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• (Article) Contract farming for biofuels: a literature review

  01.10.2013
  An apparent contributory factor to the upward trend in food prices in recent years has been the rapid explosion in biofuel production in some countries, which has usually occurred as a result of government blending mandates and subsidies. Lacking suitable land in developing countries for large-scale operations, companies seeking supplies of appropriate feedstock have often turned to contract farming as a way of securing supplies. This article reviews the available literature covering this topic, noting that significant difficulties have been experienced with biofuel contract farming operations, with few, if any, real successes. These problems are attributed to a lack of understanding on the part of the companies of the capacities of smallholders, the general lack of experience of biofuel companies with contract farming including suitable price-setting methods, the impact of biofuel production on farmers’ food production, and, finally, the lack of appropriate policies. The enthusiasm for subsidizing the sector has contributed to the difficulties. The paper concludes that there is a need to re-examine the costs and benefits of subsidies and their impact on successful commercial operations involving small farmers. Further, companies need to take lessons from experiences with more traditional contract farming operations.

• (Article) Two islands - two outcomes: food, fruit, and fuel in multi-contractual farming supported by the tobacco industry

  01.10.2013
  The contract farming of seasonal crops raises the question of how farmers can be supported when they are not producing the contracted crop. Farmer incomes and relationships between company and farmers can be enhanced if the company can provide additional incomeearning opportunities. This approach is particularly pertinent in those developing countries where management, technical, and marketing linkages are weak. In addition, many farming communities have little access to short-term finance to fund their cropping cycle, apart from sometimes avaricious money lenders. The specific focus of this study is to introduce the recent experiences of five multi-contractual projects sponsored by two tobacco organizations: PT Sadhana Arifnusa Corporation (Sadhana) in Indonesia and the Southern Development Company (SDC) in Fiji. As tobacco is a six-month crop, both companies considered that broadening their cropping base during the ‘off season’ would provide additional income for their farmers. It would also offer additional employment to seasonal workers who are employed only during the delivery, processing, packing, and storage of crops. The outcomes of this paper can act as a template for a detailed analysis that can determine the successes and constraints of multi-cropping under contract, and the promotion of farmer-company relations, including how they can restrict side-selling, a major constraint of contract farming.

• (Article) Smallholder attrition in contract farming schemes in India: extent, causes, and concerns

  01.10.2013
  This paper maps the extent and causes of farmer exit from contract farming arrangements in southern India using survey data for five schemes: cotton, gherkins, papaya, marigold, and broiler chickens. The paper finds that farmer attrition is quite widespread and that poorer farmers from marginalized social groups are more likely to exit these arrangements. While this is an important policy concern, the study also distinguishes between voluntary exit, where the farmer opts out, versus involuntary exit, where the contracting firm drops the farmer as a supplier because of constraints in delivering quality produce, or the firm's interaction with the farmer forces the farmer out. The paper also highlights the episodic nature of farmer participation, wherein farmers leverage opportunities to contract occasionally as part of a dynamic portfolio of alternatives. The paper emphasizes that while involuntary exclusion is of serious concern, voluntary exit and episodic participation are perhaps less important issues from a policy perspective.

• (Article) The practice of contract farming in India: making it inclusive and effective

  01.10.2013
  Agricultural marketing reforms are central to changing the agricultural/agribusiness sector. The Amended APMC Act in India, which permitted contract farming, direct purchase from farmers, and setting up of private wholesale markets, was seen as the way forward to kick start the process of modernizing markets and giving better market access and choice to primary producers. The practice of contract farming, which is one of the new institutions as a result of the policy reforms, leaves much to be desired in India's smallholder context as there is exclusion of small farmers who make up most of the farming population. In this context, this paper examines the extent and nature of small producer exclusion, reasons thereof, and various policy options to encourage more inclusive and effective contract farming so that these mechanisms could be leveraged for inclusive and market-oriented sustainable agricultural development.

• (Article) Crossfire: ‘The rise in contract farming is likely to exclude smallholder farmers rather than benefit them’

  01.10.2013
  

• (Article) Editorial: The multi-faceted dimensions of contract farming

  01.10.2013
  

• (Article) Events

  01.02.2013
  

• (Article) Reviews

  01.02.2013
  

• (Article) Technical Reports: Setting up a food-processing unit Part 3: Materials for construction and equipment

  01.02.2013
  This is the third and final article on the decisions that face small-scale processors when starting a new business or when expanding to larger premises. The article focuses on the materials that are needed to construct food-processing buildings and equipment.

• (Article) The White Revolution and reordering of relations among the pastoralists of Gujarat: a case for pastoralist policies

  01.02.2013
  This paper introduces India's dairy policy before analysing some of the implications of this policy for the pastoralists of Gujarat State, illustrating the need for pastoralist-appropriate policies. The paper argues that on the basis of mounting ecological and economic data, dairy policy in India needs to consider pastoralist management systems and livelihoods and develop appropriate policies and programmes to support them. While the programmes have created important opportunities for increased earning potential for pastoralists, they have also led to negative consequences for food security, traditional livelihoods, and livestock diversity. A recognizable neo-liberal turn in Indian dairy policy will most likely amplify the negative impacts of the previous programme and potentially compromise existing best practices. The paper concludes with policy recommendations and a call to ground future policy processes with the normative and analytical right to adequate food framework.

• (Article) Biofortification: lessons from the Golden Rice project

  01.02.2013
  Biofortification is an umbrella term for a diverse range of projects and possibilities. It is best understood on three levels: as a range of technologies for developing micronutrient-dense crops; a development intervention to improve public health; and an idea that links agriculture, nutrition, and health in a particular way. This paper focuses on the Golden Rice project as a well-known example of biofortification. It show how two sets of questions – concerning effectiveness of Golden Rice as a delivery mechanism for vitamin A to malnourished populations and its acceptance by those populations as a rice variety and staple food item – have been narrowed down to parameters set by an increasingly polarized GM crop debate. It is not too late for these trends to be reversed, however. The Golden Rice project is a case study in the non-linearity of complex innovation processes, which exposes limitations of binaries such as ‘upstream’ and ‘downstream’. Recent developments point to the possibility of a more open debate about outstanding uncertainties and how they might be resolved.

• (Article) Value-chain analysis of sun-dried mukene in Uganda

  01.02.2013
  Marketing of mukene (Rastrineobola argentea), a freshwater lake sardine, has become a lucrative business in Uganda after decades of underutilization. However, little was known about its value chain which prompted a 20-day study at two selected landing sites on Lake Victoria in Uganda and several fish markets in Kampala. About 200 fisher-folk were interviewed to identify key stakeholders, linkages, and economic variables along the mukene value chain. Results indicated that 70 per cent of dried mukene was marketed for human consumption and 30 per cent for animal feed production. Boat owners incurred the highest inputs and local traders incurred the lowest. Although fisher-folk and processors influenced mukene quality, their profit margins were only 10 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, compared with boat owners/traders' profits of 90 per cent and 48 per cent for human consumption and animal feed, respectively. These key players along the mukene value chain played indispensable roles regardless of their profit margins.

• (Article) Using ICT for fish marketing: the EFMIS model in Kenya

  01.02.2013
  Small-scale fisheries in developing countries often perform sub-optimally owing to lack of vital market information, leading to inefficiencies, inequity, and post-harvest losses. The mobile phone, which is the fastest growing communications media in Africa, may be most suited for addressing market information gaps. The Enhanced Fish Market Information Service (EFMIS), an ICT pilot project based on mobile phones, has been implemented in Kenya's Lake Victoria fisheries for 3 years. The objective of the project is to enhance fish trade and incomes for the fisher community through improved access to market information. Through the system, data from fish landing sites and inland urban markets is continuously relayed to a central database where it is appropriately packaged into a format that users can access in real time by sending a query through mobile phone SMS. The system is automated and responds within 10 seconds. Market information is also disseminated through monthly electronic bulletins. The EFMIS model offers the potential to be adapted for application in other small-scale fisheries, drawing lessons learnt from this pilot.

• (Article) Climate change and livelihoods: perspectives from small-scale fishing communities in India

  01.02.2013
  This summary paper presents the outputs from a study undertaken by the author for the International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) to highlight the perspectives of selected marine fishing communities in India on climate change and its implications on their lives and livelihoods. The paper highlights the weakening livelihood context in marine fisheries and how this has a direct bearing on the causes and consequences of climate change as well as on the capacity of the fishers to undertake appropriate adoptive/mitigating strategies. It summarizes the factors of climate change and variability that have a relevance to the marine fishers, their causes and consequences, and the strategies adopted by the fishers to deal with them. It emphasizes the importance of community-based consultative processes to develop and implement climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, and suggests some measures to improve the current policy and institutional responses to cope with climate change.

• (Article) The global fisheries crisis: dispelling myths and misconceptions, and fishing for solutions

  01.02.2013
  Many authors have highlighted the crisis facing world fisheries and the threat this implies for the world economy, food supplies, and livelihoods. Several authors have diagnosed the problems (often simplified as ‘too many boats chasing too few fish’) and prescribed remedies (reducing the number of vessels or ‘fishing capacity’). In general both the diagnoses made and remedies prescribed emphasize the need to address environmental problems (over fishing, resource depletion, habitat destruction, etc.) using technical managerial approaches (rights-based management, Marine Protected Areas, etc.). These are often based on partial data, myths, and misconceptions. They also fail to address the human dimensions of fisheries, especially the human rights of communities whose livelihoods and food security depend on accessing living aquatic resources. The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication being developed by the FAO, along with related measures that link the promotion of best practices (for responsible fisheries), including ‘scale subsidiarity’, to the social development of fishing communities, would go a long way to resolving the global fisheries crisis while alleviating poverty and promoting sustainable development.

• (Article) What do food traceability crises in the North mean for people working in food chains in the global South?

  01.02.2013
  Arising from a recent scare in the UK relating to adulteration of beef with horsemeat in processed foods, a number of contributors discuss what implications this has for producers and exporters in developing countries. These contributions discuss similar scandals in Asia and southern Africa, and go beyond meat to milk, fresh fruit and vegetables, and other food products. They discuss how these events have led to drives not only to test the final product but also to monitor production and transportation methods, the costs of all of which are likely to be handed on to producers.

• (Article) Editorial: Problems in the meat and fish industries

  01.02.2013
  

• (Article) Events

  01.11.2012
  

• (Article) Reviews

  01.11.2012
  Grain Reserves and the Food Price Crisis: Selected Writings from 2008-2012 , by Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) reviewed by ANDREW W. SHEPHERDHandbook of Herbs and Spices, Volumes 1 and 2 (2nd edition) Edited by K.V. Peter reviewed by TONY SWETMAN

• (Article) Setting up a food-processing unit: Part 2: Design and layout of the production unit

  01.11.2012
  This is the second of three articles on the decisions that face small-scale processors when starting a new business or when expanding to a larger building. The article focuses on the design and layout of food production units. The third article will describe the materials that are needed to construct food processing buildings and equipment.