Contract Farming in Developing Countries
Description
Contract farming is an institutional arrangement between farmers and businesses to produce and transact agricultural commodities at predetermined prices and conditions, and it has recently received a heightened amount of attention despite being a relatively old phenomenon. A new wave of agricultural industrialization and the emergence of large-scale food retailing in developing countries may be precipitating the unprecedented shift in favor of contract farming.
This open access book identifies the methodological differences across disciplines that have generated a false binary in discussions of contract farming. The author explains the importance of adopting a more integrated theoretical perspective, providing insights into the ways in which this can reconcile conflicting positions. Given the immense diversity of contracting schemes, commodities and contexts-as well as the substantial regional differences in contract farming experiences across a range of outcomes-a syncretic understanding of contract farming is essential to the evaluation of the promise and perils of contract farming. The resulting book proposes a way forward that is holistic in nature, framing contract farming within a comparative institutional analysis so that it can better accommodate multidisciplinary priorities.
Reviews / Votes
"This is a very important book. Contract farming has major potential implications for growth (efficiency), poverty (equity) and sustainability. The book considers both the important opportunities and the challenges that contract farming can bring for poor farmers and agricultural development. By integrating the latest theoretical analyses and empirical findings it presents key insights which are much needed to address the many challenges in global food security and sustainable development." (Johan Swinnen, Director General, International food Policy Research Institute)
"This is going to prove an important volume, the bedrock on which future contract farming research will rest." (Christopher B. Barrett, Stephen B. & Janice G. Ashley Professor of Applied Economics and Management, Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University)
"This book provides a much-needed empirically-grounded perspective on the practice and implications of contract farming based on Dr. Narayanan's sustained research engagement in this domain in India. It examines the nature and dynamics of contract farming, including the role of the state, in a very refreshing manner." (Sukhpal Singh, Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad)
"Dr. Narayanan's important and meticulous peace-making contribution to the field of contract agriculture develops a systemic, comparative institutional frame tested in India across a generation of experience. Heterogeneity, dynamism, multi-scales, and context all matter. This book is essential reading for progress in this fractious field." (Barbara Harriss-White, Emeritus Professor of Development Studies, Oxford University)
More details
Person
Sudha Narayanan is Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. She holds a PhD from Cornell University, where she specialized in agricultural economics.
Content
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Contract farming in perspective.- Chapter 3: Researching and theorizing contract farming.- Chapter 4: Towards a framework for contract farming.- Chapter 5: Operationalizing the framework.- Chapter 6: Why, when and how do firms contract?- Chapter 7: Why do farmers contract or not?.- Chapter 8: Market structure, outside options and motivations.- Chapter 9: The contract.- Chapter 10: Enforcement.- Chapter 11: The fluidity of contract farming Schemes.- Chapter 12: Welfare impacts of contract farming.- Chapter 13: Labor and the environment.- Chapter 14: The State.- Chapter 15.