Populations

Dataset

EPAR Research Brief #86
Poultry Markets in West Africa: Senegal
Publication Date: 05/24/2010
Type: Research Brief
Abstract

This report provides an overview of poultry market trends in Senegal as compared to the wider West African region. The primary sources for this analysis include the 2006 FAO-Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) poultry sector review and a 2004 report from the FAO Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative. We find that poultry production in Senegal takes place in rural areas throughout the country and in commercial operations near urban centers. Senegal implemented a ban on all poultry imports in 2006 in response to avian influenza and pressure from domestic producers. The 2006 poultry import ban has stimulated new growth in domestic production, and the country now produces almost 100 percent of its consumption. Analysts predict that the potential of the domestic market to absorb increased poultry production is quite large.  If given support to overcome production constraints, smallholder poultry keepers and commercial operators have the potential to increase supply in response to growing domestic demand.

Research Brief
EPAR Technical Report #60
Smallholder Contract Farming in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
Publication Date: 03/05/2010
Type: Literature Review
Abstract

In recent years, product supply chains for agricultural goods have become increasingly globalized. As a result, greater numbers of smallholder farmers in South Asia (SA) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) participate in global supply chains, many of them through contract farming (CF). CF is an arrangement between a farmer and a processing or marketing firm for the production and supply of agricultural products, often at predetermined prices. This literature review finds empirical evidence that demonstrates that the economic and social benefits of CF for smallholder farmers are mixed. A number of studies suggest that CF may improve farmer productivity, reduce production risk and transaction costs, and increase farmer incomes. However, critics caution that CF may undermine farmers’ relative bargaining power and increase health, environmental, and financial risk through exposure to monopsonistic markets, weak contract environments, and unfamiliar agricultural technologies. There is consensus across the literature that CF has the best outcomes for farmers when farmers have more bargaining power to negotiate the terms of the contract. In reviewing the literature on CF, we find a number of challenges to comparing studies and evaluating outcomes across contracts. This literature review summarizes empirical findings and analyses regarding contract models and best practices to increase farmers’ bargaining power and decrease contract default.

Literature Review