Emerging medium-scale tenant farming, gig economies, and the COVID-19 disruption: Evidence from commercial vegetable clusters in Ethiopia

Driven by the fast spread of private irrigation pumps, there has been a rapid expansion of intensive vegetable cultivation in the central Rift Valley in Ethiopia, making it the most important commercial vegetable production cluster in the country. Supporting that “quiet revolution” has been an inflo...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Minten, Bart, Mohammed, Belay, Tamru, Seneshaw
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143234
_version_ 1855519601352245248
author Minten, Bart
Mohammed, Belay
Tamru, Seneshaw
author_browse Minten, Bart
Mohammed, Belay
Tamru, Seneshaw
author_facet Minten, Bart
Mohammed, Belay
Tamru, Seneshaw
author_sort Minten, Bart
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Driven by the fast spread of private irrigation pumps, there has been a rapid expansion of intensive vegetable cultivation in the central Rift Valley in Ethiopia, making it the most important commercial vegetable production cluster in the country. Supporting that “quiet revolution” has been an inflow of migrant laborers – paid through daily, monthly, or piecemeal contracts, with few employment benefits attached to them – and a gig economy as widely-used contractors organize, among others, mechanized land preparation, the digging of wells and ponds, seedling propagation, and loading of trucks. Almost 60 percent of the irrigated area is cultivated by medium-scale tenant farmers relying on short-term rental contracts. It seems that gig economies characterized by flexible contract arrangements implemented by outside contractors, which are increasingly fueling sophisticated sectors in developed countries, are important in these commercial agrarian settings in Africa as well. We further find that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant disruptions of this model, as seen by more limited access to services and the unavailability or high price increases in factor markets, especially for labor. We further note large but heterogenous price changes in output markets. The pandemic seems especially to have had important effects on the medium-scale tenant farmers as they depend relatively more than smallholders on outside inputs, labor markets, and these gig economies. However, on the other hand, they benefit more than smallholders from favorable output markets for vegetables.
format Artículo preliminar
id CGSpace143234
institution CGIAR Consortium
language Inglés
publishDate 2020
publishDateRange 2020
publishDateSort 2020
publisher International Food Policy Research Institute
publisherStr International Food Policy Research Institute
record_format dspace
spelling CGSpace1432342025-11-06T05:40:37Z Emerging medium-scale tenant farming, gig economies, and the COVID-19 disruption: Evidence from commercial vegetable clusters in Ethiopia Minten, Bart Mohammed, Belay Tamru, Seneshaw price elasticities tenant farmers food production covid-19 commercial farming vegetable crops food prices Driven by the fast spread of private irrigation pumps, there has been a rapid expansion of intensive vegetable cultivation in the central Rift Valley in Ethiopia, making it the most important commercial vegetable production cluster in the country. Supporting that “quiet revolution” has been an inflow of migrant laborers – paid through daily, monthly, or piecemeal contracts, with few employment benefits attached to them – and a gig economy as widely-used contractors organize, among others, mechanized land preparation, the digging of wells and ponds, seedling propagation, and loading of trucks. Almost 60 percent of the irrigated area is cultivated by medium-scale tenant farmers relying on short-term rental contracts. It seems that gig economies characterized by flexible contract arrangements implemented by outside contractors, which are increasingly fueling sophisticated sectors in developed countries, are important in these commercial agrarian settings in Africa as well. We further find that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant disruptions of this model, as seen by more limited access to services and the unavailability or high price increases in factor markets, especially for labor. We further note large but heterogenous price changes in output markets. The pandemic seems especially to have had important effects on the medium-scale tenant farmers as they depend relatively more than smallholders on outside inputs, labor markets, and these gig economies. However, on the other hand, they benefit more than smallholders from favorable output markets for vegetables. 2020-07-01 2024-05-22T12:12:39Z 2024-05-22T12:12:39Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143234 en https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133931 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133947 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134266 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134768 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Minten, Bart; Mohammed, Belay; and Tamru, Seneshaw. 2020. Emerging medium-scale tenant farming, gig economies, and the COVID-19 disruption: Evidence from commercial vegetable clusters in Ethiopia. ESSP Working Paper 149. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133909.
spellingShingle price elasticities
tenant farmers
food production
covid-19
commercial farming
vegetable crops
food prices
Minten, Bart
Mohammed, Belay
Tamru, Seneshaw
Emerging medium-scale tenant farming, gig economies, and the COVID-19 disruption: Evidence from commercial vegetable clusters in Ethiopia
title Emerging medium-scale tenant farming, gig economies, and the COVID-19 disruption: Evidence from commercial vegetable clusters in Ethiopia
title_full Emerging medium-scale tenant farming, gig economies, and the COVID-19 disruption: Evidence from commercial vegetable clusters in Ethiopia
title_fullStr Emerging medium-scale tenant farming, gig economies, and the COVID-19 disruption: Evidence from commercial vegetable clusters in Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Emerging medium-scale tenant farming, gig economies, and the COVID-19 disruption: Evidence from commercial vegetable clusters in Ethiopia
title_short Emerging medium-scale tenant farming, gig economies, and the COVID-19 disruption: Evidence from commercial vegetable clusters in Ethiopia
title_sort emerging medium scale tenant farming gig economies and the covid 19 disruption evidence from commercial vegetable clusters in ethiopia
topic price elasticities
tenant farmers
food production
covid-19
commercial farming
vegetable crops
food prices
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/143234
work_keys_str_mv AT mintenbart emergingmediumscaletenantfarminggigeconomiesandthecovid19disruptionevidencefromcommercialvegetableclustersinethiopia
AT mohammedbelay emergingmediumscaletenantfarminggigeconomiesandthecovid19disruptionevidencefromcommercialvegetableclustersinethiopia
AT tamruseneshaw emergingmediumscaletenantfarminggigeconomiesandthecovid19disruptionevidencefromcommercialvegetableclustersinethiopia