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Quality Improvement in African Food Supply Chains: Determinants of Farmer Performance

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Abstract

The integration of smallholders in modern value chains in sub-Saharan Africa is an important pathway for improving income and farmer livelihoods. Connected to demographic shifts, rapid urbanization, and the emergence of a middle class, there is a demand for higher product quality. In order to access these modern markets, smallholders need to enhance the quality of their products. However, factors that determine smallholders’ decision to invest in quality upgrading are not well understood. Using cross-sectional data from the Ethiopian barley sector, we analyse the factors that explain smallholders’ decision to improve quality. We find that socioeconomic, institutional and market factors affect the decision to improve quality. Our study contributes to the understanding of the determinants of quality upgrading at the micro-level of the economics of quality production, and thus of rural development.

résumé

L’intégration des petits exploitants dans les chaînes de valeur modernes en Afrique subsaharienne est un moyen important d’améliorer les revenus et les moyens de subsistance des agriculteurs. Liée aux changements démographiques, à l’urbanisation galopante et à l’émergence d’une classe moyenne, il existe une demande pour une qualité de produit supérieure. Les petits exploitants doivent améliorer la qualité de leurs produits pour accéder aux marchés alimentaires modernes, mais les facteurs qui déterminent leur décision d’investir dans l’amélioration de la qualité ne sont pas bien compris. À l’aide de données transversales issues de la chaîne de valeur de l’orge malté éthiopienne, nous analysons les facteurs qui expliquent la décision des petits exploitants d’améliorer la qualité. Nous développons également un nouveau cadre conceptuel pour étudier l’amélioration de la qualité au niveau de la ferme. Nos résultats montrent que les facteurs socioéconomiques, institutionnels et commerciaux influent sur la décision du petit exploitant d'améliorer la qualité du produit. Les résultats ont un certain nombre de conséquences politiques.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Business Management & Organisation Group, Wageningen University and Research, P.O. Box 8130, 6700 EW, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Jos Bijman & Onno Omta

  2. Plant Production Systems Group, Wageningen Universiteit and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Maja Slingerland

  3. Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia

    Delelegne Abera Tefera & Gerben van der Velde

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  1. Delelegne Abera Tefera
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Correspondence to Jos Bijman.

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Table 7 Entrepreneurial attitude of farmers.
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Tefera, D.A., Bijman, J., Slingerland, M. et al. Quality Improvement in African Food Supply Chains: Determinants of Farmer Performance. Eur J Dev Res 32, 152–175 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-019-00224-4

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