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Strengthening producer organizations to increase market access of smallholder farmers in Uganda

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  • Hill, Ruth Vargas
  • Maruyama, Eduardo
  • Olapade, Markus
  • Frölich, Markus

Abstract

Smallholder agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is largely exposed to pervasive market failures, translating into missed opportunities and sub-optimal economic behavior. These failures can partly be traced to the importance of economies of scale in procuring inputs and marketing produce, where smallholders face disproportionately high transaction costs. Producer organizations could help to lessen transaction costs; however, only a few farmers in Uganda sell through them. We introduce two interventions aimed at promoting marketing via producer organizations: cash on delivery, and information on sales, and analyze their impacts in an RCT design: We find that providing cash on delivery increases the probability that a member chooses to sell through the group, and hence the volumes bulked by each group. This increase in volumes appears to have enabled groups to secure higher prices for their produce. No significant effect could be found for providing information on sales.

Suggested Citation

  • Hill, Ruth Vargas & Maruyama, Eduardo & Olapade, Markus & Frölich, Markus, 2021. "Strengthening producer organizations to increase market access of smallholder farmers in Uganda," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(3), pages 436-464, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:agrerw:v:50:y:2021:i:3:p:436-464_3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Rao, Manaswini & Shenoy, Ashish, 2023. "Got (clean) milk? Organization, incentives, and management in Indian dairy cooperatives," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 708-722.
    2. Xinyi Li & Junichi Ito, 2025. "Multiple roles of agricultural cooperatives in improving farm technical efficiency: A case study of rural Gansu, China," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(2), pages 424-444, April.
    3. Shantanu Bhunia & Piyush Kumar Singh, 2025. "Producer organizations in the last 25 years: a bibliometric analysis and meta-review of the literature," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness

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