Product Quality and Certification

Alan de Brauw () and Erwin Bulte
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Alan de Brauw: International Food Policy Research Institute

Chapter Chapter 6 in African Farmers, Value Chains and Agricultural Development, 2021, pp 109-127 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Some transaction costs act to reduce producer incentives to be concerned about the quality of their agricultural products. We present a simple model that demonstrates how those attenuating effects can be reduced and are affected by unobservable factors among both producers and purchasers, particularly in a low trust environment. One way to address quality concerns is through third-party certification schemes, which typically involve either unobservable attributes about the product or the production process. However, these schemes are expensive and actors need to reap higher returns from their activities to make them work. Evaluating the impacts of certification schemes is tricky because farmers self-select into participation, and the poorest farmers do not participate. Present evidence, however, suggests these schemes do have positive income effects for participating farmers.

Keywords: Observable and unobservable factors; Certification; Trust; Selection issues (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:psachp:978-3-030-88693-6_6

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-88693-6_6

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