By articulating national farmers' organisations in developing countries with researchers and consultants, the ESFIM programme will strengthen the capacities of national farmers' organisations in developing pro-active policy proposals. Proposals that will be adapted to their specific national context, but enriched with the experiences of other farmers' organisations inside and outside their country.

This ESFIM research and policy development programme focuses on successful and replicable regulatory policies and institutional arrangements that can empower smallholder farmers in markets. It will have the farmers organizations in the driving seat: for identifying research priorities and for learning and reflecting on research outputs. ESFIM will build on the outputs of other research programmes like Regoverning Markets, GFAR - LSFM, and research in the ECART Institutes.

The project originator is IFAP - International Federation of Agricultural Producers; and the Research Partner is ECART-EEIG - European Consortium for Agricultural Research in the Tropics.

Supermarkets And Agri-Food Supply Chains: Transformations in the Production and Consumption of Foods

Edited by David Burch and Geoffrey Lawrence. July 2007. Edward Elgar Publishing

Photo: IDRCby  Achilles Costales et al. IFPRI Research Report No. 151, March 2007

A dramatic increase over the past fifteen years in domestic pork demand and production in the Philippines has created a potentially profitable opportunity for poor rural and agricultural households. In Southern and Central Luzon, the two biggest markets, however, smallholder pig producers hold only a minority share of total production compared to larger commercial farms. This report seeks to assess the scope for smallholders to remain in business by analyzing the relative profitability of small and large farms. Using field data from pig-producing households, the researchers assess the role of internal and external factors in determining a household's participation in production and marketing and examine the combination of technical and allocative efficiency exhibited by specific farms under particular circumstances. They conclude that the smallest-scale pig producers will not survive market competition and will require alternative occupations. Many others, however, could profit from pig production if policy and institutional changes ensure their access to inputs, to animal health services that can guarantee output quality, and to markets for higher quality output. These findings are a valuable contribution to poverty reduction efforts in the Philippines.

UNITED NATIONS INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION (UNIDO)

By John Humphrey and Olga Memedovic

Abstract

This paper is about agriculture and poverty reduction in the context of globalization.

Agricultural growth is central to poverty reduction in rural areas, and one opportunity for such growth lies in increasing exports of agricultural products from poor countries to global markets.

Global agricultural markets have become increasingly complex because of concentration at all points in the value chain and the increasing scope and complexity of food standards, particularly those relating to food safety. Therefore, realizing the potential benefits of agricultural export growth for poverty reduction requires careful analysis of trends in global markets and the policies that will unlock the potential for growth and poverty reduction.

Regoverning Markets: A Place for Small-Scale Producers in Modern Agrifood Chains?
Edited by Bill Vorley, Andrew Fearne and Derek Ray

Gower Sustainable Food Chain Series. April 2007

This book offers a contemporary look at what happens when the modernisation of food supply chains comes face to face with the livelihoods of rural and poor people. The authors are drawn from eighteen countries participating in the 'Regoverning Markets' programme, which aims to not only improve our understanding of the way modernisation and re-structuring of food supply chains is affecting food production and distribution systems, but also identify best-practice in involving small-scale producers in supermarket supply chains, and ascertain the barriers to inclusion which need to be removed.

JEG brochureJournal of Economic Geography   Volume 7 Number 4 (July 2007)

The special issue will include contributions from leading researchers in economic geography, development studies, agricultural economics, and management studies, from a British Academy sponsored conference held in July 2006.

New Book from CABI: Global Supply Chains, Standards and the Poor: How the Globalization of Food Systems and Standards Affects Rural Development and Poverty.

Edited by J F M Swinnen, KU Leuven, Belgium. February 2007 

Using original research from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America this book reviews the recent restructuring of the global agri-food industry and the dramatic rise of global retail chains in developing and transition countries. It focuses on the private standards and requirements imposed by multinational companies investing in these countries and the resulting changes to existing supply chains. It also examines the impact of these changes on local producers, particularly poor farmers, and considers the long-term policy implications in terms of growth and poverty.

by Miet Maertens and Johan F.M. Swinnen

LICOS Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance & Department of Economics, University of Leuven

Supermarkets, Wholesalers, and Tomato Growers in Guatemala

by Ricardo Hernández, Thomas Reardon and Julio Berdegué

The article shows that in a comparison between supermarket channels (working via dedicated wholesalers) and traditional channels, farmers selling to supermarkets tend to be in the upper-end of the "small farmer" category (whereas the traditional-channel growers are in the lower-end), have more capital (in particular, irrigation, which allows them to supply all year and attain greater productivity and consistency), and are much more specialized in commercial horticulture in general and in tomatoes in particular, as compared to the traditional farmers. While they have higher yields, they also have higher input use, including use of chemicals.

Supermarkets (short for all modern retail) are spreading quickly in developing countries. The "take-off" occurred as recently as the early/mid 1990s, driven by an avalanche of foreign direct investment (FDI) sparked by retail FDI liberalization. A decade on, the power and dominance of supermarkets is already felt in the food markets of many developing countries, and tensions between supermarkets and traditional retailers, and supermarkets and their suppliers, are emerging as key policy and political debates. The paper analyzes those tensions. Then it reviews the US and Western European history and current experience in designing policies (regulations and support programs) to address those tensions. It ends with an analysis of emerging policy approaches to the supermarket sector and the tensions its growth is creating in developing countries, and recommendations.