Statement of Research Interest

Masters by thesis and PhD

Applicants name: Muhammad Arslan

Date: 7th August 2017

 Department in which you plan to study:
Teaching and research at Lincoln University are administered though groups known as departments.
Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Department of Agricultural Sciences
Department of Ecology
Department of Soil And Physical Sciences
Department of Wine, Food And Molecular Biosciences
Faculty of Agribusiness And Commerce
Department of Financial and Business Systems
Department of Agribusiness and Markets
Department of Global Value Chains and Trade
Department of Land Management and Systems
Faculty of Environment, Society and Design
Department of Informatics and Enabling Technologies
Department of Environmental Management
School of Landscape Architecture
Department of Tourism, Sport and Society
The Bio-Protection Research Centre
Agribusiness and Economics Research Unit (AERU)
Lincoln Agritech
Have you discussed your proposal with an academic staff member?
No
Yes
Name of Academic _Professor Don Kulasiri__________

The statement of research interest is used by the University for three main purposes:
Demonstrate to the university that the applicant has given proper thought to a prospective
research topic;
Show that the applicant is up-to-speed with at least some of the contemporary literature on the
topic and can identify a draft research question(s);
Help the University decide on potential supervisors.

The statement should be no more than 2000 words and it must be written in your own words.

If you have already prepared a draft research proposal, you may submit this as your statement, or
describe below your proposed approach for the research, i.e. the steps you would follow to fulfil the research
aim or test the research hypotheses:

Title of Topic Area

Re-crafting the Agricultural Supply Chain to Create More Value and Benefit the Small Farmers in
Developing Economies
Area of research interest to be studied (no more than 400 words)

The main purpose of this research is to identify the factors that are currently limiting the value
that small farmers derive from cultivating different crops and identify ways in which agricultural
value chains could be re-crafted to bring more value to the small farmers through sustainable
entrepreneurial interventions.
 1. Developing an understanding of the total business model of small farmers that covers all
of economic activities, how the various stakeholders could undertake initiatives that
would be effective across NZD Or was there a need to devise distinct approaches for
different regions.
2. Study how the dairy value chain could be re-crafted to bring more value to the small dairy
farmers in view of the unique challenges associated with agriculture value chains in
developing countries and various efforts undertaken to address them by various
governments and international development agencies.
3. In depth analysis of key issues requiring interventions such as proper advice, counseling
training on agricultural and agri-business aspects; access to quality seed at affordable
price; access to financing on terms that small farmers can understand and use;
mechanization tools and technologies that are feasible for small scale farming; and very
limited market knowledge.
4. Development of specific ideas for triggering entrepreneurial ventures such as
Comprehensive Value Chain, Intervention; Narrow and deep value chain intervention;
selected components value chain intervention; and Value chain orchestration based on
selected outsourcing approach in farmers to build their capacity to develop, understand
and accept new innovative ideas for long term sustainability.
Brief literature review (No more than 1000 words)
Small agricultural production enterprises have been under immense economic pressures for many
years. It is our belief that a favorable impact can be made on small farm enterprises through the
development and implementation of models that address their basic needs and open new
markets and production initiatives.Over the last decades, the economic, social and environmental
sustainability of the conventional agri-food system has and continues to be contested within both
academic and public institutions. For small farms, the unsustainability of the food system is even
more serious; farms declining share of profit and the cost-price squeeze of commodity
production has increased barriers to market access with the inevitable effect of agricultural
abandonment. One way forward to respond to the existing conventional agri-food systems and to
create a competitive or survival strategy for small family farms is the re-construction of regional
and local agri-food systems, aligning with Kramer and Porters concept of shared value strategy.
For farms, re-territorialisation of the agri-food system is a threefold competitive strategy in order
to create shared value [1], especially for those small family farms, which struggle to interface
with the conventional markets. This is done through three distinct means: (1) Redefining
products and markets, (2) Redefining supply chains, and (3) Building supportive industry clusters
at the companys locations [1] (p. 65).
The research identified that small farmers do not have readily available tools and methodology to
assist in effectively accessing or organizing new value-added or niche markets for their
products. They lack the capability to take advantage of the newly developed technologies in
information systems to construct supply/value chains that reduce their vulnerability to risk while
increasing their direct profit. To efficiently deliver products small farmers need to create or
reengineer their supply operations to meet the requirement of speed and flexibility, integrate and
coordinate the system, which includes customers, suppliers, information, productions,
inventories, transportations, quality, prices, partnerships, and interdependencies. The lack of
predictive models to analyze supply chains and e-commerce might be part of the reason for the
low visibility and chaotic situations that exist in supply operations. New business models are
needed to help assimilate, simplify and manage supply chain operations.
Both in the academic and the political arenas, it is claimed that the way forward to respond to the
existing conventional agri-food systems and to create a competitive or survival strategy for small
family farms is the re-construction of regional and local agri-food systems. Indeed, we need to
constitutes a double strategy:
(1) value creation strategy oriented to product differentiation along the dimensions of quality,
locality and sustainability;
(2) supply chain (or supply network) organizational strategy that shifts from individual competition
to active clustering through the development of strategic alliances and relies on the creation of local
clusters.

Possible research question and objectives (No more than 200 words)
The main objective of the proposed research to is to understand the factors that contribute to the
low profitability and productivity of small farmers (those with less than 10 hectares of land) in
developing countries and develop ideas for a financially sustainable intervention that leads to
generation of additional value not only for the small farmers but all the other players in the value
chain. It is widely accepted that farmers all over the world, and especially small farmers in
developing economies, do not get a fair return for their efforts and investments. There are two
possible changes that can be made to the supply chain that can improve the farmers situation:
Increase the size of the pie leading to better value for farmers; or restructure the allocation of
value among the players such that farmers get a better share. This research aims to bring about
both of these changes. With large majority of farmers falling in the small category (less than 10
hectares area) any improvement in the profitability of these farmers will have a significant impact
on the overall economy and the social well being. So far the small farmers have not derived many
benefits from new developments in crop cultivation and market access mechanisms made
possible by availability of new technologies. The current agriculture value chain structure puts the
small farmers in the most disadvantaged position from a number of dimensions:
Small farmers do not have access to capital from the formal financial sector, are exploited by the
local lenders (usually the seed suppliers or market wholesalers serve in this role to gain access to
small farmers as buyers or suppliers);
Small farmers do not have proper training on new farming techniques (local education system
does not include any applied farming related topics); and
Socio-political structures in the villages do not facilitate breaking from the past farming
practices.

Hence the opportunity is there to create huge economic value and a significant social impact.
Likely methodology (no more than 400 words)
The study will be conducted in following steps:
1. Identifying the key players, stakeholders in the supply chain at the inputs (raw material),
cultivation and the market stages to develop a model of the supply chain that captures
material and cash flows, information flows, and all the significant decisions at various
stages of the chain.
2. Study the supply chain for representative sample of certain crop to develop a deep
understanding of the key underlying issues that limit the profitability of farmers.
Identifications of issues and the solutions be advised with the help of supervisor on issues
such as lack of access to quality seed at affordable price, no financing on terms that small
farmer can understand and use, lack of use of modern techniques and lower level of
mechanization and very limited market knowledge.

3. To develop ideas for a large scale economically sustainable intervention that creates
additional value and also allocates a bigger share to small farmers. These interventions
focus would be to enhance the size of the value pie and reallocate it to benefit the small
farmers. This comprehensive intervention to enhance the profitability of small farmers
could take the form of a project that includes:
i. Educating the farmers
ii. Using technology to enable better management of the crop at various
stages could be a mobile application.
iii. Set up of support infrastructure for provision of key inputs such as:
1. Capital in the form of loans or equity partnership
2. Expert guidance related to cultivation practices through field staff
3. Better access to market to enhance value may involve better
choice of variety, packaging, branding and storage facilities.
4. Provision of certified seed and quality chemicals
 4. The research report from the project experiments will be prepared with an Overall
Analysis of the value chain and Conclusions and submitted for evaluation.

References
1. George Foster Syed Zahoor Hassan (Lahore University of Management Sciences) Re-crafting
Agriculture supply chain- pilot study on potato farmers in Pakistan

2. Porter, M.; Kramer, M. Creating Shared Value: How to reinvent capitalism and unleash a wave of
innovation and growth. Harv. Bus. Rev. 2011, 89, 6277

Submission of a statement does not commit you or the University to undertake the proposed research.
Your eventual research project will emerge as the result of negotiation between you and the research
advisor(s).
The statement is not the same as the formal research proposal you will produce for your thesis
(although the statement may be helpful in developing the full proposal).
You are strongly urged to discuss your research interests with an advisor before submitting your
application. The advisor will be in a position to provide feedback on a draft of your statement.