Sangam: A Confluence of Knowledge Streams

Insights into Smallholder Capacity for Agricultural Commercialisation: Evidence from Four African Contexts

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dc.creator Saha, Amrita
dc.creator Sabates-Wheeler, Rachel
dc.creator Thompson, John
dc.date 2021-07-20T10:33:30Z
dc.date 2021-07-20T10:33:30Z
dc.date 2021-07-13
dc.date.accessioned 2022-05-26T08:47:46Z
dc.date.available 2022-05-26T08:47:46Z
dc.identifier Saha, A.; Sabates‑Wheeler, R. and Thompson, J. (2021) 'Insights into Smallholder Capacity for Agricultural Commercialisation: Evidence from Four African Contexts', The European Journal of Development Research, DOI: 10.1057/s41287-021-00414-z
dc.identifier https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/handle/20.500.12413/16749
dc.identifier https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41287-021-00414-z#citeas
dc.identifier Rural Futures
dc.identifier 10.1057/s41287-021-00414-z
dc.identifier.uri http://localhost:8080/xmlui/handle/CUHPOERS/198574
dc.description Over the last 15 years, the agricultural economics and development literature has amply highlighted success stories of smallholder farmers in developing countries, illustrating their increased engagement and integration with markets, in other words, higher rates of commercialisation. Yet, this seeming ‘success’ should not detract from the large proportion of farmers who, through engaging in high-value market chains, face high risks that often limit the extent of their engagement. This study, across four African contexts in Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria and Zimbabwe, strives to better understand smallholder participation in agricultural commercialisation. Using new detailed cross-sectional household-level data, from the Agricultural Policy Research in Africa (APRA) consortium, collected over 2017–2018, we analyse assets as a determining factor for localised patterns smallholder commercialisation. Applying asset-based thresholds, we capture commercialisation ‘capacity’—an indicator of the household’s commercialisation potential and ability to respond to risks. Despite the possibility to increase commercialisation as well as institutional arrangements that may reduce risk, such as contract farming, benefits from linkages with medium-scale farmers or returns from specific crop types, we find that households may yet be constrained by lower capacity. Hence, the need for targeted support for those at the margins and with limited assets; with the most pronounced and significant constraints for lower capacity households in study areas in Tanzania. These results can better inform development policies for agriculture where it is important to be able to specifically target households rather than a one size fits all approach.
dc.language en
dc.publisher Springer Link
dc.relation The European Journal of Development Research;
dc.rights http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.rights © The Author(s) 2021
dc.subject Agriculture
dc.subject Economic Development
dc.subject Participation
dc.title Insights into Smallholder Capacity for Agricultural Commercialisation: Evidence from Four African Contexts
dc.type Article
dc.coverage Africa
dc.coverage Ghana
dc.coverage Tanzania
dc.coverage Nigeria
dc.coverage Zimbabwe


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