Market participation decision of smallholder farmers and its determinants in Bangladesh

Abstract

Summary This paper explores the market participation decision of smallholder farmers in

Smallholder farmers' market participation and mobile phone‐based market information services in Lilongwe, Malawi

“…Results indicate that yield and price significantly influenced market participation, echoing numerous studies which have established that farmers require surplus to participate in markets (Gani & Hossain, ; Nmadu et al, ). The results show that farmers who cultivate maize as a food and cash crop are more likely to participate in markets as they tend to produce more.…”

“…In general, mobile phone-based MIS are more accessible than other alternatives in terms of search cost and geographic coverage (Malawi National Statistics Office, 2014). The authors support the view that mobile phones allow households to obtain information about potential shocks, which can be effectively used in production and marketing decisions (Aker & Mbiti, 2010;Gani & Hossain, 2015;Katengeza et al, 2014;Nmadu, Aiyelitsoya, & Sallawu, 2013) thereby determining outcomes from such decisions (Gani & Hossain, 2015;Maponya et al, 2015;Musah, Bonsu, & Seini, 2014).…”

“…The positive effects that education and asset endowment have on farmers' market participation have been reported (Gani & Hossain, ; Magesa et al, ) as relatively better off smallholder farmers tend to be more productive and hence more likely to produce a surplus for sale. The study found that above average maize yield and farm size are significantly associated with the probability to participate in maize markets.…”

“…These findings concur with both the TC approach, and most of the previous studies on maize marketing in Malawi which have established that TCs for trade of maize between isolated markets are generally high and potentially prohibitive for smallholder farmers' engagement (Fafchamps et al, 2005;Jayne et al, 2010). The positive effects that education and asset endowment have on farmers' market participation have been reported (Gani & Hossain, 2015;Magesa et al, 2014) as relatively better off smallholder farmers tend to be more productive and hence more likely to produce a surplus for sale.…”

“…Literature has established that farmers' market participation and adoption of technologies are mainly influenced by their socio-economic and demographic factors such as education level (Gani & Hossain, 2015;Magesa, Michael, & Ko, 2014), age along with sex of the main decision maker, farmers' resource endowments (Boughton et al, 2007) as well as access to agricultural markets (Fafchamps, Gabre-Madhin, & Minten, 2005;Jayne et al, 2010) and critical market development support services (Aker & Ksoll, 2016;Boateng, Hinson, Galadima, & Olumide, 2014). These variables shape farmers' market orientation (Fischer & Qaim, 2012), production (Musah et al, 2014), and their willingness to adopt new production and communication technologies (Boateng et al, 2014;Tadesse & Bahiigwa, 2015) such as improved seeds and mobile phones.…”