Strategic guidelines for local development and promotion of the Iblea agri-food system 2005
Agriculture represents the fundamental topic of the Sicilian economy. Moreover, it is not possible to face the challenges of the economic and social growth of the region without taking into account the agricultural structure, which still represents an open question and a strategic element for the development of the whole territory. The direct survey in the field involved the administration of a semi-structured questionnaire to a representative sample of 117 agricultural entrepreneurs belonging to the agro-food system area of the Province of Ragusa, stratified by the municipality of territorial belonging and by main sectors or production chains of the reference area. It was therefore possible to analyse the entrepreneurial models and the work practices of the farmers, drawing an exhaustive picture of the strengths and weaknesses in the innovation process and in the orientation towards the quality of the entrepreneurial culture within the area.
Index
Contents
First part
General framework and sample survey
1. The socio-economic structure of the area. Analysis of the local productive context
The strategic role of agriculture in the Sicilian economy
The productive system of Ragusa in the regional and national context
Uncomfortable legacies and development prospects for the Ragusa economy
2. Characteristics of typical productions in the area
Agriculture and agro-industry in the province of Ragusa
Characteristics of the local offer
Product traceability and supply chain integration as an answer to the challenges of globalisation
The typical productions of the area towards the integration of the offer
Elements of SWOT Analysis
3. Sample survey: Business models and work cultures among entrepreneurs in the Ragusa agro-food system area
Methodological notes: the questionnaire aimed at the company check-up, the selection of the reference target and the involvement and awareness-raising activities of the companies
Company identity
Production integration and supply chain relations
Entrepreneurs’ attitude to change and investment
The degree of mechanisation and technological innovation
Quality orientation
Training needs
Characteristics of the agricultural workforce and critical issues
Second part
Strategic guidelines
4. Training needs for the development of the local agri-food system
The general framework on training
Analysis of training needs
Not one, but several training models: customisation of interventions
Transversal and specialised skills for the development of the supply chain
Conclusions
5. Female entrepreneurship as a strategic resource for the development of the territory
Female entrepreneurship: a growing reality
Law 215/92
Strengths and weaknesses of the regulatory instrument
Concluding remarks
6. Quality production and the typical local offer
The offer of quality products as an element of competitiveness for agricultural enterprises
The quality of agricultural and food products
Typical quality productions in the Ibleo agro-food district
Initiatives for the protection of quality products in the Ibleo district
7. Strategies for the enhancement of the territory and the promotion of the Ragusa agri-food area-system
A new way of understanding the territory
Competition between local areas in the globalised context
Business marketing and territorial marketing in the agri-food system
The Copai: a “virtual” company for the promotion of the territory
The “Isolatino Project”
“Cestobarocco”: a collective brand for products from Ragusa
“Slow Baroque”: knowledge and flavours of the Iblea area
Ideas for an effective territorial marketing action
Bibliography