Contract farming recently gained in importance in many developing countries. Various studies analyzed effects of contracting on productivity and income in the small farm sector. A few studies also looked at effects on agricultural labor use, suggesting that contracting tends to increase labor...

Smallholder farmers in developing countries often suffer from high risk and limited market access. Contract farming may improve the situation under certain conditions. Several studies analyzed effects of contracts on smallholder productivity and income with mixed results. Most existing studies...

While many studies analyzed effects of sustainability standards - such as Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance - on smallholder farmers in developing countries, most did not sufficiently account for systematic differences between certified and non-certified farmers. Certified farmers are typically...

Global hunger, malnutrition, and poverty have declined over the past decades, but a situation of food and nutrition security for all is yet to be achieved, and extreme poverty is still widespread. Around 800 million people globally are still chronically undernourished, about 2 billion people...

In the existing literature, the effects of contract farming on household welfare were examined with mixed results. Most studies looked at single contract types. This paper contributes to the literature by comparing two types of contracts - simple marketing contracts and resource-providing...

Contract farming is typically seen as a useful mechanism to help smallholders. However, despite economic benefits, high dropout rates from contract schemes are commonplace. We use data from Ghana to show that smallholders benefit from a resource-providing contract in terms of higher yields and...

The conversion of biologically rich areas into agricultural land undermines the capacity of these lands to sustain and maintain vital ecosystem functions. This is mostly the case when the conversion includes the simplification to a monoculture system such as that of oil palm. Oil palm grows best...

Food environments in Africa are changing rapidly, with modern retailers - such as supermarkets, hypermarkets, and fast-food restaurants - gaining in importance. Changing food environments can influence consumer food choices and dietary patterns. Recent research suggested that the growth of...

Child undernutrition remains a widespread problem in many developing countries. The empowerment of women, and mothers in particular, was shown to improve child nutrition in various geographical contexts. One important avenue to empower women is fostering female employment. However, maternal...