Alexander Blandón López (p), Janeth Gonzalez Rubio , Joel Hernando Cruz Diaz

Guilherme Oliveira

The rice-milling value chain in Colombia represents an important economic activity at the sectoral and regional levels given its potential for generation of income and both formal and informal employment. However, since the signing of a FTA with the USA in 2012, the main stakeholders of the rice value chain as well as producers from other agroindustrial chains have faced several competitive challenges. The FTA has promoted important changes in the governance structure of the rice milling value chain and thus in the cooperation imperatives between rice farmers and millers to promote the competitiveness of the value chain and thus survive international competition. The producers of the agro and rice milling links in spite of their manifest rivalry are moved to develop alternative cooperation schemes due to the urgent need to be competitive in face of the threats to the value chain by the FTA. The main objective of this research is to determine competitive responses of the key stakeholders of the rice value chain of Colombia to the economic insertion in the international markets in the context of the signing of the free trade agreement with the USA. The theoretical framework is elaborated around the main analytical categories that make up this research, such as competitiveness, competitive strategy and value chains- The study follows a descriptive methodological approach through the combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis focusing on the microeconomic and meso-economic level. Methodologically in-depth interviews with key stakeholders are carried out to determine the specificities of their competitive response to the challenges in terms of opportunities and threats of the FTA. In general, the rice mills in Tolima mostly converge towards bad (39%) and regular (56%) perceptions regarding the signing of the FTA with the United States, responding to a valuation of disadvantages in results and evolution of the sector during and after the signing of the agreement.

Janeth Gonzalez Rubio (p), Alexander Blandón López (p), Gerardo Pedraza Vega

Alexander Blandón López

The purpose of this research is to analyze the social inclusion schemes for the small farmers of special coffees of the Department of Tolima with particular attention to the case of the municipality of Planadas in the context of their productive insertion efforts within the global value chain during the 2010-2016 period.
The case study includes the 23 special coffee associations of the municipality that meet the project criteria and which were reported by the Secretariat of Agricultural Development and Food Production of the Government of Tolima for the year 2017. Likewise, it links other stakeholders in the chain such as coffee growers, international buyers and government institutions. The theoretical framework focuses on the analysis of the global value chain, which is adapted by the authors for the analysis of regional value chains. This incorporates analytical categories proposed by Gereffi and Korzeniewicz (1994) and Kaplinsky (2000), mainly economic structure of the value chain (input-output structure), governance and systemic efficiency.
The study is motivated by the spirit of knowing: How do the small and medium producers of special coffees in the municipality of Planadas become linked in the global value chain (GVC)? Competitive strategies are explored to facilitate the participation of small producers of specialty coffees in the generation and distribution of a greater added value in the chain, with emphasis on direct purchasing schemes that reduce the participation of intermediaries and tend towards the formalization of productive activities of small farmers. The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia has traditionally controlled the different links in the coffee value chain from the supply of inputs, sowing, storage and export of coffee and the special coffee segment. However, the present study focuses on associative schemes outside the scheme of the National Federation of Coffee Growers. In development of the project, it is studied the participation of intermediaries that facilitate the link with global purchasing entities in the municipality of Planadas, such as Lohas Beans, Inconexus, Caravela, among others, and their interaction with associations (23) which are made up of 1,338 members distributed in 67 of the 99 villages that make up the rural area of the municipality (Gobernación del Tolima, 2017).

Guilherme Oliveira (p), Rodrigo Oliveira, Daniel da Mata, Edson Severnini

Janeth Gonzalez Rubio

In Brazil, public banks are used to implement regional development policies. The Brazilian Regional Funds aim to decrease the economic inequality between regions. The Fund of the Northeast (FNE) financed more than US$ 20 billion in loan contracts since 1989. This study analyzes the FNE’s delinquency rates and its correlated factors between 2002 and 2013, focusing in climate, because big part of the resources go to semiarid area and developing countries are more vulnerable to climate change. The fixed-effects panel data model results suggest that the main factors correlated with the default rate are the standard deviation of temperatures around the annual mean, standard deviation of rainfalls around the annual mean and the municipality's GDP. Drought shocks are associated with a decline in agriculture production and that the delinquency rate is higher in the agricultural sector.