Large-scale Agro-Industrial Investments and Rural Poverty: Evidence from Sugarcane in Malawi

Herrmann, Raoul; Grote, Ulrike

doi:10.1093/jae/ejv015

Cited by 55 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…For example, Bowen and Gerritsen (2007) find that financial gains was the main motivation for agave producers in Mexico to participate in contract farming. Similar results (Cranfield, Blandon, & Henson, 2009) have been obtained for oil palm farmers in Indonesia (Gatto, Wollni, Asnawi, & Qaim, 2017), for vegetable producers in Honduras (Gatto et al, 2017), and for sugarcane farmers in Malawi (Herrmann & Grote, 2015).…”

Section: Smallholder Attitudes Towards Contract Farmingsupporting

confidence: 76%

“…Demographic characteristics such as farmers' age, farming experience, level of education, and household size are some of the factors that explain smallholder participation in contract farming Glover & Kusterer, 1990;Wuepper & Sauer, 2016). Humphrey, McCulloch, and Ota (2004) in Kenya, Herrmann and Grote (2015) in Malawi, and Jaime and Salazar (2011) in Chile find that the average age of contracting farmers was higher than that of noncontracting farmers. Shankar, Posri, and Srivong (2010) Andersson et al (2015) in Kenya, Michelson (2013) in Nicaragua, and Bellemare (2012) in Madagascar note that smallholders with previous experience of contracting were more likely to participate in contract farming programs.…”

Section: Demographic Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in the global food sector: A systematic literature review to examine small farmers engagement in contract farming

et al. 2019

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Contract farming, a common strategy among multinational companies in the global food sector, can help achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, it largely depends on whether or not small farmers can participate in contract farming programs, which has been a major issue globally. Our main objective in this systematic literature review is to identify the factors that drive small farmer participation in contract farming. We analyze 97 peer‐reviewed journal articles published between 1977 and 2017. Our review finds that farmer demographic characteristics, farm structure, farmer characteristics, and farmer attitudes influence participation in contract farming although causal mechanisms remain ambiguous. We therefore suggest the need for more comprehensive methodologies to examine small farmer participation in contract farming. In the meantime, global food sector companies must consider these factors as they develop plans toward achieving SDGs.

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Section: Smallholder Attitudes Towards Contract Farmingsupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Demographic Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in the global food sector: A systematic literature review to examine small farmers engagement in contract farming

et al. 2019

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“…Nonetheless, the benefit of even this limited income has stood as a substantial force in socially differentiating Malawi's outgrowers from their neighbours and cane labourers. 47 They exist mainly as petty beneficiaries of ongoing squeezes on land, water and labour by the triumvirate of party, state and company. 48 …”

Section: Malawimentioning

confidence: 99%

Interrogating the Logic of Accumulation in the Sugar Sector in Southern Africa

Dubb

2016

Journal of Southern African Studies

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Over the last 20 years sugar production in southern Africa has been characterised by both the geographic dispersal and the heightened concentration of (formerly) South African sugar capital. This paper argues that key variations in the contours of corporate accumulation in the region can be explained through dynamics generated by two sets of interacting variables: (i) the changing productivity of sugar manufacturing and sugar cane cultivation, and the interaction between them, and (ii) shifting terms of pricing and exchange, as governed by mercantile politics. An arithmetic model for the analysis of data is applied in the case of Illovo Sugar. It shows that high profits in Malawi are due to both favourable mercantile and productivity features; that Mozambican profits come exclusively from mercantilism; that Tanzania, Swaziland and especially Zambia owe their relative profitability to particularly high levels of productivity, and that South Africa, Illovo's country of origin, receives low profits in both mercantile and productivity terms. These differences are rooted in value relations, which are core to understanding accumulation in sugar. The paper argues that, although the logic of sugar is somewhat unique, the approach to the analysis of accumulation adopted here has wider application. IntroductionThe southern African sugar sector has attracted renewed attention from academics, policymakers, non-governmental organisations and the media, and is often portrayed in starkly contrasting narratives of 'boom or bust', 1 'development' or corporate corruption. In contemporary scholarship on the agrarian political economy of Africa, sugar is often included as a key case in contemporary debates on land (or water) 'grabbing', 'socially inclusive' business models, contract farming, biofuel production, as well as in long-running debates on the politics of land 472 Alex Dubb reform, rural accumulation and national development. 2 Sugar's place in these debates has some distinctive features. Whereas other land-based and agro-industrial development schemes have tended to stall, expansion of large South African sugar companies into the wider region has witnessed substantial productive investments and boasted improved levels of employment in several countries, as well as opened opportunities for production by thousands of small-scale farmers. Key questions that arise include: what has driven this expansion, what have been its effects to date, and what is its wider significance for debates on the potential of large-scale agricultural investments to reduce rural poverty?This article seeks to assess the dynamics of the southern African sugar sector by examining the 'logic' of capital accumulation. It does so through analysis of value relations, as understood in Marxist political economy, an approach rooted in the changing productivity of labour and its effects on profitability, and influenced by mercantile (trade) relations and their politics. However, there are a number of product-specific reasons for the drive to achieve economie...

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“…Evidence from cross-sectional studies on other sectors and countries is very limited. One study points to slightly larger income effects; Herrmann and Grote (2015) find that employment in the Malawi sugarcane export industry doubles rural incomes. Another study indicates that employment in high-value export sectors has no impact; Trifkovic (2014) finds no significant effect of employment in the Vietnamese catfish export sector on household income.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Asfaw et al, 2009;Dedehouanou et al, 2013;Kersting and Wollni, 2012;Minten et al, 2009;Dries et al, 2009) or through labor markets and wage employment (e.g. Herrmann and Grote, 2015;Maertens and Swinnen, 2009;Maertens et al, 2011;Mano et al, 2011). On the other hand, the available evidence suggests that contract-farming often excludes the poorest households (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global value chains, large-scale farming, and poverty: Long-term effects in Senegal

2017

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractThis paper is the first to present panel data evidence on the longer-term impact of expansion of global value chains and large-scale export-oriented farms in developing countries. Using panel data from two survey rounds covering a seven-year period and fixed effects regression, we estimate the longer-term income effects of wage employment on large-scale farms in the rapidly expanding horticultural export sector in Senegal. In addition to estimating average income effects, we estimate heterogeneous income effects using fixed effects quantile regression. We find that poverty and inequality reduced much faster in the research area than elsewhere in Senegal. Employment in the horticultural export sector significantly increases household income and the income effect is strongest for the poorest households. Expansion of the horticultural export sector in Senegal has been particularly pro-poor through creating employment that is accessible and creates substantial income gains for the poorest half of the rural population. These pro-poor employment effects contrast with insights in the literature on increased inequality from rural wage employment.

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Large-scale Agro-Industrial Investments and Rural Poverty: Evidence from Sugarcane in Malawi

Cited by 55 publications

References 52 publications

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in the global food sector: A systematic literature review to examine small farmers engagement in contract farming

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals in the global food sector: A systematic literature review to examine small farmers engagement in contract farming

Interrogating the Logic of Accumulation in the Sugar Sector in Southern Africa

Global value chains, large-scale farming, and poverty: Long-term effects in Senegal

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