J.E. Austin Associates, Inc.

Some of our recent experience includes:

• Projet Croissance Economique (PCE) in Senegal
• Agribusiness and Trade Promotion (ATP and E-ATP) in West Africa
• Livelihoods and Enterprises for Agricultural Development (LEAD) in Uganda
• Livestock Market Development (AGP-LMD) in Ethiopia
• Building Competitiveness in Africa’s Agriculture: A Guide to Value Chain Concepts and Applications
• Areas for Municipal-Level Alternative Development Program (ADAM) – Colombia
• Agro-Industries Strategy Training
• Pakistan Initiative for Strategic Development and Competitiveness (PISDAC) – Dairy

Agriculture and agribusiness are key elements of the economies of many developing countries, often accounting for a significant percentage of employment, and a substantial portion of the value of goods produced in a country. However, despite the massive human and financial resources typically devoted to agriculture, yields, labor productivity, investment and value addition all tend to be lower than other components of the economy, and much below potential.  Rural populations are amongst the most food insecure constituencies in many countries.

Agriculture and agribusiness are basic to the livelihoods and food security of populations worldwide. Increasing productivity and capacity of the agricultural sector, especially when coupled with activities to increase the nutritional value of agricultural products, access to markets, and trade, can contribute substantially to an economy’s resilience to external shocks. Increased and diversified incomes are vital to the household resiliency of smallholder farmers.

Recent trends and even shocks have refocused the world’s attention on food availability and agribusiness productivity. JAA’s professional roots are in agribusiness, and for more than two decades we have provided impactful, innovative, market-directed services to improve the competitiveness of clients’ agricultural sectors and agribusiness, and smallholder participation in markets.  On hundreds of projects throughout the world, JAA has provided a wide range of technical, facilitation, training, policy and advisory services to a wide range of organizations and stakeholders in this arena.

JAA helps clients to identify the productive and competitive potential inherent in their agricultural sectors, and to and implement develop strategies to achieve this potential. We help producers, business,  governments and their development partners to target high-potential sectors, and help value chain actors to realize their competitive opportunities. We help to identify and remove policy and regulatory barriers, and improve the investment and business environment for agriculture and agribusiness. Our approach is focused on helping producers achieve the scale and productivity to engage with and serve the market; it is enterprise-driven to encourage investment, innovation and a business outlook; and it is market focused, helping value chain stakeholders to understand market opportunities and needs, and to respond to those needs.

JAA has developed innovative approaches that have been readily adopted by the consulting and development industries: replicable business models, competitive positioning, comparative benchmarking, decentralized economic drivers, entry point targeting, innovation and new business creation, value chain based investment identification and lead firm linkages are a few examples. JAA’s practice and thought leadership is reflected in our recent book, Building Competitiveness in Africa’s Agriculture: A Guide to Value Chain Concepts and Applications, prepared for the World Bank as its guide for implementing value chain concepts.  We have piloted and pioneered many elements of USAID’s Feed-the-Future and value chain initiatives.

JAA’s experience in agribusiness and agriculture development projects is closely tied to JAA’s competitiveness and enterprise development experience. But many of the requirements of agribusiness projects are very subsector specific, and JAA has proven its capability to meet these needs. For example: