Trade, Standards, and Poverty: Evidence from Senegal

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractThe debate on trade and poverty is reinforced by recent studies on the role of standards. It is argued that increasing standards act as trade barriers for developing countries and cause further marginalization of the poor. This paper is the first to quantify income and poverty effects of such high-standards trade and to integrate labor market effects, by using company and household survey data from the vegetable export chain in Senegal. We find that exports have grown sharply despite increasing standards, resulting in important income gains and poverty reduction. Our estimates indicate that poverty is 14 % points lower due to vegetable exports. Tightening food standards induced a shift from smallholder contract-based farming to large-scale integrated estate production, altering the mechanism through which poor households benefit: through labor markets instead of product markets. The impact on poverty reduction is stronger as the poorest benefit relatively more from working on large-scale farms than from contract farming.JEL Classification: F14; F16; I3; Q12; Q13; Q17

Biofuels and food security: Micro-evidence from Ethiopia

“…However, some recent studies on large scale investments on agriculture question this. For example, Maertens and Swinnen (2009) and Maertens et al (2011) find that the poorest households are more likely to benefit from employment on large scale farms than as contract farmers, based on their studies of horticultural value chains in Senegal. Moreover, achieving commercial viability in outgrower schemes may be challenging because of large transaction costs associated with managing production from widely dispersed small farms and problems of securing a sufficient supply of biofuel feedstock2.…”

Global value chains, large-scale farming, and poverty: Long-term effects in Senegal

“…Asfaw et al, 2009;Dedehouanou et al, 2013;Kersting and Wollni, 2012;Minten et al, 2009;Dries et al, 2009) or through labor markets and wage employment (e.g. Herrmann and Grote, 2015;Maertens and Swinnen, 2009;Maertens et al, 2011;Mano et al, 2011). On the other hand, the available evidence suggests that contract-farming often excludes the poorest households (e.g.…”

“…On the other hand, the available evidence suggests that contract-farming often excludes the poorest households (e.g. Dolan and Humphrey, 2000;Hernández et al, 2007;Maertens and Swinnen, 2009;Neven et al, 2009;Reardon et al, 2009). …”

“…Employment in high-value export sectors is found to be more inclusive towards the poorest households (Maertens and Swinnen, 2009;Maertens et al, 2011). Yet, some studies point to low wages, insecure employment contracts and inferior working conditions; and expect expansion of high-value exports to lead to increased vulnerability of poor households (Barrientos et al, 2000;Barron and Rello, 2000;Baumgartner et al, 2015;Patel-Campillo, 2010;Trifkovic, 2014;Ulrich, 2014;Staelens et al, 2016).…”

Traditional Food Crop Marketing in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does Gender Matter?

“…Besides the improvement of agricultural practices, specialization and commercialization of agricultural production has been shown to benefit small-scale farmers in developing countries (von Braun 1995;Maertens, Swinnen, 2009;Rao, Qaim 2011). Yet, many farmers have not been able to enter agricultural markets due to high transaction costs that result from market risks, deficient infrastructure and little coordination along the value chain (Key et al 2000;Barrett 2008;Shiferaw et al 2008).…”