The promotion of value addition in the agricultural sector through agro-industrialization is generally considered as one of the most efficient policies towards sustainable economic development. Indeed, investments in agro-processing are known to have significant multiplier effects, through backward and forward linkages across productive chains. Other benefits from such investments stem from the relatively high levels of employment generation, the improvement in food and fiber quality and the possibility of efficient operation at small scales. The recognition of these characteristics by governments and international organizations has led to the creation of several development programs that provide incentives to the creation of agro-industries throughout the world. These programs typically include the provision of credit and technical assistance to potential investors. Many of them specifically target small farmers groups and small scale investors as beneficiaries. In order to assess the feasibility of an agro-industrial enterprise, a potential investor must take into account a considerable number of issues, ranging from market to technological, financial and organizational questions. There are also several inherent sources of risk and uncertainty that must be properly considered, so as to minimize the likelihood of enterprise failure. Hence, proper investment project formulation and analysis becomes instrumental for the success of agro-industrial development programs. As a way to contribute to the process of preparation and evaluation of an agro-industrial project, FAO has developed the software tool Mini-Agriventure. The software has a fixed planning horizon of 10 years and requires that intermediate estimation steps in the calculation of costs, revenues and investments be made externally, prior to its utilization. In such a way, it offers a user friendly, basic platform for preliminary evaluations and rapid screening of alternative agro-industrial investments. By developing and freely making available this decision support tool, FAO hopes to be contributing to improved project preparation and evaluation, thus leading to more sustainable agro-industrial enterprises and enhanced incomes in agribusiness worldwide.

Mini Agriventure (.zip - 8.7MB)