This paper assesses the impact of contract farming in the oil palm industry in Indonesia on smallholders’ well-being and investigates its implication for poverty reduction. Data were collected randomly from 245 smallholders in the province of Jambi, Sumatra. A treatment effects model was...

In emerging markets for high-value food products in developing countries, processing companies search for efficient ways to source raw material of consistent quality. One widely embraced approach is contract farming. But relatively little is known about the appropriate design of contracts,...

The topic of integration and development of sustainable chains has lately gained much attention in the academia debates. In particular, how to manage integration in the bio-energy chains is discussed. Integration is a process of progressive dependence among different actors willing to coordinate...

We study the effect of alleviating information asymmetry regarding product quality that is widespread in developing-country agricultural markets. Opportunistic buyers may underreport quality levels back to farmers to reduce the price they have to pay. In response, farmers may curb investment,...

Contract farming is a form of vertical coordination largely aimed at correcting the market failure associated with spot markets that arise due to imperfect information. However there is still no consensus in the literature on the impact of contract farming on the welfare of smallholder farmers....

This paper intends to contribute to the on-going debate about whether and how restructured agri-food markets can provide viable market opportunities for small-scale farmers in South Africa. It aims at analyzing contract farming from the small-scale farmer perspective and at better understanding...

Contract farming is a form of vertical coordination largely aimed at correcting the market failure associated with spot markets that arise due to imperfect information. However the impact of contract farming on the welfare of smallholder farmers in Kenya is not well understood. While some...

Contract farming is a key element for the Brazilian Biodiesel Program, which aim to promote social inclusion of small scale farmers. The relationship between the industry and the farmers is regulated by a certification called Social Fuel Seal. The seal allows to the biodiesel producers favorable...

Asymmetry of information is a fundamental problem in agricultural markets. Production contracts remain incomplete if product quality attributes measured by the buying company remain unobservable for the selling farmer. Opportunistic buyers would report lower than actual output quality,...