Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Afghanistan Program began using the Territorial Approach to Agroenterprise Development for its Agroenterprise Research Project* in April 2005. The Territorial Approach, developed by the Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT), has been useful as a tool for rural enterprise development in its attention to situational differences and systematic inclusion of a variety of market
actors. CRS and CIAT cooperate in a Global Learning Alliance for Agroenterprise designed specifically to benefit poor people in rural areas. Through implementation of the Territorial Approach in Ghor Province, the project team has been able to use and begin to adapt the approach to suit the project’s dual purpose of increasing rural incomes through enterprise development and identifying potential alternatives to opium
poppy production. During this process, CRS has realized the need to deepen its understanding of existing market institutions, the relationships at each level of the market chain, and look at projects that benefit all parties or that minimize threats to the current benefits experienced by critical stakeholders.