Exportar Publicação

Sousa, C. & Ferreiro, M. de F. (2023). Small, smart and sustainable: Networking to develop the medicinal and aromatic plants value-chain in Portugal. European Countryside. 15 (3), 442-464

C. M. Sousa and M. D. Ferreiro,  "Small, smart and sustainable: Networking to develop the medicinal and aromatic plants value-chain in Portugal", in European Countryside, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 442-464, 2023

@article{sousa2023_1783371643471,
	author = "Sousa, C. and Ferreiro, M. de F.",
	title = "Small, smart and sustainable: Networking to develop the medicinal and aromatic plants value-chain in Portugal",
	journal = "European Countryside",
	year = "2023",
	volume = "15",
	number = "3",
	doi = "10.2478/euco-2023-0024",
	pages = "442-464",
	url = "https://sciendo.com/journal/EUCO"
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Small, smart and sustainable: Networking to develop the medicinal and aromatic plants value-chain in Portugal
T2  - European Countryside
VL  - 15
IS  - 3
AU  - Sousa, C.
AU  - Ferreiro, M. de F.
PY  - 2023
SP  - 442-464
SN  - 1803-8417
DO  - 10.2478/euco-2023-0024
UR  - https://sciendo.com/journal/EUCO
AB  - The paper aims to study the use of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP) farmers’ networking
activities to overcome challenges in the development of their business. MAPs are mostly
cultivated in small farms located in rural territories. This presents many challenges in different
dimensions of business development through the value-chain, namely in commercialization.
That is why networking and collaboration with other actors may have an important role, by
providing the scale and critical resources towards business success and value-chain
sustainable development. The paper draws on a purposefully collected set of data on
a network of Portuguese producers of MAP, organized under the EPAM project. The data was
collected through a questionnaire and quantitatively analyzed in order to understand: i) how
MAP farmers perceive the importance of networks for the development of their businesses?
ii) How are networks enabling farmers with different profiles to develop their businesses?
The results confirm the importance of networks for the development of these businesses,
namely with other firms. However, it is possible to identify some diversity in the assessment
of the role of those networks, both by taking into consideration the location of the farms and
their positioning in the value-chain. The study contributes to a better understanding of how
networking contributes to overcome barriers in the sustainable development of an agri-food
value-chain, by stressing a variety of networking proposes and partners and the existence of
differences across types of firms.
ER  -