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

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Arouna, Aminou; Michler, Jeffrey D.; Lokossou, Jourdain C.
• 署名单位: CGIAR; Africa Rice Center; University of Arizona
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102626
• 发表日期: 2021
• 关键词: Structural transformation; Contract farming; RCT; rice; Sub-Saharan Africa

摘要

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.