Abstract
Increases in food demand, product differentiation, and agribusiness growth provide new market opportunities for smallholders in Africa. Yet, smallholders face challenges of meeting quality, volume, and timing requirements to capture these opportunities. Cooperatives have been identified as a strategy to improve smallholder linkage to evolving food systems, by providing various supply chain services. However, empirical evidence is sparse on the performance of cooperatives in commercializing farm products and coordinating supply chain integration. In addition, a debate exists on which farmers are more likely to be member of a cooperative. In other words, do all smallholders have an equal chance of benefitting from the activities of cooperatives? Ethiopian malt barley cooperatives are used as an empirical case. Mixed methods were used to collect and analyze primary data. Our case study analysis shows that cooperatives provide diverse services, including contract brokerage, output marketing, input supply, and provision of technical assistance. Our empirical results also show that the members of these marketing cooperatives have larger landholdings, better farm resources, and better access to extension services compared to non-member farmers.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abate G (2018) Drivers of agricultural cooperative formation and farmers’ membership and patronage decisions in Ethiopia. J Cooper Org Manage 8(2):53–63
Abate GT, Francesconi GN, Getnet K (2014) Impact of agricultural cooperatives on smallholders’ technical efficiency: empirical evidence from Ethiopia. Ann Publ Cooper Econ 85:257–286
Abebaw D, Haile MG (2013) The impact of cooperatives on agricultural technology adoption: empirical evidence from Ethiopia. Food Policy 38:82–91
Agbahey JU, Grethe H, Negatu W (2015) Fertilizer supply chain in Ethiopia: structure, performance and policy analysis. Afrika Focus 28:81–101
ATA (2016) Agricultural transformation agenda annual report (2015–2016). Agriculture Transformation Agency, Addis Ababa
Barham J, Chitemi C (2009) Collective action initiatives to improve marketing performance: lessons from farmer groups in Tanzania. Food Policy 34:53–59
Bernard T, Spielman DJ (2009) Reaching the rural poor through rural producer organizations? A~study of agricultural marketing cooperatives in Ethiopia. Food Policy 34:60–69
Bernard T, Collion M-H, De Janvry A, Rondot P, Sadoulet E (2008a) Do village organizations make a difference in African rural development? A study for Senegal and Burkina Faso. World Dev 36:2188–2204
Bernard T, Taffesse AS, Gabre-Madhin E (2008b) Impact of cooperatives on smallholders’ commercialization behavior: evidence from Ethiopia. Agric Econ 39:147–161
Bijman J, Muradian R, Schuurman J (2016) Cooperatives, economic democratization and rural development. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham
Caliendo M, Kopeinig S (2008) Some practical guidance for the implementation of propensity score matching. J Econ Surv 22:31–72
Chagwiza C, Muradian R, Ruben R (2016) Cooperative membership and dairy performance among smallholders in Ethiopia. Food Policy 59:165–173
CSA (Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia) (2017) Agricultural sample survey (Vol I). Report of area and production of major crops. Addis Ababa
Cook ML (1995) The future of US agricultural cooperatives: a neo-institutional approach. Am J Agric Econ 77:1153–1159
Eriksen S, Lutz C, Tadesse G (2018) Social desirability, opportunism and actual support for farmers’ market organisations in Ethiopia. J Dev Stud
Faysse N, Simon C (2015) Holding all the cards? Quality management by cooperatives in a Moroccan dairy value chain. Eur J Dev Res 27:140–155
FDRE (2016) Growth and transformation plan II (GTP II). Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE), Addis Ababa
Fischer E, Qaim M (2012) Linking smallholders to markets: determinants and impacts of farmer collective action in Kenya. World Dev 40:1255–1268
Fischer E, Qaim M (2014) Smallholder farmers and collective action: what determines the intensity of participation? J Agric Econ 65:683–702
Francesconi GN, Heerink N (2010) Ethiopian agricultural cooperatives in an era of global commodity exchange: does organisational form matter? J Afr Econ 20:153–177
Francesconi GN, Ruben R (2012) The hidden impact of cooperative membership on quality management: a case study from the dairy belt of Addis Ababa. J Entrep Org Divers 1:85–103
Getnet K, Anullo T (2012) Agricultural cooperatives and rural livelihoods: evidence from Ethiopia. Ann Publ Cooper Econ 83:181–198
Hannan R (2014) Good co-operative governance: the elephant in the room with rural poverty reduction. J Int Dev 26:701–712
Hendrikse G, Bijman J (2002) Ownership structure in agrifood chains: the marketing cooperative. Am J Agric Econ 84:104–119
Ito J, Bao Z, Su Q (2012) Distributional effects of agricultural cooperatives in China: exclusion of smallholders and potential gains on participation. Food Policy 37:700–709
Kaganzi E, Ferris S, Barham J, Abenakyo A, Sanginga P, Njuki J (2009) Sustaining linkages to high value markets through collective action in Uganda. Food Policy 34:23–30
Latynskiy E, Berger T (2016) Networks of rural producer organizations in Uganda: what can be done to make them work better? World Dev 78:572–586
Lutz C, Tadesse G (2017) African farmers’ market organizations and global value chains: competitiveness versus inclusiveness. Rev Soc Econ:1–21
Markelova H, Meinzen-Dick R, Hellin J, Dohrn S (2009) Collective action for smallholder market access. Food Policy 34:1–7
Minten B, Tamru S, Engida E, Kuma T (2016) Transforming staple food value chains in Africa: the case of teff in Ethiopia. J Dev Stud 52:627–645
Mojo D, Fischer C, Degefa T (2017) The determinants and economic impacts of membership in coffee farmer cooperatives: recent evidence from rural Ethiopia. J Rural Stud 50:84–94
Moustier P, Tam PTG, Anh DT, Binh VT, Loc NTT (2010) The role of farmer organizations in supplying supermarkets with quality food in Vietnam. Food Policy 35:69–78
Narrod C, Roy D, Okello J, Avendaño B, Rich K, Thorat A (2009) Public–private partnerships and collective action in high value fruit and vegetable supply chains. Food Policy 34:8–15
Penrose-Buckley C (2007) Producer organisations, a guide to developing collective rural enterprises. Oxfam, Oxford
Poulton C, Dorward A, Kydd J (2010) The future of small farms: new directions for services, institutions, and intermediation. World Dev 38:1413–1428
Rashid S, Gashaw TA, Solomon L, Nicholas M (2015) The barley value chain in Ethiopia. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Addis Ababa
Reardon T, Barrett CB, Berdegué JA, Swinnen JF (2009) Agrifood industry transformation and small farmers in developing countries. World Dev 37(11):1717–1727
Royer A, Bijman J, Bitzer V (2016) Linking smallholder farmers to high quality food chains: appraising institutional arrangements. In: Bijman J, Bitzer V (eds) Quality and innovation in food chains. Lessons and insights from Africa. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen, pp 33–62
Shiferaw B, Hellin J, Muricho G (2011) Improving market access and agricultural productivity growth in Africa: what role for producer organizations and collective action institutions? Food Security 3:475–489
Staatz JM (1987) Farmers’ incentives to take collective action via cooperatives: a transaction cost approach. In: Jeffrey R (ed) Cooperative theory: new approaches, agricultural cooperative service, service report 18. USDA, Washington, DC
Tadesse G, Kassie GT (2017) Measuring trust and commitment in collective actions: evidence from farmers’ marketing organizations in rural Ethiopia. Int J Soc Econ 44:980–996
Tefera DA, Bijman J, Slingerland MA (2016) Agricultural co-operatives in Ethiopia: evolution, functions and impact. J Int Dev. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3240
Tefera DA, Bijman J, Slingerland MA (2019) Multinationals and modernisation of domestic value chains in Africa: case studies from Ethiopia. J Dev Stud:1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2019.1590551
Trebbin A (2014) Linking small farmers to modern retail through producer organizations – experiences with producer companies in India. Food Policy 45:35–44
Verhofstadt E, Maertens M (2013) Processes of modernization in horticulture food value chains in Rwanda. Outlook Agric 42:273–283
Verhofstadt E, Maertens M (2014a) Can agricultural cooperatives reduce poverty? Heterogeneous impact of cooperative membership on farmers’ welfare in Rwanda. Appl Econ Perspect Policy 37:86–106
Verhofstadt E, Maertens M (2014b) Smallholder cooperatives and agricultural performance in Rwanda: do organizational differences matter? Agric Econ 45:39–52
Wollni M, Zeller M (2007) Do farmers benefit from participating in specialty markets and cooperatives? The case of coffee marketing in Costa Rica. Agric Econ 37:243–248
World Bank (2008) Agriculture for development, world development report. World Bank, Washington, DC
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Appendix
Appendix
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tefera, D.A., Bijman, J. (2019). Cooperatives in Modern Food Supply Chains: A Case Study of the Malt Barley Sector in Ethiopia. In: Windsperger, J., Cliquet, G., Hendrikse, G., Srećković, M. (eds) Design and Management of Interfirm Networks. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29245-4_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29245-4_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-29244-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-29245-4
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)