A Savoir

A Savoir n° 12 | Contract Farming in Developing Countries - A Review
 

Martin PROWSE, Institute of Development Policy and Management, University of Antwerp
Contact : Marie-Cécile THIRION, Research Department, AFD


This review tries, through the analysis of academic, institutional and technical literature and through the study of some documented contract farming cases, to give some answers to the most frequently raised questions concerning contract farming practices: Are smallholders excluded from contract farming? Do contract participants display significantly higher incomes than nonparticipants? Are some crops more concerned by this practice than others and if so, which ones? What are the roles of producer organisations and NGOs?
This study aims at offering some general suggestions that farmers or their representatives could bear in mind when entering into contract-farming arrangements. It also presents contractual, technological, financial, institutional, political and legal types of innovation that have helped to overcome the challenges that can undermine contract-farming operations.

 

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  • The collection

    The A Savoir collection was created in 2010 by AFD’s Research Department and gathers either literature reviews or existing knowledge on issues that present an operational interest.

    Publications in this collection contain contributions based on research and feedback from researchers and field operators from AFD or its partners and are designed to be working tools. They target a public of professionals that are either specialists on the topic or the geographical area concerned.

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