Strategies to Develop Market Access that Contribute to Resilience in the Bolivian Highlands, Case study: PMCA and BAP for chuno and tunta

The study evaluates how the Bolivian Andean Platform (BAP), under the philosophy of the Participatory Market Chain Approach (PMCA) reduces transaction costs for native products, Chuno and Tunta, elaborated by small-scale farmers in three communities in Umala-Bolivia. At a first stage, the study identifies how local native potato varieties' programs (NPVP) developed by the International Potato Center (CIP)-ALTAGRO development project empower farmers to be able to participate in the BAP. It also identifies the barriers foreseen by those who do not participate in NPVP. At a second stage, it analyzes which transaction costs are reduced for farmers who participate. It also identifies incentives within the platform that motivate market chain actors' participation. To accomplish the objectives, the authors use qualitative methods to develop a multiple embedded case study, and an empirical study under the Pattern-matching logic (Yin, 1994). For the case study, personal interviews are conducted with all stakeholders of the BAP. For the empirical study, the qualitative analyses consist of the selection of families that produce chuno and tunta for commercial purposes in three communities participating in the Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resource Collaborative Research Support Programs (SANREM CRSP) and ALTAGRO baseline surveys. Selected chuno and tunta marketers are divided in those who participate in NPVP, and those who do not. On the one hand, the results indicate that NPVP benefit producers' participation in the BAP by promoting collective action, sustainable livelihoods and resilience. The barriers to participate are mainly due to emigration and resulting less labor available at the household. On the other hand, the BAP reduces transaction costs in the market chain, and promotes agency capacity and market involvement for small-scale producers. However, the BAP lacks incentives to motivate farmer's participation, and offers a price that does not pay off producers' efforts for higher quality of chuno and tunta.