Báo cáo khoa học nông nghiệp " Developing a strategy for enhancing the competitiveness of rural small and medium enterprises in the agrofood chain: the case of animal feed " pptx

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Báo cáo khoa học nông nghiệp " Developing a strategy for enhancing the competitiveness of rural small and medium enterprises in the agrofood chain: the case of animal feed " pptx

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INSTITUTE OF POLICY AND STRATEGY FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT CENTER FOR AGRICULTURAL POLICY CARD Project 030/06 VIE: Developing a strategy for enhancing the competitiveness of rural small and medium enterprises in the agro- food chain: the case of animal feed Training Manual for CARD project 030/06 VIE Donna Brennan and Sally Marsh School of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of Western Australia July 2010 Feasible Maximizing p rofit 2 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 1 Purpose of the training manual 4 2 Problem identification 6 2.1 Identification of key issues 6 2.1.1 Methodology/activities 6 2.1.2 Use of reviews and secondary data 9 2.2 Formulating researchable questions or hypotheses 9 2.3 Focusing data collection 10 2.4 References in this section 11 3 Survey design and sampling techniques 12 3.1 Introduction 12 3.2 Why is it so difficult to conduct a good survey? 12 3.2.1 Issues with translation 13 3.3 Steps in the process of doing a survey 13 3.3.1 Is a survey really needed? 13 3.3.2 Statement of information goals and uses 14 3.3.3 Collect background information 14 3.3.4 Focus groups 14 3.3.5 Select survey method (personal interview, phone, letter, web-based) 15 3.3.6 Determine sampling method and select sample 16 3.3.7 Draft questions 16 3.3.8 Pilot test the questionnaire 17 3.3.9 Redraft the survey 17 3.3.10 Train interviewers/enumerators 17 3.3.11 Collect the data 17 3.4 Sampling 18 3.4.1 Accuracy, bias and precision 18 3.4.2 Types of sample design 18 3.4.3 Sampling strategies 19 3.4.4 Proportional stratification by size 23 3.5 Question design 24 3.5.1 Designing good survey questions 24 3.5.2 Should you use open or closed questions? 24 3.5.3 If closed questions, which type of closed question format? 25 3.5.4 Using Likert Scales 26 3.6 References in this chapter 27 4 Data entry 28 4.1 Principles of database design 28 4.2 Designing tables from survey questionnaires 28 4.2.1 Example of table design in IFPRI feedmill database 29 4.3 Practicing using queries 29 4.3.1 Types of queries: 30 4.4 Designing a database for the CARD Livestock questionnaire 31 5 Data cleaning and analysis– techniques using Stata 33 5.1 Data cleaning 33 5.2 Creating Output Templates 33 5.3 Stata dofiles for feed use as an example 36 5.3.1 Objectives: 36 3 5.3.2  Exercises 37 6 Analysis of Survey Data 49 6.1 Treatment of variables in survey analysis 49 6.1.1 The number of variables 49 6.1.2 Levels of measurement 49 6.1.3 Method of analysis 50 6.1.4 Descriptive and inferential statistics 51 6.2 A Quick Overview of Descriptive Statistics 51 6.2.1 Measures of location 52 6.2.2 Measures of spread 52 6.2.3 Measures of shape 53 6.2.4 Techniques for displaying and examining distributions 53 6.3 Data management in Excel 55 6.3.1 Notation for basic functions in Excel 55 6.3.2 Using more complex functions in Excel - SUMIF 55 6.3.3 Using more complex functions in Excel - COUNTIF 57 6.3.4 Using more complex functions in Excel - TRANSPOSE 58 6.3.5 Pivot Tables in Excel 62 6.3.6 Using MACROs in Excel 66 6.4 References in this section 71 7 Assessing competitiveness – principles and exercises 72 7.1 Types of market structure 72 7.1.1 Perfect competition 72 7.1.2 Monopoly 72 7.1.3 Monopolistic competition 72 7.1.4 Oligopoly 73 7.2 Analyzing competitiveness 74 7.3 Product differentiation in the feedmill industry 74 7.4 Competitiveness in the livestock feed production sector 75 7.4.1 Evidence of returns to scale 76 7.4.2 Supply chain differences 77 7.4.3 Competitive strategies 77 7.5 Production economics for feed operations – least-cost feed rations 79 7.5.1 Some basic animal nutrition 79 7.5.2 The pig diet used in this training course 80 7.5.3 Linear programming 81 7.5.4 Mathematical specification of the linear programming problem 86 7.5.5 Least cost feed analysis using linear programming 87 7.6 References for this chapter 88 8 Reporting and communication 89 8.1 Writing the research report 89 8.1.1 Working in Outline 89 8.1.2 Labelling and cross referencing tables and figures 90 8.1.3 Tables and figures in a Research Report 91 8.1.4 Other conventions for Report writing in English 92 8.2 Some common errors in English writing 92 8.2.1 Language used in reports 92 8.2.2 Correct use of some English words in Reports 93 8.3 Writing policy briefs 94 8.3.1 Preparation of a Policy Brief 94 4 1. Purpose of the training manual The purpose of this manual is to document theoretical issues, methodology and analytical techniques that were used in the process of conducting CARD Project 030/06 VIE “Developing a strategy for enhancing the competitiveness of rural small and medium enterprises in the agro-food chain: the case of animal feed”. Work for this project was conducted from mid-2007 to early 2010. It is hoped that the experiences gained from the project work and documented in this training manual will be useful for future work undertaken by IPSARD/CAP. The chapters include: • 2. Problem identification. In this chapter, techniques to identify key issues, formulate researchable hypothesis and focus data collection are discussed using examples from the project. • 3. Survey design and sampling techniques. This chapter focuses on aspects of socio-economic surveying, including: reasons why surveys can be difficult to conduct; steps in conducting a survey; sampling techniques used in surveys; and question design. • 4. Data entry. This chapter contains the material from a course on database design presented by Donna Brennan in July 2008. It should be read in conjunction with electronic course materials in the zip file “Course database and access forms.zip”. The chapter includes sections on principles of database design, designing tables from survey questionnaires and using queries in Microsoft Access. • 5. Data cleaning and analysis – techniques using Stata. This chapter contains tips and techniques for data cleaning, building data output templates, and data analysis. Training notes recorded by members of the CAP team (Pham Thi Lien Phuong and Nguyen Thi Thinh), in the form of annotated Stata do files, are provided in this section. Data needed for these analyses will be in the CARD project database kept at CAP. • 6. Analysis of survey data. This chapter includes a discussion of treatment of variables in analysis of survey data and an overview of descriptive statistics. Additionally, it includes material from a training course in data management in Excel provided to team members when they visited Perth in August 2009. The course covered special functions for managing and querying large data tables, including conditional sums, transposing data, and extracting subsets using pivot tables. The course also covered the basics of building macros. Training notes recorded by members of the CAP team (Pham Thi Lien Phuong and Nguyen Thi Thinh) are provided in this chapter. • 7. Assessing competitiveness - principles and exercises. This chapter briefly outlines types of market structure. Issues to consider when analyzing competitiveness, and in particular, issues when assessing competitiveness of firms producing a heterogeneous product are discussed. Aspects of competitiveness investigated in the project are outlined, and material from a training course on Least-Cost feed rations is included. • 8. Reporting and communication. This final chapter focuses on providing tips for producing a well-structured and well-written Research Report, including techniques for handling large documents in Microsoft Word and a 5 discussion of common errors made in English writing. Finally we outline the preparation of a Policy Brief. The report was mainly written by Dr Donna Brennan and Sally Marsh, but also contains contributions from Vietnamese CARD project team members, Pham Thi Lien Phuong and Nguyen Thi Thinh in Chapters 5 and 6. A number of electronic files are provided as part of and to be used in conjunction with this report: For Chapter 4: Course database and access forms.zip For Chapter 6: macro_practice.xls For Chapter 7: Cong Nhan May Mac.xls Least cost feed ration exercise.xls 6 1 Problem identification 1.1 Identification of key issues A key task at the beginning of a research project is to scope key issues and existing information and data relevant to the planned research. There are a number of standard ways in which this can be done, including: • Literature reviews; • Collection of secondary data; • Identification of and engagement with key stakeholders e.g. interviews, field visits, workshops designed to seek stakeholder/expert ideas and opinions; • Consultations with known experts; • Overseas study tours; and • Participatory appraisals, a technique used for consultation with local people often used in rural development projects. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_rural_appraisal ) In this project, methods used to identify key issues involved consultations with stakeholders and known experts, a study tour to Thailand, collection of secondary data and a literature review. 1.1.1 Methodology/activities Early engagement with stakeholders and experts Early in the project, time was spent identifying key stakeholders and experts (e.g. feedmills, staff of MARD, Vietnam Animal Feed Association) and discussing the planned project with them. For example: a meeting in 2007 with Mr Le Ba Lich, Chairman of the Vietnam Animal Feed Association (VAFA), elicited the following information, issues and opinions (questions asked are in italics, with a summary of the reply in normal text). • What is the benefit for a feedmill to join VAFA? They get technical support, recipes (Lich and other scientists involved in formulation) for all feeds for pigs and chickens, training. Some companies come when prices change to get advice on how to change feeds (ability to change recipes depends on storage, inventory, knowledge of market prices). • What are the characteristics of small feedmill enterprises? Generally producing <3,000 T/yr (there are 145 businesses with < 5000 T/yr – 10% of total production), often don’t have an office or own equipment (rent), sell animal feed concentrates (premix), sell directly to farmers, located in rural areas. • Are small mills inefficient? Small mills still have their market share – sell to very small land holders (who are interested in low prices), smallholder animal production is 90% of production – small mill production is 10% of total. • Why are small mills going bankrupt? They don’t have sufficient capital to sustain/invest in their business, material costs are increasing. 7 • Why does the GoV want to encourage them to continue? GoV has slogans/policy to support SMEs, but in his opinion the GoV should only support medium enterprises. Support might include land, capital, interest rates. • What is the cutoff between medium and large enterprises? Discussion about this, Mr Lich considered >10-20,000T/yr to be large. • What is a low quality feed? Protein content too low, inaccurate labeling, high mycotoxins, feed stored in areas with high contamination risk. • How many feedmills employ a nutritionist? Large mills yes, some medium mills, others get recipes from others. • Does VAFA provide specific or generic recipes? Specific – depending on what raw materials are available. • Regulation: This is a difficult area. o No laboratory in the livestock dept and no experience. If they sample and send to another laboratory (in the north or south) it is costly and the Dept of Livestock doesn’t have budget for this. o MARD has funds but they are insufficient. o Corruption is an issue. o MARD not authorised to take food in the market as this is linked to the Ministry of Trade (Dept of Marketing and Management). • Can the VAFA guarantee feed quality for small mills? No. • What is a small holder farm? Uses traditional methods and has <100 chickens and <5 pigs. • Do smallholder farms have a seasonal demand for feed? After summer they buy a pig and raise for Tet. Small and medium mills have a cycle of increased production after August and up until Tet (main pig raising season in the north). • Do any medium mills have breeding operations? Yes – Dong Nai, CP, Dabaco • Are there any independent breeding companies in Vietnam? One poultry research centre, some others I think. • Do the large feed companies have a monopoly over animal breeding in Vietnam? No. An initial workshop involving stakeholders and experts was held to provide an overview of the planned project and discuss issues in the sector and capture feedback. Field visits Another early activity to scope issues was visits to a number of feedmills and producers. Examples of the data that were recorded from these scoping visits are shown in Table 1.1. It is good research practice to record and summarise issues and opinions from field visits for later discussion by the research team. Literature review A review of the literature is usually essential, to see what is already known about the subject area, and what field research has already been done. Often, work done in Vietnam will be found in technical reports for MARD and donor projects, but other sources may be theses (both locally and internationally), web-based publications, and 8 Table 1.1 Examples of issues and opinions obtained from CARD project field visits Field visit Activities and issues identified Field trip to DABACO feed processing company (large domestic feedmill) • Diversity of operations – multiple feed products, associated livestock operations (contract farming) • Investment in technology and human development • Management structure – SOE to equitised company • Storage capacity • Buying and importing strategies • Quality control capability – use of laboratory • Batch size and mill operations generally (throughput capacity (tonnes/hr, tonnes/day – the smaller the batch size the more the energy/unit cost), repairs and maintenance scheduling (cleaning of equipment, safety), some feeds harder to produce (chicken feed and small pigs which need smaller dye) • Do price and quality equate? Yes, but not perfectly as price can include services. • Pricing arrangements within and outside contracts Visited small domestic feedmill in Gia Lam • Established 2002, 25-27 employees, produce 100T concentrate/mth, rent land for the mill (not really a mill – just a mixing facility) • Biggest issues – capital, land, increasing production costs, cost of credit from VBARD (1.03% mth) – mortgages private assets • Customers – agents at provincial level, markets to the mountainous areas as a priority as this is a good market for concentrates • How does he compete? He has difficulties – especially in import procurement, also bigger companies give agents a bigger bonus. Only competition from large companies is an issue – other SMEs not a problem. • Marketing policy? His strategy is to have good quality by buying good raw materials, and to focus on mountain areas. • Quality control? Done in two stages: checks maize quality when he buys, expert from provincial dept level checks the product. Every 3 months he sends his product for testing to National Husbandry Institute. Fishmeal and soybean he tests more often (110,000 VND for one protein test). No laboratory – 100% of small mills don’t have a laboratory. Dept of Ag at provincial level comes in once per year to check the output – he has to pay for testing (100,000 to 200,000 VND/yr). Fined once when content didn’t match label (then changed his components). • Recipes? He has one nutrition expert – also the German company he buys the premix from helps with recipe formulation, also VAFA. • Avian flu reduced sales by 30-40%. 9 scientific journals. In the case of the CARD project, we were interested in the lessons from international experience, and one of the components of the project was an international literature review which was conducted by Dr Johanna Pluske (Pluske, 2007). This review provided a desktop overview of the feed industry from a global perspective generally and with specific focus on three countries: Vietnam, China and Thailand. These countries were selected for review to identify similarities and lessons that may be useful in understanding the feed sector in Vietnam. Collection of secondary data Basic information about the nature of the industry, including recent trends in production, and differences in characteristics of production in different parts of the country, should be assembled. Aside from statistics reported by others in the technical reports mentioned above, there is a lot of detailed information at the regional and province level available from the GSO. 1.1.2 Use of reviews and secondary data Information from collection of secondary data forms the basis of the background chapter presented in the livestock feedmill survey report (Phuong et al. 2010). The secondary data demonstrated the rapid rate of growth in livestock feed production since 2000, and highlighted the role of domestic and imported ingredients in feedmill production. Specific input into the planned research from the secondary data collection included: • An examination of the spatial pattern of production showed that the Red River Delta and South East region (and to a lesser extent the Mekong Delta) were the most important livestock feed production areas, and that is why we chose to conduct the survey in those regions. • The evidence on price trends for feed inputs and feedmill outputs highlighted the problem of rapidly rising feed input prices which have been encountered by the feedmill industry in recent years, and helped us to form some basic survey questions about the setting/revision of feedmill output prices. Information from the literature review, workshop, interviews and field visits were used to help develop possible research questions through team discussions and meetings. A team meeting at CAP in 2007 identified a range of research questions that could be asked and further secondary data that would be needed to help answer these questions. How these possible research questions were then further considered is discussed further in Section 2.2. 1.2 Formulating researchable questions or hypotheses It is unlikely that all relevant research questions can be answered by any individual research project. Any project is limited by resources and time available to conduct the research. Some information that might be needed to answer a question may be unavailable or particularly difficult to obtain. It is important to carefully consider possible research questions arising from initial observations/data to see if it is possible to answer the question with the planned research. The formulation of research questions/hypotheses is an application of scientific method, i.e. 10 • Collection of facts by observation or experimentation, • Formulation of a research question or hypothesis to explain facts in terms of cause and effect relationships, • Deductions from a question or hypothesis that can be tested, and • Verification of deductions by new observation or experimentation. The scientific method attempts to systematize the process of generating scientific knowledge. However, it is a general approach or a general way of thinking, not a specific recipe for any given research project. The key to success in research is in being able to ask an important question in such a way that the question can be answered. There are an infinite number of important questions to ask, and for many of them there are no practical methods of providing answers. Likewise, there are an infinite number of questions with reasonable methods of providing the answers, but the questions themselves are unimportant. Useful research questions must aim to have answers which are important, and have hypothesis that can be tested and confirmed or refuted. The project team discussed a wide range of possible research questions arising from the scoping studies and then focused these into a much smaller number of research questions that were considered to be important, and could be investigated by the planned research. These were: • Are economies of scale evident in the livestock feed sector in Vietnam? • How different is production and trading between large feed mills and SMEs in terms of material input use, storage, product types, quality control, types of customers and services offered to customers? • Are the raw material procurement and output distribution channels used by SMEs and larger feed mills different? • How do domestic SMEs compete in the sector against larger foreign-owned mills? • Is there any evidence of prices for raw material imports being higher than domestic prices for raw material inputs? • Is there an opportunity for Vietnamese SMEs to compete in niche markets? (e.g. smaller mills targeting more remote areas)? • What are the constraints facing SMEs operating in the livestock feed sector in Vietnam? 1.3 Focusing data collection Agricultural economists often use information from agricultural scientists when seeking to understand production issues, and in focusing data collection in agricultural surveys. In the case of the feed industry, we can use information from scientists about animal nutrition, and the quality and composition of different feed inputs, to focus our questions. We can also use the measures adopted by scientists and by the industry to assess the technical efficiency of production. The most commonly used indicator of technical efficiency used by scientists is the Feed Conversion Ratio. This is a measure [...]... contained and adequate sample of the population Each of the sub-samples has to be independent and with the same sample design The sample estimates can be calculated for each of the sub-samples, and the variation between these estimates provides a means of assessing the precision of the overall estimate The advantages of the replication sampling are: • Easy generation of preliminary results using one of. .. into a number of smaller areas and a random sample of these is drawn Within the area either there is complete sampling or a further subsample is taken The approach is basically multi-stage sampling in which maps are used as the sampling frame When naturally defined areas on a map are of different size then the probabilities of sampling in proportion to size might be used However, an appropriate measure... in a database table (a variable) Tables contain the data in the database Queries are used to perform calculations on tables in the database, to create new tables, and to organize the data in various ways Forms provide a user interface for entering data They are built using reference to the underlying tables 3.2 Designing tables from survey questionnaires If you are used to entering data in spreadsheets... were interested in We wanted to analyse the impact of size class on many of our responses in the survey There are two ways of going about the selection of the population for a stratified sample, once the strata have been decided upon One is called proportionate allocation, and organizes the sample so that the share of surveys in each strata is in the same proportion as the share of these groups in the. .. from rural or urban areas, the number of males and females, the numbers in age-groups, etc The strata chosen should be important in determining the variation in the variables of interest Arguments against: • Not possible to calculate appropriate standard errors It is sometimes argued, however, that these are small problems compared to other biases • Interviewers may select in a biased way - the easy... important to know what the sampling fluctuations might be on average This can be obtained through a measure of the spread of the sampling distribution The standard deviation or variance is the means to measure this property The standard deviation of the means obtained from numerous samples is the standard error of the mean This provides an estimate of the probable accuracy or precision of any one estimate... not an infinite number Note that the list should have a random arrangement to get the precision of a simple random sample Stratification Other than increasing the size of a sample, its precision can be increased by stratification Before the sample is selected information is used to divide the population into a number of strata - then a random sample is selected from each stratum If the sampling fraction... reflected exactly in the sample There is no sampling of the strata, only sampling within the strata The greater the variation accounted for by the strata the greater will be the gain from stratification Thus the strata should as much as possible be distinct from each other, and within strata should be homogenous Select stratification factors related to the subject of the survey The aim should be to stratify... checking could be performed to examine the consistency in the responses between different sections All of these calculations were done in hands-on training conducted at CAP over the period August to October 2008 Training was also provided in conducting and interpreting analysis of variance in Stata Additional training was provided in Perth in August 2009 Training notes recorded by members of the CAP team... present data from the survey questions in a way that will be useful for analysis addressing the research questions Table 5.2 Main elements of costs of production (in VND/tonne output) for small, medium and large firms and overall Instructions: 1 Need to examine the data and see what is missing 2 Create variables corresponding to each of the rows in the table below, and calculate cost, and then cost . of rural small and medium enterprises in the agro- food chain: the case of animal feed Training Manual for CARD project 030/06 VIE Donna Brennan and Sally Marsh School of Agricultural and. detailed information at the regional and province level available from the GSO. 1.1.2 Use of reviews and secondary data Information from collection of secondary data forms the basis of the background. no sampling of the strata, only sampling within the strata. The greater the variation accounted for by the strata the greater will be the gain from stratification. Thus the strata should as

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