The welfare impacts of market channel choice by smallholder farmers in Tanzania

This article analyses the impact of market channel choice on household welfare by maize and pigeon pea smallholder farmers in Tanzania, using a multinomial endogenous treatment approach. The study utilises farm household-level data collected from a randomly selected sample of 700 smallholder farmers. The results show that participation with traders in nearby markets and wholesalers in nearby towns have a positive effect on consumption expenditure per capita relative to brokers at the farmgate, for both maize and pigeon pea-farming households. The study suggests that interventions that aimed at inclusion of smallholder farmers in more profitable markets could improve household welfare and reduce poverty among rural households.     

Spotlights on certification and farmers’ welfare: crossing boundaries in social scientific research

Social scientists have the freedom to adopt different methodological approaches when researching development. This article illustrates how four common social scientific methodologies (positivism, social constructivism, action research, and normative political theory) differently conceptualise the effects of sustainability certification on Indonesian smallholder farmers. It shows that each approach results in different insights, offering a web of information to practitioners. Better understanding the different methodologies may help practitioners to take position in dilemmas, not in a linear process of knowledge accumulation, but in an iterative process of research consultation and practices.     

Improving smallholder livestock farmers’ incomes through value chain financing in South Africa

Separating the commercialisation of agriculture from other programmes to improve access to formal credit for smallholder farmers is a source of dramatic failures of most programmes. Despite the popularity of value chain financing, livestock agriculture remains marginalised. This paper analyses the MAFISA-NERPO Livestock Credit Scheme, a scheme which provides value chain financial products in order to improve the cash incomes of smallholder farmers in South Africa. Evidence shows that more than 80% of participating farmers receive average annual incomes of US$30,000. This implies that this scheme has addressed those factors hindering effectiveness and efficiency of smallholder credit institutions, using value chain finance.     

Identification and analysis of smallholder producers’ constraints: applications to Tanzania and Uganda

This article puts forward a method for the analysis of constraints faced by developing countries’ smallholder producers. It is consistent with theories of constraints, efficient in terms of cost and researchers’ time, and accessible to a non-technical audience. A hybrid of workshop discussion and individual data collection, it also draws on data and analyses available in most developing countries. The article presents an application to smallholder livestock systems in Tanzania and Uganda, reporting results and analysis relating constraints to households’ characteristics and conditions, and their stated goals. While limitations are identified, it is proposed for application in other development fields.     

Commercialising smallholder agricultural production in Lao People’s Democratic Republic

Many smallholder farmers in Lao People’s Democratic Republic are transitioning from subsistence to commercial production. This article employs the Agriculture Innovation System (AIS) framework to report on empirical findings from six case studies of Lao smallholder production. It identifies the actors, organisations, and institutions involved in systemic commercialisation of subsistence farming and articulates patterns of interactions that contribute to the relative success of the transition. Of the factors identified in the case studies, the most important enablers of commercial production and adoption of innovative technologies were technical and financial assistance, access to markets, and the formation of farmer associations/organisations.     

Operationalising participatory research and farmer-to-farmer extension: the Kamayoq in Peru

While rural poverty is endemic in the Andean region, structural adjustment programmes have led to a dismemberment of agricultural research and extension services so that they are unable to serve the needs of smallholder farmers. The NGO Practical Action has been working in the Andes to address farmers' veterinary and agriculture needs. The work has included the training of farmer-to-farmer extension agents, known locally as Kamayoq. The Kamayoq have encouraged farmer participatory research, and local farmers pay them for their veterinary and crop advisory services in cash or in kind. The Kamayoq model is largely an unsubsidised approach to the provision of appropriate technical services and encouragement of farmer participation. The model also illustrates that, in the context of encouraging farmer participation and innovation, NGOs have advantages over research organisations because of their long-term presence, ability to establish trust with local farmers, and their emphasis on social and community processes.     

Farmer typology formulation accounting for psychological capital: implications for on-farm entrepreneurial development

Understanding and accounting for the heterogeneity of small farmers is critical for informing development pathways to improve the performance of smallholder irrigation. Using multivariate analysis, this study sought to develop farmer typologies in and around irrigation schemes and used these to inform strategies for on-farm entrepreneurship development. The research uniquely integrates psychological capital in defining farmer typologies, to capture individual features of each farmer, otherwise missed by the generic sustainable livelihoods framework literature. The study affirms the need to focus on psychological capital and concludes that heterogeneity among small-scale irrigators should be accounted for in future agricultural and rural development programmes.     

Analysis of off-farm work decisions among smallholder farm households in Burkina Faso

This article investigates off-farm work decisions by smallholder farm households. Using data on 1,101 households from Burkina Faso, it demonstrates that in addition to the usual household socio-demographic characteristics, remittances, access to information and beneficiary of specific training affect off-farm work decisions, as well as rainfall factors and idiosyncratic health shocks. Community characteristics such as accessibility and number of inhabitants are also key factors. While suggesting that off-farm work is less likely to be undertaken for accumulation purposes, these results have important policy implications. In particular, policy measures should consider each segment as a separate entity.     

Modelling trust and contractual arrangements in a local economy

This article investigates trust among dairy value-chain actors to understand the innovative process in a local productive sector in Tunisia. It uses a sample of 45 smallholder farmers chosen randomly nearby existing collection centres in the region. A trust variable is constructed employing 11 ordinal variables based on principal component analysis, and institutional arrangements then modelled to examine the effect of trust on contracting decisions and cooperative membership. The results show that trust is defined by values such as “integrity”, “competence”, and “existence of credible information”, which are preconditions to sustainable contracts. The article contributes to the growing literature which considers social capital, networking and trust as determinants of farmer’s behaviour, as opposed to the classical model of rationality.     

Participatory research practice at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT)

This study assessed the extent to which participatory methods had been used by CIMMYT, and how the scientists perceived them. Results suggest that participatory approaches at the Center were largely ‘functional’ – that is, aimed at improving the efficiency and relevance of research – and had in fact added value to the research efforts. The majority of projects surveyed also placed emphasis on building farmers' awareness. This is understandable if we think that the limiting factor in scientist–farmer exchange is the farmers' limited knowledge base. Thus, in situations such as marginal areas and in smallholder farming, exposure to new genotypes and best-bet management options would be a first requirement for effective interactions and implementation of participatory approaches.     

Farmers,peanuts, and aflatoxins in Uganda: A gendered approach

This article describes a collaborative research for development project that used participatory methods to engage smallholder farmers in Uganda in post-harvest aflatoxin management. It is based primarily on qualitative research with peanut growers tracing ‘the path of the peanut’ through their hand-drawn maps and journal writing. By focusing on everyday life and including recipes and drawings, this research encouraged women's participation and emphasised women's roles. A unique partnership among universities, women's organisations, and farmers created an environment of mutual learning and produced a book documenting food preparation and other post-harvest practices as part of a study and capacity-building effort on peanuts and aflatoxins.     

A chocolate-coated case for alternative international business models

Large companies have accelerated their control of the basic commodities markets in the last decade. The author describes what this means for smallholder farmers in the developing world who depend on these markets for some cash income each year. The consequences of the growing power of distributors (the grocery or supermarket chains) and dominant brand-owners are persistent rural poverty and the ideological and economic devaluation of the sustainable and small-scale agricultural production methods that are so essential to the 70 per cent of the world's poor who live in rural areas. The author traces the story of a successful business partnership started in 1992 linking cocoa farmers in West Africa and fair-minded chocolate lovers in the UK and USA. This initiative was launched in the face of direct criticism and harsh competitive pressure from the global chocolate giants, but it has mobilised a new kind of coalition and constituency.     

Building pathways out of poverty through climate smart agriculture and effective targeting

One focus of agricultural development is climate smart agricultural technologies and practices (CSA). Development practitioners invest in scaling these to have wider impact. Ineffective targeting stymies CSA’s contribution to poverty reduction by excluding many of the poor and/or including those for whom agriculture is not a pathway out of poverty. This viewpoint proposes the need to recognise differentiated livelihood pathways within smallholder agriculture, linked to farmers’ differential capacity to engage in climate risk management. A farmer and livelihoods typology provides a framework to improved targeting of CSA and to identifying where alternative interventions, such as social protection, are more appropriate.     

Mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS on rural livelihoods in Southern Africa

A variety of interventions to mitigate the increasing impact of the HIV and AIDS epidemic on smallholder agricultural production and food security are currently implemented in sub-Saharan Africa. However, documentation and dissemination of such interventions is limited and patchy. Building on emerging experiences from the field, this article seeks to move beyond charting the impacts of HIV and AIDS on rural livelihoods to review existing mitigation policies and programmes, identify the challenges to mitigation, and provide suggestions for future mitigation strategies and policy priorities. The experiences cited in the article are mainly drawn from the hardest-hit regions in Southern and Eastern Africa, but they provide useful lessons for AIDS-affected rural communities in other contexts. The main conclusion is that, as current initiatives are to a large extent ad hoc and localised, there is a need for documentation, dissemination, and scaling up of existing interventions, as well as greater coherence and co-ordination in policies and programmes to extend their reach and make the most of limited resources.     

Commercial behaviours of smallholder farmers in wheat seed use and its implication for demand assessment in Ethiopia

The article presents the commercial behaviour and its determinants of smallholder farmers in wheat seed use, and its implication for seed demand assessment, based on primary data from 524 wheat farmers in the major wheat growing areas covering 22 woredas in 11 zones in the Amhara, Oromiya, SNNP, and Tigray regions of Ethiopia. Although 69% of farmers use improved varieties, the overwhelming majority use seed from informal sources: own saved seed (52%) or purchased seed from local sources (32%). The article documents the distribution of wheat growers into different wheat seed market positions (autarkic, buying, or selling), and identifies the key determinants of these market behaviours. The results can serve as a guide in assessing the wheat seed demand from the formal sector at a national level.     

Does plot size matter? Evidence from maize production in Babati District,Tanzania

Debates about optimal farm structure and size have a long history in agricultural economics. Agricultural and development economists argue for an inverse relationship between farm size and productivity, but debates around this remain inconclusive. This article provides a case from maize production in Babati District, Tanzania. The efficiency level of 122 sampled smallholder farmers was estimated and found to be 62.3%, suggesting 37.7% of inefficiencies. A U-shape relationship between plot size and efficiency scores was found. There was high efficiency at plots <2?ha, compared to 2?ha and 3?ha, followed by efficiency at plots >4?ha. Policies stimulating small- and large-scale farms in the country are imperative.     

Integrating gender into index-based agricultural insurance: a focus on South Africa

Index insurance is an agricultural risk management tool that can provide a safety net for smallholder farmers experiencing climate risk. While uptake and scale-out of index insurance may be slow among smallholders, we can learn from experiences that demonstrate where crop insurance can protect smallholders’ livelihoods from climate risk. Integrating gender into climate risk management is necessary to ensure that the benefits of index insurance are experienced by both men and women. A dedicated intention to integrate gender may be required. Taking South Africa as a case study, the potential for gender-sensitive index insurance scale-out among smallholders is investigated.     

Participatory technology development in agricultural mechanisation in Nepal: how it happened and lessons learned

International Wheat and Maize Improvement Center (CIMMYT) projects on new resource-conservation technologies (RCTs) in the Indo-Gangetic Plains of Nepal aimed to strengthen equity of access, poverty reduction, and gender orientation in current rural mechanisation processes – more specifically, to promote machine-based resource conservation and drudgery-reduction technologies among smallholder farmers. These projects, together with other projects and other actors, gave rise to an informal ‘coalition’ project, which used participatory technology development (PTD) approaches, where farmers, engineers, scientists, and other partners worked towards equitable access to new RCTs. This experience showed that PTD projects need to be flexible, making use of learning and change approaches. Once successful adoption is occurring, then what? Such projects need to ensure that everyone is benefiting in terms of social inclusion and equity; this might necessitate new unforeseen work.     

Multi-layered justice and security delivery in post-conflict and fragile states

This paper examines the value of an alternative approach to SSR policy, namely a multi-layered one in post-conflict and fragile state environments. It begins by arguing that there is a state-centric bias in current SSR policy and practice. This contradicts development principles of a ‘people-centred, locally owned’ approach in post-conflict and fragile state contexts. The SSR's state-centric approach rests upon two fallacies: that the post-conflict and fragile state is capable of delivering justice and security; and that it is the main actor in security and justice. The paper goes on to present the outline of a multi-layered strategy. This addresses the issue of who is actually providing justice and security in post-conflict and fragile states. The paper continues by describing the accountability mechanisms that could be pursued by SSR programmes in support of this approach. The conclusion is that the advantage of the multi-layered approach is that it is based not on the state's capacity, but on the quality and efficacy of the services received by the end user, regardless of who delivers that service.     

Re-reading Weber,re-conceptualizing state-building: from neo-Weberian to post-Weberian approaches to state,legitimacy and state-building

This article analyzes how different interpretations of Max Weber’s work on the state and legitimacy have materialized in contemporary research on—and practice of—international state-building. We argue that the currently prevailing neo-Weberian institutionalism in state-building theory and practice is based on a selective interpretation of the passionate and polemicist ‘politician’ Max Weber, whilst omitting almost entirely the wealth of thought on interpretivist method and the anti-foundationalist approach to social sciences that he has developed in his scholarly work. The neo-Weberian institutionalist approach thus focuses almost exclusively on state capacity and institutions. In contrast to this restricted approach, we will show how Weber’s work on the historical and cultural dimensions of legitimacy is instructive in understanding the emergence and consolidation of social orders. Research agendas embracing such perspectives offer a viable way forward from the securitized approach to state-building and international intervention, in the process moving beyond the neo-Weberian orthodoxy.