reform (AgCLIR) studies to identify policy constraints
- Review of policies, laws, and institutions that govern the seed industry (SeedCLIR)
- Institutional architecture assessments that map the institutional landscape and the policy change process
Farmer Impact Surveys
- Design of survey tools targeted to smallholder farmers
- Conduct farmer surveys with use of mobile technologies
- Turn data into actionable recommendations, using in-house data analytics and state of the art infographics and reporting
Food Assistance
Fintrac has extensive experience researching food assistance and markets to provide donors with thorough analyses to ensure efficient management and distribution of food commodities. Food assistance programs can be a powerful tool in addressing food insecurity; these programs vary in the forms they take, from direct distribution of food aid to the use of cash or food vouchers. Before designing any sort of programming, donors and implementing partners must have a deep understanding of the effects different types of food assistance modalities could have on local markets.
Food assistance programs should not harm the same situations they are intended to improve. When poorly designed, a food assistance program – whether it includes a food, cash, or voucher-based transfer – can disrupt markets or disincentivize production while also fueling price inflation. However, when thoughtfully designed taking into account local context and constraints, food assistance can improve purchasing power, free up resources, and decrease or stabilize high food prices, especially during lean seasons.
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