DOCSLIB.ORG

Research Brief No

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Research Brief No RESEARCH BRIEF NO. 28 RESEARCH BRIEF – DECEMBER 2014 FOOD SECURITY IN AFRICA SERIES: OUTGROWER SYSTEMS FOR INCLUSIVE AGRICULTURAL GROWTH EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Combating food insecurity is one of the biggest challenges facing development in Sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 30 percent of The CCAPS Food Security in Africa Series is the population is undernourished.1 The effect of uncertainty in seasonal composed of four briefs that focus on combating temperatures and rainfall patterns on agricultural production, combined food security vulnerability in Sub-Saharan with growing urban populations, makes the task of achieving food security Africa. This fourth brief in the series details the increasingly daunting. One of the largest barriers to food security is lack history and controversy surrounding contract of access to food, which the Food and Agriculture Organization defines as farming—also known as outgrower systems— individuals having “adequate resources for acquiring appropriate foods for and their potential role as a vehicle for inclusive a nutritious diet.”2 Resources refer largely to economic resources, especially agricultural growth. The purpose of this brief is income. Raising incomes is thus an essential step towards achieving food to pinpoint practices that increase the bargaining security for people who cannot afford food with adequate calories or food power of farmers and the likelihood of positive containing sufficient nutritional value. outcomes for both firms and smallholders. The agricultural sector, which employs 70 percent of the population in Sub- It outlines the benefits and risks of contract 3 farming, and lists best practices for firms, Saharan Africa, has huge potential for growth. If done inclusively—where smallholders, and government to ensure optimal smallholder farmers as well as large agricultural firms reap the economic outcomes for all participants. benefits—this growth could raise rural incomes and therefore rural access to food. Simultaneously, such growth in the rural agriculture sector has the potential to increase yields available to feed growing urban populations AUTHOR while providing technology to smallholders to decrease their vulnerability Jesse Libra is a master’s candidate in Global to erratic weather patterns. Policy Studies at the LBJ School of Public Current trends in large-scale agricultural investment, however, include the Affairs and in Energy and Earth Resources at the crowding-out of smallholder farmers and the devotion of large tracts of land Jackson School of Geosciences at the University to cash crop production, both of which could negatively affect rural food of Texas at Austin. security and livelihoods.4 Smallholders are at a disadvantage since they lack the capacity to achieve commercial-scale agricultural growth on their own. EDITOR They also often lack new technologies, market linkages, access to financing, and the business experience to operate in modern markets.5 Through the Catherine Weaver is an associate professor at the adoption of fair outgrower practices, agribusiness has the opportunity to LBJ School of Public Affairs and distinguished spur socially responsible economic growth. scholar at the Robert S. Strauss Center at the University of Texas at Austin. Outgrower systems, also referred to as contract farming systems (CF), are business models wherein an agricultural firm contracts out production to CCAPS PROGRAM RESEARCH BRIEF NO. 28 small-scale farmers or an organized group of farmers. Firms Outgrower systems have attracted political and academic commonly provide farmers with inputs and advanced interest over the last quarter century. During the 1980s, the technology to ensure adequate supply, while farmers’ literature concerning contract farming was highly polarized, access to land and labor reduces the firms’ capital costs. with a large proportion focusing on the risk of smallholder Positive development outcomes seen in the past include exploitation, a risk that still exists today. raising rural incomes, increasing farmers’ access to markets and new technologies, and improving farmers’ knowledge Outgrower systems today are very different from those of business.6 Outgrower systems, therefore, present a that were prominent 25 years ago. This change is due to potential avenue for inclusive agricultural development; many factors, including increasing participation of firms however, they also have the potential to be exploitive from developing countries and firms focused on organic due to asymmetries in bargaining power between firms farming and fair trade, as well as heightened visibility due and smallholders. to improved communication technology. Additionally, the literature on outgrower systems overwhelmingly First, this brief will discuss the controversy surrounding finds a positive correlation between farmer participation outgrower systems and smallholder welfare, especially as it in outgrower systems and income growth.12 Outgrower relates to food security. A case study of inclusive outgrower systems generally are seen in a positive light, and a number rice production in Ghana will be examined, followed by of agricultural development organizations, including the best practices and recommendations for firms, farmers, International Fund for Agricultural Development, the and governments. World Bank, and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), endorse outgrower systems as a vehicle OUTGROWER SYSTEMS AND for development. SMALLHOLDER WELFARE The implementation of outgrower systems varies widely, in terms of their structure, contract terms, and on-the- There are a number of different types of outgrower systems, ground management. This variability causes equally varied but all hinge on the development of mutually beneficial effects on smallholders, ranging from exploitive to highly relationships between companies and smallholder farmers, beneficial. A number of individual case studies and analyses wherein companies, or buyers, provide inputs and technical over the past 10 years have indicated that outgrower support to farmers in return for access to their product. systems, if managed correctly, can be an effective private- Typically, farmers are motivated to enter into such contracts sector-led strategy for poverty reduction.13 to ensure a stable selling price, access to technology and information, and subsidized or free inputs. The buyer is typically attracted by the higher levels of control over HOW OUTGROWER SYSTEMS the type and quality of their product and the lower costs AFFECT FOOD SECURITY of investment.7 There is a substantial body of evidence that outgrower Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced a dramatic increase systems improve the income and livelihoods of farmers in private sector outgrower systems over the last 20 years, involved, but does that translate into improved food primarily resulting from the industrialization of the global security?14 Studies examining the relationship between food industry. This shift is the combined result of demand- food security and outgrower systems, which date almost side factors, including population growth, new preferences exclusively from the late 1980s and 1990s, suggest that for organic and fair trade products in developed countries, increases in income from outgrower systems were typically and increased urbanization, as well as supply-side drivers, controlled by males, and so did not translate to increases such as the liberalization of production chains, new high- in the percentage of income spent on food, which was yield technologies, and advances in communication and typically purchased by women. Instead, additional income informational systems.8 The place of smallholders in from contract farming was most likely to be spent on the growing world of industrialized African agriculture school fees and housing.15 This does not necessarily mean is uncertain. Accompanying increased industrialization that food budgets did not increase in terms of absolute is the fact that, unlike 20 years ago, a large proportion value, but it does suggest that the increases in income may of the firms involved in outgrower systems are firms not significantly improve food security. from developing countries such as Novos Horizontes, a poultry company in Mozambique,9 Mondi, a South In the late 1980s and mid-1990s, a number of reports were African paper company,10 or GADCO, a Ghanaian rice released suggesting that contract farming could exacerbate processing company.11 food insecurity by taking resources away from subsistence farming; however, in most cases land devoted to contracted 2 FOOD SECURITY IN AFRICA SERIES: OUTGROWER SYSTEMS FOR INCLUSIVE AGRICULTURAL GROWTH crops was previously dedicated to cash crops, thus land was typically not diverted from subsistence production.16 Studies investigating the effect of contract farming on OUTGROWER SYSTEMS: nutrition and food security have come to a wide range of 20 conclusions.17 Many attributed the relationship between BENEFITS AND RISKS contract farming and decreased food security to contract- enforced monocropping, a practice where farmers plant FARMERS: only one crop. At the time, it was common for firms to Benefits discourage raising livestock and require farmers to focus all • Low-cost or free inputs their resources on production of the contracted crop, due to health and quality concerns. This practice is detrimental to • Increased access to credit food security because it often forbids subsistence farming, • Greater access to markets which decreases the variety
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Contract Farming, Smallholders and Commercialization of Agriculture in Uganda: the Case of Sorghum, Sunflower, and Rice Contract Farming Schemes
    Center of Evaluation for Global Action Working Paper Series Agriculture for Development Paper No. AfD-0907 Issued in July 2009 Contract Farming, Smallholders and Commercialization of Agriculture in Uganda: The Case of Sorghum, Sunflower, and Rice Contract Farming Schemes. Gabriel Elepu Imelda Nalukenge Makerere University This paper is posted at the eScholarship Repository, University of California. http://repositories.cdlib.org/cega/afd Copyright © 2009 by the author(s). Series Description: The CEGA AfD Working Paper series contains papers presented at the May 2009 Conference on “Agriculture for Development in Sub-Saharan Africa,” sponsored jointly by the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) and CEGA. Recommended Citation: Elepu, Gabriel and Nalukenge, Imelda. (2009) Contract Farming, Smallholders and Commercialization of Agriculture in Uganda: The Case of Sorghum, Sunflower, and Rice Contract Farming Schemes. CEGA Working Paper Series No. AfD-0907. Center of Evaluation for Global Action. University of California, Berkeley. Contract Farming, Smallholders and Commercialization of Agriculture in Uganda: The Case of Sorghum, Sunflower, and Rice Contract Farming Schemes. Gabriel Elepu1∗ and Imelda Nalukenge2 1Lecturer in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Makerere University, Kampala. 2Lecturer (Deceased) in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Makerere University, Kampala. ABSTRACT: Contract farming has expanded in Uganda due to the promotional efforts of various actors: private, public, and/or international aid agencies. While motives for promoting contract farming may vary by actor, it is argued in this study that contract farming is crucial in the commercialization of smallholder agriculture and hence, poverty reduction in Uganda. However, smallholder farmers in Uganda have reportedly experienced some contractual problems when dealing with large agribusiness firms, resulting in them giving up contract farming.
    [Show full text]
  • Malawi Contract Farming Strategy
    Government of Malawi CONTRACT FARMING STRATEGY August, 2016 Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development P.O. Box 30134 Capital City Lilongwe 3 Table of Contents Preface ................................................................................................................................ iii Foreword ............................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... v Abbreviations and Acronyms ............................................................................................... vi Executive Summary ............................................................................................................... 1 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 5 1.1 Technical Aspects of Contract Farming ....................................................................... 5 1.2 Evolution of Contract Farming in Malawi ................................................................... 6 1.3 Agriculture Policy Framework ..................................................................................... 8 1.3.1 Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) .............. 8 1.3.2 Southern African Development Community Agriculture Policy ............................ 8 1.3.3 Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II .......................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Contract Farming in Potato Production: an Alternative for Managing Risk and Uncertainty
    Agricultural Economics Research Review Vol. 18 (Conference No.) 2005 pp 47-60 Contract Farming in Potato Production: An Alternative for Managing Risk and Uncertainty R.S. Tripathi, Ram Singh and Sube Singh1 Abstract The cost of potato cultivation has been found 17 to 24 per cent higher under contract farming over various costs than under non-contract system, mainly due to high investments on seeds, fertilizers and machine power. Yield has been found 255.78 quintals per ha in the contract farms, which is 8.84 per cent higher over the potato yield obtained from the non-contract farms. Gross income has been Rs 99753 per ha in the contract farms as against Rs 41572 per ha in non-contract system. The sale price of potato has been found much higher (Rs 390/q) for contract than non-contract farms (Rs 177 /q). The net return over operational cost (cost ‘A1’) has been found as Rs 11882 per ha in non-contract farms, which increased more than five-times under contract farming system, it being Rs 62982 per ha. Similarly, the net return has been found five-and-a-half times more in contract than non-contract system over cost C1 (without rental value of the land). The net return over cost C2 has been observed as Rs 51866 per ha for contract farms and only Rs 800 per ha under non-contract system. Benefit-cost ratio on various costs has been found to vary from 1.40 to 1.02 for without contract and from 2.71 and 2.08 for contract farming.
    [Show full text]
  • Small Farmer Participation in Contract Farming
    Warning and Soo Hoo Page 1 Very Drafty: Comments Welcome Small Farmer Participation in Contract Farming Matthew Warning University of Puget Sound Nigel Key Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture Wendy Soo Hoo University of Washington 1. Introduction Neoliberal reforms have brought state disengagement in rural areas of developing countries. Contract farming has been proposed as one avenue for private firms to take over the roles previously served by the state in the provision of information, inputs and credit (World Bank, 2001, p. 32). While a vigorous debate has ensued over whether contract farming will benefit farmers or lead to their exploitation by trans-national corporations (e.g., Dirven, 1996, Glover, 1989, Glover and Kusterer, 1990; Grosh, 1994, Little and Watts, 1994; Porter and Phillips-Howard, 1997; Schetjman, 1996; Warning and Key, 2002), less attention has been given to whether contract farming will even reach the small farmers who are the targets of poverty reduction programs. The evidence thus far suggests the vast majority of contract farming schemes exclude small farmers (Singh, 2000). Warning and Soo Hoo Page 2 In this paper, we explore the reasons behind the general exclusion of small farmers from contract farming and examine several cases in which firms small farmers have participated – successfully or unsuccessfully - in contract farming schemes. We try to identify the features of the successful schemes that led to positive “social performance” with an eye towards informing policy development. 2. The Causes of Exclusion Contract farming is the vertical coordination between growers of an agricultural product and buyers or processors of that product.
    [Show full text]
  • Contract Farming Offers Fresh Hope for Africa's
    Contract farming offers fresh hope for Africa’s declining agriculture Agriculture contributes signifi cantly to Africa’s Contract farming arrangements can also fi ll economy. However, despite its immense potential in the void left by governments in the wake of to boost economic growth and cut poverty, liberalisation by providing access to inputs, agriculture has continued to perform dismally. technologies, credit and other services. Since the late 1980s, the continent has been Due to its immense potential, contract losing out on the international markets. To date farming has been given a central role in the its share of world agricultural trade has declined latest strategy by the Partnership for Africa’s for nine out of ten major exports, partly due Development (NEPAD) to revive the continent’s to unfavourable trade rules that limit farmers’ agriculture. access to markets. This policy brief presents an overview of contract farming in Africa, highlighting the key issues and Contract farming has the potential to link farmers challenges. to markets and stimulate agricultural production in the face of globalisation. 04 East Africa Policy Brief. No 2 2 strategy NEW STRATEGY TO REVAMP AGRICULTURE African leaders recognise that agriculture is crucial to the continent’s economy and overall development. To revitalise this key sector, the continent’s leaders came up with the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), a new framework to reduce food insecurity and poverty on the continent. Initiated under the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), CAADP seeks to achieve its objectives through four pillars: sustainable land and water management, improvement of rural infrastructure and enhanced market access, increasing food availability and nutrition, and improving agricultural research and technology dissemination and adoption.
    [Show full text]
  • Contract Farming and Regional Cooperation
    A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Setboonsarng, Sununtar Working Paper Global partnership in poverty reduction: Contract farming and regional cooperation ADBI Discussion Paper, No. 89 Provided in Cooperation with: Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), Tokyo Suggested Citation: Setboonsarng, Sununtar (2008) : Global partnership in poverty reduction: Contract farming and regional cooperation, ADBI Discussion Paper, No. 89, Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), Tokyo This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/53517 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu Global Partnership in Poverty Reduction: Contract Farming and Regional Cooperation Sununtar Setboonsarng February 2008 ADB Institute Discussion Paper No. 89 Sununtar Setboonsarng is a senior research fellow at the Asian Development Bank Institute.
    [Show full text]
  • Contract Farming: What’S in It for Smallholder Farmers in Developing Countries? Marc F
    A publication of the Agricultural & Applied The magazine of food, farm, and resource issues Economics Association 3rd Quarter 2015 • 30(3) Contract Farming: What’s In It for Smallholder Farmers in Developing Countries? Marc F. Bellemare JEL Classification Codes: L23, L24, O13, O14, Q12 As every self-respecting economics major knows by the their agricultural sector, it will be necessary for smallholder time he graduates, whether a country benefits from inter- farmers to actually want to participate in contract farming. national trade depends in theory on whether that coun- So what are the reasons why those smallholders might want try specializes in its comparative advantage—for example, to participate in contract farming? And in light of recent whether it can specialize in the production of goods or ser- evidence, do those reasons actually drive participation in vices for which it has a lower opportunity cost. The produc- contract farming? tion of agricultural goods being the comparative advantage of most developing countries, it follows—again, in theo- “What’s In It for Me?” ry—that those countries should specialize in agriculture. Grosh (1994) was the first to lay out the reasons why, in But what does it mean to specialize in agriculture? principle, smallholder farmers in developing countries For many developing countries, whose agricultural sec- might want to give up the apparent freedom of producing tors are characterized by relatively primitive production crops for themselves and their families or for selling at mar- technologies, specializing in agriculture necessarily means ket in favor of producing crops—often different ones—for modernizing their agricultural sector, a move away from a others within the context of highly regimented contracts.
    [Show full text]
  • Smallholder Agricultural Investment and Productivity Under Contract Farming and Customary Tenure System: a Malawian Perspective
    land Article Smallholder Agricultural Investment and Productivity under Contract Farming and Customary Tenure System: A Malawian Perspective Emmanuel Olatunbosun Benjamin Department of Agricultural Production and Resource Economics, Technical University of Munich (TUM), 85354 Freising, Germany; [email protected]; Tel.: +49-8161-71-2772 Received: 16 June 2020; Accepted: 17 August 2020; Published: 18 August 2020 Abstract: Land tenure security, especially customary residence systems, is found to influence the agricultural investment decision-making and productivity of smallholder farmers across sub-Saharan Africa. However, as country-specific customary residence systems and farming models evolve over time, their impact on food security and livelihood remains unclear. This study investigates the impact of customary residence systems on both agricultural investment (in tea shrubs and agroforestry) and productivity among contracted smallholder tea outgrowers in Southern Malawi. A survey of 228 farmers was conducted in 2018, and a linear probability and ordinary least squared (OLS) models were used for the analysis. The results suggest that matrilocal residence practices positively influence agricultural investment. The study concluded that despite the dominance of matrilineal-matrilocal systems in Southern Malawi, there is a need for policy to address gender gaps in the region because women are still vulnerable and insecure even in these assumed women-friendly customary systems. It is recommended that future research explores other prevailing tenure security systems. Keywords: land tenure security; contract farming; tea; agroforestry; investment; productivity; Southern Malawi; sub-Saharan Africa 1. Introduction The 51.3 million smallholder farms (i.e., farms with less than 2 hectares) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are the primary source of livelihood and labor for a large proportion of the population [1].
    [Show full text]
  • Smallholders' Preferences for Different Contract Farming Models
    sustainability Article Smallholders’ Preferences for Different Contract Farming Models: Empirical Evidence from Sustainable Certified Coffee Production in Vietnam Nguyen Hung Anh 1,*, Wolfgang Bokelmann 1, Ngo Thi Thuan 2, Do Thi Nga 3 and Nguyen Van Minh 4 1 Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt University of Berlin, 10115 Berlin, Germany 2 Faculty of Economics and Rural Development, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Trau Quy, Gia Lam, Ha Noi 100000, Vietnam 3 Faculty of Economics, Tay Nguyen University, Dak Lak 630000, Vietnam 4 Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Tay Nguyen University, Dak Lak 630000, Vietnam * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 28 May 2019; Accepted: 8 July 2019; Published: 11 July 2019 Abstract: Contract farming is considered as institutional arrangements that manage the coordination of production and distribution between smallholder farmers and agro-industrial firms. Under the market reforms and industrialization process, contract farming links smallholder farmers to a better market through effective farming management and high-quality products. Despite the many benefits attributed to participation, the existing literature addresses the main issues that result in the opposing attitudes and motivations toward contract farming. This study therefore aims to analyze factors that influence the choices of smallholder farmers for different contract faming models using multinomial logistic (MNL) regression. Different contract attributes and socio-economic characteristics of farmer households are used as endogenous variables in the MNL model. Based on a research sample of 183 smallholder farmers involved in certified coffee production in Dak Lak province, Vietnam, the study revealed that there are different typologies of production contract including the informal model, intermediary model, and nucleus estate model.
    [Show full text]
  • Developing a Methodology for Aggregated Assessment of the Economic Sustainability of Pig Farms
    energies Article Developing a Methodology for Aggregated Assessment of the Economic Sustainability of Pig Farms Agata Malak-Rawlikowska 1,* , Monika G˛ebska 2, Robert Hoste 3, Christine Leeb 4 , Claudio Montanari 5, Michael Wallace 6 and Kees de Roest 5 1 Institute of Economics and Finance, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland 2 Institute of Management, Warsaw University of Life Sciences—SGGW, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland; [email protected] 3 Wageningen Economic Research, Wageningen University and Research (WUR), NL-6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands; [email protected] 4 Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), A-1180 Vienna, Austria; [email protected] 5 Centro Ricerche Produzioni Animali—C.R.P.A. S.p.A., 42121 Reggio Emilia, Italy; [email protected] (C.M.); [email protected] (K.d.R.) 6 School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The economic sustainability of agricultural production is a crucial concern for most farmers, especially for pig producers who face dynamic changes in the market. Approaches for economic sustainability assessment found in the literature are mainly focused on the short-term economic viability of the farm and rarely take a long-term perspective. In this paper, we propose and test Citation: Malak-Rawlikowska, A.; a new, innovative assessment and aggregation method, which brings about a broader view on G˛ebska,M.; Hoste, R.; Leeb, C.; more long-term aspects of economic sustainability.
    [Show full text]
  • Determinants of Participation in Contract Farming in Pig Production in Northern Viet Nam
    Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative A Living from Livestock Research Report RR Nr. 08-04; April 2008 Determinants of Participation in Contract Farming in Pig Production in Northern Viet Nam A. Costales, N.T. Son, M.L. Lapar, and M. Tioncgo SUMMARY The rapid growth in demand for pork in Viet Nam presents an opportunity for rural households raising pigs to improve their incomes. This market potential could be exploited to improve incomes of rural smallholders through institutional arrangements that provide improved access to livestock markets and services, through formal and informal contract arrangements. Contract arrangements, however, have explicit and implicit barriers to entry that tend to exclude smallholders, depending on the nature of the contracts. Based on data from a field survey conducted in four provinces in Northern Viet Nam in 2005-06, comprising a sample of 400 pig raising households (200 independent producers, 166 farmers with informal contracts, and 34 farmers with formal contracts with a large integrator), a multinomial logit model was used to identify the factors that determine the likelihood of engagement in formal or informal contracts. A simple probit model was subsequently developed for the determinants of engagement in informal contract arrangements. Results indicate that farmers with higher levels of education and larger physical asset holdings are more likely to be engaged in formal contracts. The latter are largely limited to large-scale farmers (with mean holdings of about 600 pigs per farm) that specialized in pig fattening. In contrast, informal contracts are less exclusionary of smallholder producers. Households with higher levels of education, managing full-cycle pig operations, and with pig production being a main occupation, are more likely to engage in informal contracts, than remain independent 1 PPLPI Research Report producers.
    [Show full text]
  • Equity and Efficiency in Contract Farming Schemes: the Experience of Agricultural Tree Crops
    Working Paper 139 Equity and Efficiency in Contract Farming Schemes: The Experience of Agricultural tree Crops Pari Baumann October 2000 Overseas Development Institute 111 Westminster Bridge Road London SE1 7JD UK Working Paper prepared for ODI by Pari Baumann Social and Economic Research Associates Studio 1, Chalcot Road Primrose Hill, London, NW1 8LH UK Tel: +44 (0)20 7586 2452 Fax: +44 (0)20 7586 2542 Email: [email protected] ISBN 0 85003 501 5 © Overseas Development Institute 2000 All rights reserved. Not part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers. Contents 1. Introduction 5 2. Definitions and Overview of the literature on contract farming 7 2.1 Contract farming and outgrower schemes: definitions 7 2.2 Typical contracts 7 2.3 The literature on contract farming: an overview 8 3. Objectives in contract farming, the actors, and constitution of the contract 11 3.1 Origins of contract farming 11 3.2 The contract: different objectives 11 3.3 The private contractor 12 3.4 Governments 12 3.5 Outgrowers 13 3.6 Foreign aid agencies 13 3.7 The constitution of the contract 14 3.8 Land tenure and the contract 16 3.9 Comparative advantage of different sectors in contract farming 17 4. Crop specific factors and technology transfer 18 4.1 The crops under review 18 4.2 How important are crop characteristics for contract farming? 19 4.3 Some examples of crop characteristics and how they influence contract farming 20 4.4 Productivity of the crop under smallholder production 21 4.5 Technology transfer, research and extension 22 5.
    [Show full text]