Sustainable Food Value Chains Knowledge Platform

Smallholder farmer participation in modernization of a food system - The dairy value chain in Zambia

2017

This report explores whether farm assets determine the participation of smallholder dairy farmers in sales to Milk Collection Centres (MCC) and how their duration as MCC suppliers affects their accumulation of farm capital and technology. A survival analysis approach used constructed panel data for dairy farmers over a 12-year period. Participation in MCC value chains is found to be determined by location, training and cooperative membership, thus having a mixed effect on the inclusion of smallholder producers. Duration as an MCC supplier is correlated with accumulation of capital and changes in technology. The implications are that policy-makers need to facilitate smallholder farmers in engaging in collective action and accessing modern infrastructure.

 

Countries: Zambia
Commodities: Cow milk
Topics: Farm/firm-level upgrading, Governance (linkage) upgrading, Business model
Personal author: David Neven, Thomas Reardon, Ricardo Hernandez, Gelson Tembo
Authoring organization: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Type: Case study
Format: Document
References (Download): EN