Linking smallholder farmers to high quality food chains: appraising institutional arrangements

Although markets for high quality products might represent an interesting outlet for smallholder farmers from developing countries, access to those markets is challenging, as appropriate institutions helping farmers to comply with quality requirements are often missing. To overcome the institutional constraints and to link smallholders to markets, three types of institutional arrangements are often proposed: contract farming, producer organisations and partnerships. While many publications have explored the merits of each of these arrangements, a systematic comparison and evaluation of all three has not been done, particularly from the perspective of the constraints that smallholders face when seeking to improve product quality. In this chapter, we seek to make such evaluatory comparison. To do so, we first identify the most limiting institutional constraints faced by smallholder farmers related to quality improvement. Second, we provide an overview of each arrangement’s ability to address these constraints. Third, we determine how combinations of the three arrangements can be used effectively in quality improvement in smallholder value chains.