Governance, marketing and innovations in Beninese pineapple supply chains : a survey of smallholder farmers in South Benin

The main goal of the study was to identify an innovative approach that could overcome market quality and price information asymmetry issues in pineapple supply chain in Benin. Two case studies were conducted in Benin and Ghana, with an in-depth survey of 219 farmers in Benin. The study mapped the supply chain and gave more insights on the existing forms of governance structures (GS) as well as constraints and opportunities for quality improvement and market access. The study proposes a new construct of ’multi-governance choices’, as a further contribution to the transaction cost theory literature on how and why smallholder farmers select among alternative GS in agrifood chains. Further investigation showed how smallholder farmers’ characteristics, production systems, product quality and marketing context affect farmer’s selection of marketing channels. Finally the study demonstrated how smallholder farmers can overcome information asymmetry and knowledge gap issues by using information and communication technologies.