SNV Nepal organised a Value Chain Development Training & Multi-stakeholder meeting on May 12-14 2009 in order to train participants in value chain development and improve coordination amongst all stakeholders for the betterment of poor and marginalised people in Nepal.

In Nepal, a country where two-thirds of the population earn less than 2 a dollars a day, enhancing the value chains of cash crops as a means to address poverty mitigation has been entrenched as a viable option for governmental and development organisations. Fittingly, huge sums of investment are being poured into the agriculture sector in Nepal. However, it is clear there is lack of coordination and common vision among stakeholders engaged in these sectors. As a result, stakeholders tend to adopt piece meal approaches rather than a holistic perspective in determining opportunities, constraints and interventions of selected chains.  This lack of coordination, coupled with the lack of understanding of value chain development itself, has been repeatedly highlighted in numerous value chain analyses – in multiple sub-sectors – conducted by SNV.  As such, SNV Nepal organised a Value Chain Development Training and Multi-stakeholder meeting, inviting almost 50 participants from the public and private sectors with the specific objective to synergise these isolated efforts for improved results and impacts.

The workshop, which took place in Biratnagar in the Eastern Region brought together a whole range of participants ranging from the District Development Committees of various districts, District of Agriculture and Development Office, District Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Nepal Agriculture Research Council, tea and cardamom farmers’ federation, Himalayan Orthodox Tea Producers Association, and representatives from commodity associations of ginger, broom, nuts and dairy sectors, among others. 

In order to facilitate discussion and participation, SNV Nepal organised the workshop to specifically deal with the value chains of tea, cardamom, diary and ginger.  The three day long workshop succeeded in strengthening the capacity of participants to (1) Understand the needs, gaps and of the four identified sub-sectors; (2) Identify strengths, weakness, opportunities and constraints of value chains; (3) create strategies to strengthen value chains; and (4) Identify feasible interventions using a holistic approach.