Linking Smallholders to Markets: Determinants and Impacts of Farmer Collective Action in Kenya

This article investigates determinants and impacts of cooperative organization, using the example of smallholder banana farmers in Kenya. Farmer groups are inclusive of the poor, although wealthier households are more likely to join. Employing propensity score matching, we find positive income effec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inWorld development Vol. 40; no. 6; pp. 1255 - 1268
Main Authors Fischer, Elisabeth, Qaim, Matin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Pergamon Press Inc 01.06.2012
Subjects
Adoption of Innovations
Agricultural and food market
Agricultural cooperatives
bananas
Benefits
catalysts
Co-operatives
Collective Action
Collective bargaining
Collectivism
East Africa
Farmers
Farming
Households
Income
Innovation
innovation adoption
Kenya
Low Income Groups
Market potential
Marketing
Markets
Prices
Pricing policies
Studies
Kenya
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Summary:This article investigates determinants and impacts of cooperative organization, using the example of smallholder banana farmers in Kenya. Farmer groups are inclusive of the poor, although wealthier households are more likely to join. Employing propensity score matching, we find positive income effects for active group members. Yet price advantages of collective marketing are small, and high-value market potentials have not yet been tapped. Beyond prices, farmer groups function as important catalysts for innovation adoption through promoting efficient information flows. We discuss the conditions under which collective action is useful, and through what mechanisms the potential benefits emerge. [Copyright Elsevier Ltd.]
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ISSN:0305-750X
1873-5991
DOI:10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.11.018