Livestock and Fish value chains are unique and have distinct features. For instance, the products, such as milk and meat, are of higher value and in some cases are bulky and highly perishable. Also, delivery of some inputs and services such as animal health service is costly. In addition, at the livestock keepers’ level, livestock are predominantly multi-functional, often kept not only to produce milk or meat for home consumption and sale, but also to produce manure for fertilizing croplands, to pull ploughs and are also considered a major capital assets. For this reason, livestock keepers’ decisions in terms of type and level of participation in a value chain is influenced by many factors.
The uniqueness of the livestock and fish value chains compared to other value chains makes it paramount for researchers and development practitioners to use highly targeted tools, specialized and tailored to guide research and development interventions.
While all the value chain assessment tools developed and used in the course of the Livestock and Fish program implementation have been availed in an online working space, there was a need to document, organize and describe how to use these tools.
The toolkit will detail four main implementation stages to follow when carrying out analysis of livestock and fish value chains, moving from tools for broad characterization at national level to more detailed and focused tools. The tools in the last stage will include information on ‘best bet’ monitoring, evaluation and learning.
Photo credit: ILRI