TY - JOUR
T1 - A scoping review of market links between value chain actors and small-scale producers in developing regions
AU - Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis Saweda O.
AU - Wineman, Ayala
AU - Young, Sarah
AU - Tambo, Justice
AU - Vargas, Carolina
AU - Reardon, Thomas
AU - Adjognon, Guigonan Serge
AU - Porciello, Jaron
AU - Gathoni, Nasra
AU - Bizikova, Livia
AU - Galiè, Alessandra
AU - Celestin, Ashley
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Author(s).
PY - 2020/10/1
Y1 - 2020/10/1
N2 - Sustainable Development Goal 2 aims to end hunger, achieve food and nutrition security and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. This requires that small-scale producers be included in, and benefit from, the rapid growth and transformation under way in food systems. Small-scale producers interact with various actors when they link with markets, including product traders, logistics firms, processors and retailers. The literature has explored primarily how large firms interact with farmers through formal contracts and resource provision arrangements. Although important, contracts constitute a very small share of smallholder market interactions. There has been little exploration of whether non-contract interactions between small farmers and both small- and large-scale value chain actors have affected small farmers’ livelihoods. This scoping review covers 202 studies on that topic. We find that non-contract interactions, de facto mostly with small and medium enterprises, benefit small-scale producers via similar mechanisms that the literature has previously credited to large firms. Small and medium enterprises, not just large enterprises, address idiosyncratic market failures and asset shortfalls of small-scale producers by providing them, through informal arrangements, with complementary services such as input provision, credit, information and logistics. Providing these services directly supports Sustainable Development Goal 2 by improving farmer welfare through technology adoption and greater productivity.
AB - Sustainable Development Goal 2 aims to end hunger, achieve food and nutrition security and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. This requires that small-scale producers be included in, and benefit from, the rapid growth and transformation under way in food systems. Small-scale producers interact with various actors when they link with markets, including product traders, logistics firms, processors and retailers. The literature has explored primarily how large firms interact with farmers through formal contracts and resource provision arrangements. Although important, contracts constitute a very small share of smallholder market interactions. There has been little exploration of whether non-contract interactions between small farmers and both small- and large-scale value chain actors have affected small farmers’ livelihoods. This scoping review covers 202 studies on that topic. We find that non-contract interactions, de facto mostly with small and medium enterprises, benefit small-scale producers via similar mechanisms that the literature has previously credited to large firms. Small and medium enterprises, not just large enterprises, address idiosyncratic market failures and asset shortfalls of small-scale producers by providing them, through informal arrangements, with complementary services such as input provision, credit, information and logistics. Providing these services directly supports Sustainable Development Goal 2 by improving farmer welfare through technology adoption and greater productivity.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85092354553&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41893-020-00621-2
DO - 10.1038/s41893-020-00621-2
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85092354553
SN - 2398-9629
VL - 3
SP - 799
EP - 808
JO - Nature Sustainability
JF - Nature Sustainability
IS - 10
ER -