From Power Imbalance to Interdependence: A Case Study of the Chadian Sesame Supply Chain

Stefano Corsi () and Rosalia Filippini
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Stefano Corsi: UNIMI - Università degli Studi di Milano = University of Milan
Rosalia Filippini: UNIPR - Università degli studi di Parma = University of Parma, Territoires - Territoires - AgroParisTech - VAS - VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne

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Abstract: Smallholder farmers are crucial actors for rural development in Africa. Their participation in global agro-food chains assures a source of revenues and agricultural development. Nevertheless, their position is still marginal. Moreover, there is a lack of data about the participation of smallholder farmers in African supply chains. The paper aims to identify the power regime between farmers, processors, middlemen and exporters and analyse how collective actions and external players' intervention may modify the bargaining power in the sesame value chain in Eastern Chad. The analysis is based on qualitative data gathered from semi-structured interviews with 98 farmers and 41 stakeholders. The study applies a netchain perspective, analysing the vertical relationships along the food chain in terms of power regime and the horizontal relationships of farmers by observing the first impact of collective actions. The results reveal that the dyadic ties are characterised only by supplier and buyer dominance, and there are no relationships characterised by independence and interdependence along the food chain. Especially, farmers suffer from both buyer and supplier dominance. The analysis of the horizontal relationships reveals that only middlemen organise horizontal agreements to improve their benefit in the commercialisation. The introduction of collective actions for farmers improves their horizontal relationships with potential positive impact on the farmers' vertical relationships along the supply chain. Thus, their bargaining power may be further developed. This study offers a diagnosis of the farmers' participation in value chain and future perspectives on the collective actions.

Keywords: Smallholders farmers; Netchain; Sesame supply chain; Collective actions; East chad; Petits exploitants agricoles; Chaîne d'approvisionnement; Filière du sésame; Action collective; Tchad oriental (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023-06
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Published in European Journal of Development Research, 2023, 35 (3), pp.684-714. ⟨10.1057/s41287-022-00528-y⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04168684

DOI: 10.1057/s41287-022-00528-y

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