Collective Action for Smallholder Market Access: Evidence and Implications for Africa

Abstract

It is widely acknowledged that the involvement of small farmers into markets can contribute to higher productivity and income growth, which in turn can enhance food security, poverty reduction efforts, and overall economic growth. In Africa, as in other parts of the developing world, agricultural production systems and their participants face significant challenges as a result of changing economic, environmental, and sociopolitical context. New dynamics in the global agricultural economy, such as the growth of supermarkets, are providing smallholders with both the new opportunities and new constraints to participate in and benefit from market exchanges. Collective action in the form of producer groups can enable African smallholders to take advantage of the new value chains and deal with existing market imperfections. However, certain conditions must be in place to create and sustain incentives for farmers to organize around marketing. Experiences from collective action in natural resource management (NRM) have shown that the types of markets and products, characteristics of user groups, institutional arrangements, and external environment need to be considered in order to determine the effectiveness and sustainability of collective marketing for smallholders. This paper applies the lessons from collective action in NRM to marketing, using existing case studies of producer groups in Africa, and offers policy recommendations on the factors that contribute to the success of collective marketing efforts. Copyright 2010 by The Policy Studies Organization.

Organizational challenges and the institutional environment: a comparative analysis of dairy cooperatives in Kenya and Morocco

“…These organizations try to adapt to the institutional environment to better suit their needs (Herbel and Ourabah Haddad, 2012), and/or strategically use policies or regulations in a way that create most benefit for the cooperative (Mendoza and Ton, 2003). The institutional environment becomes enabling when there are transparent and sound regulatory and legal frameworks (World Bank, 2012), enabling policies (Agarwal, 2001;Penrose-Buckley, 2007;Markelova and Mwangi, 2010), a climate conducive to investment through incentives and other support services (Gijselinckx and Bussels, 2014), and spaces for policy dialogue, allowing social capital development (Coleman, 1988). Well-designed institutions are key requirements to make markets function for the poor, (Dorward et al, 2003;Biénabe and Sautier, 2005).…”

Plantations de teck, Tectona grandis L.f., en sylviculture paysanne au Sud Bénin

“…This is interesting to policy makers owing to the fact that market-oriented production has become the backbone of development and poverty alleviation strategies (JAMA, PIZARRO, 2008). It is argued that the involvement of small farmers into markets can result in higher productivity and income growth, which in turn can boost food security, poverty reduction efforts, and the overall economic growth (MARKELOVA, MWANGI, 2010).…”

Value Chain Dynamics et Impact of Collective Action on Smallholder Livelihood Improvement in Kenya

“…Besides, producer organizations are instrumental in improving marketing arrangements through shortening the long marketing chain by linking the farmers directly to buyers . Smallholders can improve their economies of scale through bulking and improve access to market information (Markelova & Mwangi, 2010;Shiferaw et al, 2008), which can overcome the high transaction costs, and improve their bargaining power and ability to earn higher prices. Consequently, participation in producer organizations leads to improved incomes Vandeplas et al, 2013).…”

“…In many sub-Saharan Africa and other low-income countries smallholder agriculture contributes 70% of the food production (ETC Group, 2009). Smallholder participation in domestic markets is important as a mechanism to help poverty reduction and contribute to overall economic growth and development (Markelova & Mwangi, 2010). Most of the smallholders are dependent on farming as their main livelihood strategy and smallholder agriculture has been highlighted as a foundation for achieving the development of rural economies (World Bank, 2007).…”

“…This has manifested itself in rapid transformation in processing, wholesale and logistics in the midstream segments of the value chain through small to medium-sized enterprises (Reardon et al, 2013) and this development provides increasing market opportunities for smallholders . Recent studies have shown that collective action through producer organizations can help smallholders to access domestic urban markets as well as international markets through increased economies of scale, increased bargaining power and ability to negotiate better prices, and facilitates certification and labeling Markelova & Mwangi, 2010;Okello, Narrod, & Roy, 2007). Farmer groups can increase member productivity through access to resources, such as credit, technical assistance, transport and information, new technology and management skills that would be difficult to attain individually Chiputwa, Spielman, & Qaim, 2015;).…”