This guide was published by the 'Competitive African Cotton Initiative' (COMPACI) in collaboration with other partners as such as Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), AISP II. It is a powerful tool for linking farmers to buyers, in an increasingly concentrated agri-food sector, and buyers to supply sources in ever-more competitive agricultural markets. The purpose of this guide is to provide a practical and process-oriented approach for a sound planning and implementation of contract farming (CF) schemes. This guide has been developed as a hands-on and process-oriented approach to serve practitioners involved in starting up, managing or supporting the initiation and implementation of contract farming schemes. While giving orientation for a focused approach, the guide remains flexible leaving the selection of tools and sequencing of activities to the discretion of users according to the reality on the ground. The proposed approaches are applicable to any type of product and situation. This depends on whether users are capable of using it in a flexible way, as well as adapting the tools and recommendations to the specific local situation and the ever-faster changing production and market contexts in developing countries.