Feed the Future performance evaluation of the value chains for rural development (VC-RD) activity in Burma

The project has two intermediate results—improved agricultural productivity and increased market access and trade—and focuses on five value chains: coffee, soybean, ginger, sesame, and melon. The purpose of the VC-RD’s evaluation was to assess its progress towards intended goals and objectives, successes and challenges, its exit strategy, as well as to provide recommendations to improve the activity and ensure that intended goals and objectives are met by the end of the activity. To conduct the evaluation, the evaluation team (ET) used a mixed-methods approach, which included: document review, 36 focus group discussions, 86 key informant interviews, and storytelling. Findings show VC-RD has improved gross margins of farmers in the sesame and melon value chains through better input management, and in the specialty coffee value chain by enhancing production and processing quality and creating market linkages. Challenges include long payment timelines (coffee), limited increase in gross margin (soybean, ginger), reliance on a few market players (coffee, soybean), limited options for market linkages (melon, sesame, ginger) for products of improved quality that meet Good Agricultural Practices criteria, and limited adaptation of training (soybean, ginger). The ET recommends VC-RD focus on adaptation of training, more effective integration of gender and nutrition, strengthening of producer organizations to enable scaling-up and sustainability, and widening of linkages across a range of market players in all five value chains.