This article examines a new role for contract farming in developing countries in the light of the industrialisation of agriculture and the globalisation of world markets. A theoretical rationale for contracting in developing countries is developed on the basis of adopting new institutional economic theory for the purpose of matching [...]

Real contracts balance a number of conflicting objectives that characterise the contracting situation. Contract theory provides useful insights but the formal models used in theoretical analysis tend to focus on a few effects in stylised environments. The risk of a partial approach is that while improving one aspect of a [...]

This paper is an empirical analysis of the impact of a contract-farming program in Senegal. We examine the access of poorer community members to contracts and the effect of the program on the income of participants. The program performs very well on both counts: participants and nonparticipants are indistinguishable by [...]

[Author: Karaan, M] This study examines transaction costs faced by small mussel and oyster growers to elicit the appropriate organisational design of contract institutions. The theoretical premise is that high transaction costs essentially constrain the participation of small growers in mussel and oyster mariculture. Transaction cost analysis is applied to contract [...]

This study analyzes the intersection of gender and production relations in small-scale contracting in nontraditional agriculture. The case of the processing tomato industry in the Dominican Republic exemplifies patterns found throughout the region. Building on a critique of unitary household models, I analyze the gendered relations mobilizing resources for contract [...]

This paper has three components. The first part argues that weather risk causes substantial inefficiencies in developing countries; agri-businesses, faced with underdeveloped formal financial markets, have to rely on traditional WRM that is associated with underinvestment and overdiversification. We discuss how new WRM can overcome the pitfalls of traditional WRM [...]

In the last ten years the seed and pesticide industries have undergone a substantial number of structural changes. These changes are due to a number of factors, some of which are common to all industries and some of which are specifically tied to the biotechnology that is increasingly important in [...]

The purpose of this guide is not to replicate past socio-economic studies on the subject of contract farming. Rather, the aim is to provide advice: first, to management of existing contract farming companies on how to improve their operations; second, to companies that are considering starting such ventures on the [...]

This paper examines how the contracting of French beans has engendered conflict over rights, obligations and resources in Meru District, Kenya. In response to pressure for agricultural diversification and the expanding European market for "gourmet" vegetables, horticulture, the historical domain of women, has been rapidly intensified, commoditized and in many [...]

We define contract farming as an agreement between legally independent firms for the production of a commodity for a future market. Analyzing contract farming and the intensity (quality) of contracts is as important as the extent of the contractual arrangements. Current publications do not sufficiently distinguish between contracts, which have [...]