Can contract farming increase farmers’ income and enhance adoption of food safety practices? Evidence from remote areas of Nepal

Growing inequality has become an important concern in many countries. One of the ways that inequality is perpetuated is through differential market access across regions. This research deals with one of the primary determinants of regional inequality manifested in terms of market access. Nepal is on...

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Autores principales: Kumar, Anjani, Roy, Devesh, Trapathi, Gaurav, Joshi, Pramod Kumar, Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146415
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author Kumar, Anjani
Roy, Devesh
Trapathi, Gaurav
Joshi, Pramod Kumar
Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad
author_browse Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad
Joshi, Pramod Kumar
Kumar, Anjani
Roy, Devesh
Trapathi, Gaurav
author_facet Kumar, Anjani
Roy, Devesh
Trapathi, Gaurav
Joshi, Pramod Kumar
Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad
author_sort Kumar, Anjani
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Growing inequality has become an important concern in many countries. One of the ways that inequality is perpetuated is through differential market access across regions. This research deals with one of the primary determinants of regional inequality manifested in terms of market access. Nepal is one country where hierarchical geography leads to regional inequality. Differential market access can cause as well as accentuate inequality among farmers. Coordination arrangements such as contract farming can improve outcomes for the farmers and integrators on the one hand, but on the other hand it can accentuate inequality if only some regions benefit from it. With this background, in this paper we study the case of contract farming for exports with farmers in remote hilly areas of Nepal. The prospect for contract farming in such areas with accessibility issues owing to underdeveloped markets and lack of amenities is ambiguous. On the one hand, contractors in these areas find it difficult to build links, particularly when final consumers have quality and safety requirements. On the other hand, remoteness can make the contracts more sustainable if the agroecology offers product-specific quality advantages and, more important, if there is a lack of side-selling opportunities. At the same time, concerns remain about buyers’ monopsonistic powers when remotely located small farmers do not have outside options. This study hence quantifies the benefits of contract farming on remotely located farmers’ income and compliance with food safety measures. Results show that contract farming is significantly more profitable (offering a 58 percent greater net income) than independent production, the main pathway being higher price realization, along with training on practices and provision of quality seeds.
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spelling CGSpace1464152025-11-06T06:44:06Z Can contract farming increase farmers’ income and enhance adoption of food safety practices? Evidence from remote areas of Nepal Kumar, Anjani Roy, Devesh Trapathi, Gaurav Joshi, Pramod Kumar Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad income agricultural policies food safety smallholders market access ginger contract farming Growing inequality has become an important concern in many countries. One of the ways that inequality is perpetuated is through differential market access across regions. This research deals with one of the primary determinants of regional inequality manifested in terms of market access. Nepal is one country where hierarchical geography leads to regional inequality. Differential market access can cause as well as accentuate inequality among farmers. Coordination arrangements such as contract farming can improve outcomes for the farmers and integrators on the one hand, but on the other hand it can accentuate inequality if only some regions benefit from it. With this background, in this paper we study the case of contract farming for exports with farmers in remote hilly areas of Nepal. The prospect for contract farming in such areas with accessibility issues owing to underdeveloped markets and lack of amenities is ambiguous. On the one hand, contractors in these areas find it difficult to build links, particularly when final consumers have quality and safety requirements. On the other hand, remoteness can make the contracts more sustainable if the agroecology offers product-specific quality advantages and, more important, if there is a lack of side-selling opportunities. At the same time, concerns remain about buyers’ monopsonistic powers when remotely located small farmers do not have outside options. This study hence quantifies the benefits of contract farming on remotely located farmers’ income and compliance with food safety measures. Results show that contract farming is significantly more profitable (offering a 58 percent greater net income) than independent production, the main pathway being higher price realization, along with training on practices and provision of quality seeds. 2016-04-20 2024-06-21T09:06:59Z 2024-06-21T09:06:59Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146415 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/147922 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160255 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/160711 https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134431 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Kumar, Anjani; Roy, Devesh; Trapathi, Gaurav; Joshi, Pramod Kumar; and Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad. 2016. Can contract farming increase farmers’ income and enhance adoption of food safety practices? Evidence from remote areas of Nepal. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1524. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146415
spellingShingle income
agricultural policies
food safety
smallholders
market access
ginger
contract farming
Kumar, Anjani
Roy, Devesh
Trapathi, Gaurav
Joshi, Pramod Kumar
Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad
Can contract farming increase farmers’ income and enhance adoption of food safety practices? Evidence from remote areas of Nepal
title Can contract farming increase farmers’ income and enhance adoption of food safety practices? Evidence from remote areas of Nepal
title_full Can contract farming increase farmers’ income and enhance adoption of food safety practices? Evidence from remote areas of Nepal
title_fullStr Can contract farming increase farmers’ income and enhance adoption of food safety practices? Evidence from remote areas of Nepal
title_full_unstemmed Can contract farming increase farmers’ income and enhance adoption of food safety practices? Evidence from remote areas of Nepal
title_short Can contract farming increase farmers’ income and enhance adoption of food safety practices? Evidence from remote areas of Nepal
title_sort can contract farming increase farmers income and enhance adoption of food safety practices evidence from remote areas of nepal
topic income
agricultural policies
food safety
smallholders
market access
ginger
contract farming
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146415
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