Which tool do you need to maximize results on your project?

SCOPEinsight provides the only fully digitalized, standardized assessment tools to help agribusinesses professionalize. Our tools serve agribusinesses (including farmer organizations, cooperatives, and agri-SMEs) of varying types, sizes, and maturity. They help you strengthen actors along the agricultural value chain, from input provision and preproduction to processing.

In the production function of the value chain farmers, ranging from smallholder farmers to more commercially oriented farmers, need to operate as high functioning businesses. If they have strong business acumen, they can bundle their power and be reliable business partners for other stakeholders, such as input providers, traders, processors, and lenders. Therefore, SCOPEinsight has developed tools for farmers who are organized in agribusinesses.

A tool for each target group

We offer four tools: SCOPE Rapid, SCOPE Input Retailer, SCOPE Basic, and SCOPE Pro. Our tools are specialized for each type of agribusiness along the agricultural value chain.

National scoping: SCOPE Rapid: Get a good understanding of the state of the sector Input provision: SCOPE Input Retailer: Strengthen the business acumen of last mile retailers Production: SCOPE Basic (also an SME version): Gain insights into the needs of emerging agribusinesses Primary Processing: SCOPE Pro (also an SME version): Facilitate mature agribusinesses' access to finance and markets

Each tool is designed for a different sort of agribusiness, and thus different projects require different tools. Below, we will share descriptions of the various tools. If you want more guidance on picking a tool, you can also use our tool selector, which can provide a tool suggestion based on a few questions.

The SCOPE Rapid: A snapshot of the agricultural landscape

The SCOPE Rapid, our newest tool, provides insights into the landscape of agribusinesses in a country or a specific sector within a country. Its purpose is to collect data from large groups of agribusinesses quickly and easily. This allows governments and their partners to have a better understanding of the agricultural landscape, either across the entire country or in a certain sector. The data from the SCOPE Rapid can segment and benchmark agribusinesses. This empowers local governments to direct aid to the right sectors and regions, design and align development programs, and guide activities and advocate to develop or amend relevant policies.

The SCOPE Rapid differs from our other tools most noticeably in that it does not gather in-depth data on professionalism and therefore does not generate SCOPE scores. It can rather be seen as the starting point for the graduation process by gathering data on the agribusinesses so they can be segmented for their follow-up assessments. Also, as the tool gathers factual information, the data is gathered by data collectors instead of certified SCOPE assessors. This will make it easier to use the SCOPE Rapid on a very large scale.

For national scoping: SCOPE Rapid. Target group: Farmer organizations and cooperatives. Description: Farmer-based organizations (FOs) and the cooperative sector in a country, at scale. Duration: approx. 1-1.5 hour self-assessment. Data collection: 26 questions and limited performance data.

The SCOPE Input Retailer: Strengthening agro-entrepreneurs

SCOPE Input Retailer was designed in partnership with CNFA, Bayer, and the IFC. After the development of the tool, we also developed a perfectly aligned curriculum: the Last Mile Retailer. Together the assessment tool and the curriculum form an integrated package of interventions designed to professionalize list-mile agro-input retailers. The goal is to help improve agro-input retailers – the little shops that deliver the seeds and fertilizer to the agribusiness – so they can thrive and, in turn, provide inputs, fertilizer, and high-quality services to farmers. In Rwanda, CNFA used this tool to help professionalize agro-dealers in their USAID Feed the Future Rwanda Hinga Weze Activity. Subsequently, CNFA was able to quickly strengthen the agro-dealers who then provided excellent extension services to nearly two thousand farmers.

For input provision: SCOPE Input Retailer. Target group: Last mile input distributors. Description: Micro-enterprises that sell and supply agro-related inputs such as seeds and fertilizer to farmers. Assessment duration: Approx. 4 hour field visit. Data collection: 40 questions and basic organizational and business information.

The SCOPE Basic: Supporting agribusiness professionalism

SCOPE Basic, our most popular assessment tool, is a comprehensive assessment of less mature agribusinesses. With the SCOPE Basic, you can determine detailed strengths and weaknesses of an agribusiness. This was the tool that the IFC used to help Mars Food, Inc. strengthen the Cambodian rice value chain.

We also provide the SCOPE Basic in an SME version. This is the tool to use if the legal entity of the organizations is not a membership-based organization, but a company who buys its produce from out growers. The SCOPE Basic SME version is essentially the same tool as the original SCOPE Basic, but then the wording is adjusted to reflect the different structure: as an example, members are replaced by out growers and shareholders. The rest of the tool is the same. Clients such as Cordaid have used this tool on the RAWNAQ project in Afghanistan, where it helped strengthen the SME’s business case.

For production: SCOPE Basic. Also available in SME version. Target group: Emerging agribusinesses and semi-commercial smallholder farms. Description: Agribusinesses in their early phases of development. Assessment duration: Approx. 6 hour field visit. Data collection: 120 questions and basic organizational and business information.

The SCOPE Pro: Growing investment-ready agribusinesses

SCOPE Pro assessment tool measures what a professional agribusiness should be able to live up to. It is used for more mature agribusinesses who have experienced management and at least three years of financial accounts (preferably audited). It assesses the same eight dimensions as the SCOPE Basic and – using the financial accounts – has an additional ninth dimension: financial performance. The tool is intended to be used for agribusinesses that are well underway of meeting the standard of IWA29. SCOPE Pro can be used to continue assessing organizations that have moved beyond the SCOPE Basic tool and require more rigorous testing, as IDH did in Côte d’Ivoire. As part of their Cocoa Challenge Fund (CCF), they assessed over a hundred cooperatives with SCOPE tools and graduated cooperatives from SCOPE Basic to SCOPE Pro once they were ready.

We can also provide the SCOPE Pro in an SME version. Similarly to the SCOPE Basic SME, this is the tool to use if the legal entity of the organizations is a company who buys its produce from out growers. The SCOPE Pro SME version is essentially the same tool as the original SCOPE Pro, but then the wording is adjusted to reflect the different structure. The rest of the tool is the same. Shelter for Life has recently used this tool to help strengthen cashew processors in West Africa and broker relationships between the processors and international buyers.

For primary processing: SCOPE Pro. Also available in SME version. Target group: Advanced agribusinesses. Description: Established and more mature agribusinesses with professional management and 3 years (audited) financial statements. Assessment duration: two day field visit and 1-2 day financial analysis. Data collection: 130 questions and extensive organizational, business, and financial information.

For over a decade, our assessments have been used to help capacity builders deliver results over 5,000 times and among more than 15 million farmers in over 45 countries. Are you ready to use a time-tested data-driven way to strengthen your agribusinesses? Contact us today to get started.

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