Contract farming and rural transformation: Evidence from a field experiment in Benin

Aminou Arouna, Jeffrey Michler and Jourdain C. Lokossou

Journal of Development Economics, 2021, vol. 151, issue C

Abstract: Contract farming has emerged as a popular mechanism to encourage vertical coordination in developing country agriculture. Yet, there is a lack of consensus on its ability to spur structural transformation in rural economies. We present results from a field experiment on contract farming for rice production in Benin. While all contracts have positive effects on welfare and productivity measures, we find that the simplest contract has impacts nearly as large as contracts with additional attributes. This suggests that once price risk is resolved through the offer of a fixed-price contract, farmers are able to address other constraints on their own.

Keywords: Structural transformation; Contract farming; RCT; Rice; Sub-Saharan Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 L14 O13 Q12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Contract Farming and Rural Transformation: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Benin (2019)
Working Paper: Contract Farming and Rural Transformation: Evidence from a Field Experiment in Benin (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:151:y:2021:i:c:s0304387821000031

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102626

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