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Food Policy
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Article history:
Accepted 2 October 2008
Keywords:
Collective action
Agricultural marketing
Farmer groups
Social capital
Planned change initiatives
Tanzania
a b s t r a c t
This study aims to examine the extent to which certain characteristics and asset endowments of smallholder farmer groups facilitate collective action initiatives to improve group marketing performance. This
is approached through an evaluation of a government-led programme in Tanzania, which is attempting to
increase smallholder farmers incomes and food security through a market-oriented intervention. Findings suggest that more mature groups with strong internal institutions, functioning group activities,
and a good asset base of natural capital are more likely to improve their market situation. Gender composition of groups also affects group marketing performance, as an enabling factor for male-dominated
groups. Structural social capital in the form of membership in other groups and ties to external service
providers, and cognitive social capital in the form of intra-group trust and altruistic behaviour are not signicant factors in a groups ability to improve its market situation.
Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Introduction
In recent years, the importance of smallholder agriculture has
been greatly recognized. This growing recognition has led to two
major crosscurrents of theory and practice aimed at boosting Africas faltering agricultural economies. First, agricultural development will not occur without engaging smallholder farmers who
account for the overwhelming majority of actors in this sector
(Magingxa and Kamara, 2003; Diao and Hazell, 2004; Resnick,
2004). The second current is that the major obstacle facing smallholder-led agricultural growth is lack of market access, which proponents contend, will lead to increased incomes and food security,
more rural employment, and sustained agricultural growth (Dorward et al., 2003; Stiglitz, 2002; Poulton et al., 1998).
Market access proponents make a strong case that, for small
farmers to thrive in the global economy, it is necessary to create
an entrepreneurial culture in rural communities (Lundy et al.,
2002). This means shifting the focus from production-related programmes to more market-oriented interventions. This has placed
renewed attention on institutions of collective action, such as
farmer groups, as an efcient mechanism for enhancing marketing
performance (Kariuki and Place, 2005).
The primary aim of this study is to identify the underlying factors that enable smallholder producer groups to improve their
market situation. Specically, we aim to examine the extent to
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 571 331 1897.
E-mail addresses: james.barham@usda.gov, barhamjg@yahoo.com (J. Barham).
0306-9192/$ - see front matter Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2008.10.002
which certain group characteristics and asset endowments facilitate collective action initiatives to improve group marketing performance. This is approached through an evaluation of a
government-led programme in Tanzania, which aims to increase
smallholder farmers incomes and food security through a market-oriented intervention, and improve farmers marketing performance by enhancing their stocks of human and social capital. This
involves establishing new groups, strengthening existing groups,
providing skills training in marketing and entrepreneurship, and
linking these groups to other chain actors.
Collective action and social capital
Agrawal (2001) synthesized the works of several previous
authors (including Wade, 1988; Ostrom, 1990, 1992; Baland and
Platteau, 1996) in an effort to identify a common list of enabling
conditions for successful collective action outcomes in natural resource management. These conditions include: (i) small group size;
(ii) clearly dened boundaries; (iii) shared norms; (iv) past successful experiences; (v) appropriate leadership; (vi) interdependence
among group members; (vii) heterogeneity of endowments, homogeneity of identities and interests; and (viii) low levels of poverty.
The review of collective action theory parallels the social capital
literature. Uphoff and Wijayaratna (2000) highlight how structural
forms of social capital (roles, rules, procedures and social networks) facilitate mutually benecial collective action and how
cognitive forms of social capital (norms, values, attitudes and trust)
are conducive for mutually benecial collective action. Other
54
studies, such as Pretty and Ward (2001) and Krishna (2001), have
similarly shown how human and social capital formation have
been pivotal in solving many communities development problems, particularly in natural resource management.
While there is substantial evidence for the importance of social
capital in maintaining natural capital, fewer studies examine how
it is utilized for collective action to improve marketing performance. This is particularly apparent when examining how group
characteristics may inuence or determine marketing outcomes.
The studies that do emerge often examine higher-tier organizations, such as cooperatives or agribusiness enterprises (for example
Jones, 2004; Johnson et al., 2002). This paper contributes to research into the effects of social capital and other group characteristics on the marketing performance of lower-tier organizations
such as producer groups.
Study hypotheses
To assess the effect of the intervention on producer group outcomes, a pretestposttest research design was utilized (Johnson,
1998). The pretest observations (the rst round of interviews) were
conducted as the groups were undergoing training with the PAs. Six
to eight months later at the conclusion of the intervention, the same
groups underwent posttest assessment (the second round of interviews) to ascertain changes in their market situations.
Research methods
Conceptual model
A conceptual model was developed to understand the ow of
the planned change process. The model utilizes the terminology
and perspectives of cultural materialism (Harris, 1979) and tries
to separate the determining factors from the enabling or constraining factors that affect group marketing performance. As represented in Fig. 1, the wider and determinate infrastructure
encapsulates this planned changed initiative and includes such factors as smallholder groups farming systems, agro-ecological conditions, and their physical access to markets.
Farmer groups are represented under the social structure; this
includes a number of factors affecting a groups ability to enact
successful collective action initiatives such as the groups asset
congurations, composition and characteristics. The PAs intervene
to enhance human capital in the form of marketing skills, business
acumen and other training, represented by the solid line from the
PA to the social structure. The PAs also provide some groups with
market linkages to other chain actors; this is represented by the
dotted line to collective action initiatives and the lines connecting
PA intervention to market chain actors. Farmer groups also carry
out collective action initiatives without linkages from the PA, represented by the lines connecting collective action initiatives to the
market chain actors. The performance outcomes represent the extent to which groups have improved their market situation and resulted in positive livelihood outcomes.
Study sample
55
Infrastructure
Social Structure
Farmer Groups
Collective
Action
Initiatives
Group composition
and characteristics
Group assets
PA Intervention
Performance Outcomes
Improved market situation
and positive livelihood
outcomes
Table 1
Group study sample.
Table 2
Explanatory variables categorized by factor domains.
FAIDA
N
TIP
%
Sample total
Infrastructure
Social structure
PA intervention
Market access
Distance to market
Road conditions
Group assets
Wealth ranking
Education
Providers/Partners
Membership in other groups
Altruism
Intra-group trust (3 variables)
Partner agency
PA linkage
Sample size
16
18
34
Size of group
Mean
Range
32
1540
38
20150
35
Total membership
507
189
678
37
199
Agro-ecological factors
Commodity types
Reliable water source
Land
1185
29%
388
33%
project intervention. Each group was given a marketing performance rating ranging from 0 to 2, in the following manner:
Rating 0 No improvement. Groups were given this rating if,
according to their own assessment, the project intervention had
led to little meaningful or concrete improvement in their market
situation.
Rating 1 some improvement. Groups were given this rating
where they showed the ability to successfully put training into
practice. Such groups were able to provide concrete examples of
how their market situation had improved from participation in
the project.
Rating 2 large improvement. A few groups showed the ability to
improve their market situation with a level of success that separated them from the other groups. In most cases, these groups
showed striking market improvements by initiating several collective action initiatives.
Explanatory variables
Improved marketing performance is an outcome of a number of
endogenous and exogenous factors. A number of explanatory variables affecting MPR were identied a priori based on the literature
reviewed in the previous section.1 Table 2 categorizes the explanatory variables by the factor domains that relate to the studys conceptual model.
The Infrastructure domain takes into account physical market
access and agro-ecological factors, represented by ve variables:
distance to markets, road conditions, staple food crops, land, and
1
See Barham and Chitemi (2007) for detailed description of how the variables were
constructed.
Group composition/characteristics
Group maturity
Group size
Activity level
Gender categories
Leadership by sex
Group heterogeneity
Educational
Gender
Wealth
56
Table 3
Test of signicance using ANOVA and Pearsons R.
Explanatory variables
F statistic
Infrastructure
Market access
Distance to market
Road conditions
34
34
0.066
Agro-ecological Factors
Commodity types
Reliable water source
Land
34
34
32
Social structure
Group assets
Wealth ranking
Education
Providers/Partners
Membership in other groups
Altruism
General trust
Help trust
Money trust
34
34
34
32
34
32
32
32
Group composition/characteristics
Maturity
34
33
Size of groupa
Activity level
34
Gender categories
34
Leadership by sex
34
Group heterogeneity
Educational
Gender
Wealth
34
34
34
PA intervention
Partner agency
PA market linkages
34
34
R statistic
P value
Test
0.322
0.936
Pearsons R
ANOVA
0.097
0.005***
0.000***
0.596
ANOVA
ANOVA
Pearsons R
0.199
0.313
0.048
0.068
0.030
0.099
0.033
0.049
0.260
0.072*
0.788
0.710
0.867
0.590
0.859
0.792
Pearsons
Pearsons
Pearsons
Pearsons
Pearsons
Pearsons
Pearsons
Pearsons
0.281
0.045**
0.557
0.000***
0.747
0.108
ANOVA
Pearsons R
Pearsons R
ANOVA
Pearsons R
0.147
0.182
0.073
0.406
0.304
0.681
Pearsons R
Pearsons R
Pearsons R
0.085*
0.107
ANOVA
ANOVA
0.175
4.670
19.806
4.375
0.106
0.579
0.411
3.160
2.753
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
R
p < 0.10.
p < 0.05.
p < 0.01.
a
The size of group statistic excludes one group with 150 members because it acts
as an extreme outlier.
**
***
Infrastructure
Reliable water source
Eighty-four percent of the groups with market improvements
had a reliable water source. There is little question that when
Table 4
Infrastructure variables associated with improved marketing performance.
5
Three statements concerning intra-group trust were presented using a three-point
Likert scale, with participants responding that they: (1) agreed with the statement;
(2) felt neutral or middle about the statement; or (3) disagreed with the statement.
They responded to the following three statements: Most members in your group can
be trusted (General Trust); Most members in your group are willing to help if you
need it (Help Trust); In your group, members can generally trust each other in matters
of lending and borrowing money (Money Trust). These answers were then coded from
1 to 3 and aggregated to the group level to provide three general measurements of
intra-group trust.
6
The reliance on bivariate analyses for this study has its obvious shortcomings.
Such analyses can only describe the association of one independent variable to the
dependent variable, without accounting or controlling for the other independent
variables in the study. Unfortunately, due to the small sample size and large number
of independent variables to be tested, the use of multivariate analyses was concluded
to be an unreliable test to render statistically reliable results. To offset this, attempts
have been made in the discussion sections of this paper to explain how several of the
independent factors interact with one another to affect group marketing
performance.
7
Due to the small sample size (n = 34), all independent variables with a p value
below 0.10 are considered statistically signicant, to bring attention to variables that
warrant further examination.
8
The discussion of results focuses exclusively on statistically signicant factors
positively associated with improved group marketing performance. See Barham
(2007) for descriptive statistics on all independent variables tested in this study,
including a discussion on why certain variables were or were not found to be
statistically signicant factors in improving group marketing performance.
Explanatory variables
Market improvement
No
Yes
3
12
9
4
6
0
3
12
15
4
84
25
Commodity types
Cereals/legumes
Coffee
Livestock
Rice
Vegetables/fruit
10
2
3
0
0
4
0
1
1
7
0
1
1
1
3
10
2
3
0
0
4
1
2
2
10
29
33
40
100
100
% Improved
57
9
Artemisia (Artemisia annua) is a herbal plant that is processed into artemisinin,
used in the treatment of malaria.
Table 5
Social structure variables associated with improved marketing performance.
Explanatory variables
Marketing performance
rating
Market improvement
No
Activity level
0.53
1.46
2.17
0.53
Yes
Maturity
Newly formed groups
Existing groups
8
7
6
7
0
6
8
7
0.49
0.60
0.71
0.49
0.64
Education
6.6
7.1
7.6
6.6
7.2
% Improved
1.68
6
13
43
65
Table 6
PA Intervention variables associated with improved marketing performance.
Explanatory variables
Market improvement
No
Yes
% Improved
9
6
6
7
1
5
9
6
7
12
44
67
3
12
7
6
3
3
3
12
10
9
77
43
Group maturity
The maturity of the group refers to whether groups were newly
formed at the beginning of the project or already existing. Sixtyve percent of the existing groups (13 out of 20) were able to improve their market situation compared to fewer than half of the
newly formed groups (43%). This nding is associated with the
activity level variable, since those with maturity and functioning
group activities are better positioned to mobilize resources and
take advantage of emerging market opportunities than groups that
have just started and lack such experience. For the six newly
formed groups that did improve their market situation, four did
so by entering into contract arrangements with agribusinesses.
They were thus less in need of a cohesive group, and relied instead
on the strength and connections of their leaders, the right agroecological conditions, and the PAs help in establishing linkages.
Leadership by sex
The data show that groups with a greater ratio of male to female
leaders are more likely to improve their market situation. Furthermore, where the rest of the gender categories10 show a fairly even
mix of groups with and without improvement, in the category of
male-dominated groups, 75% of the groups (6 out of 8) showed improved marketing performance. Female-only groups are clearly often disadvantaged compared to their male counterparts when it
comes to marketing.
Education
The ndings show that groups with no market improvement
averaged fewer than seven years of schooling (i.e. primary education only), while groups with improvement averaged over seven
years of schooling (some secondary education). Given that this
intervention dealt primarily with training, groups with higher education levels were probably able to absorb more content and put it
into practice (Table 6).
10
See Barham (2007) for the full description of gender category variables.
58
PA Intervention
Partner agency and PA linkages
The two partner agencies had varying levels of success improving farmer groups marketing performance. TIP fared better than
FAIDA with two-thirds of its groups (67%) improving their situation, including ve with large improvements, whereas FAIDA saw
fewer than half of its groups (44%) improving, and only one large
improvement. TIP and FAIDA together were involved in actively
linking 13 groups to other chain actors, 10 of which (77%) improved their market situation. TIPs higher success rate can be explained by the fact that more of their groups had access to more
collective resources that could be harnessed to positively change
their market situation. More often than not, TIP groups were better
educated, had more internal cohesion, were endowed with more
natural assets, and worked with commodities that had greater
market potential.
This also explains why TIP had more opportunities to actively
link their groups to other chain actors. TIP initiated linkages of nine
farmers groups with other chain actors (seven led to an improved
market situation), whereas FAIDA initiated four farmer group linkages (three led to an improved market situation).
Hypotheses revisited
In this section, the study hypotheses are revisited to ascertain
the extent to which they can be supported or rejected based on
the results of the bivariate analyses.
Hypotheses relating to group assets
The study hypothesised that farmer groups will be better positioned to improve their marketing performance if the group has
some or all of the following attributes:
High level of trust among members (hypothesis 1);11
More altruistic rather than self-interested behaviour (hypothesis
2);
More ties to other organizations within and outside the community (hypothesis 3);
Lower levels of poverty (hypothesis 4).12
Beginning with poverty, bivariate analysis highlighted the
importance of natural assets water and commodity types as
signicant factors in improved marketing performance. Likewise,
groups with more years of schooling were more likely to improve
their market situation. Surprisingly, group wealth ranking (a measure of groups physical and nancial assets) did not prove to be a
signicant factor in an improved market situation. These ndings
partially support hypothesis 4, which can be restated as follows:
Better educated groups with a good stock of natural capital and
favourable agro-ecological conditions will be better positioned to
improve their marketing performance.
A similar conclusion, however, cannot be put forward in relation to the three social capital hypotheses. In the bivariate analysis,
neither the proxy indicators for cognitive social capital (intragroup trust and altruistic behaviour) nor those for structural social
capital (membership in other groups and providers/partners) were
statistically signicant factors in improved marketing performance. These ndings do not, however, reject the hypothesis that
trust among members is an important attribute for successful col-
11
The rst three hypotheses were tested using: general trust, help trust, money
trust, and altruism (cognitive social capital); and providers/partners and membership
in other groups (structural social capital).
12
This hypothesis was tested by using the following variables: wealth ranking;
reliable water source; land; education; and commodity types.
Group size did not have any effect on group marketing performance, and there is no evidence in this study to support the
hypothesis that smaller farmer groups will be better positioned
to improve their market situation over larger groups. In regard to
hypothesis 6, it is clear that the group maturity and activity level
variables are positively associated with a groups ability to improve
its market situation. The association was particularly strong for the
activity level variable. A set of rules must be followed in order to
run successful group activities, and especially with multiple group
activities. The positive association of group maturity to improved
marketing performance bolsters this nding. A far greater number
of the groups in existence before the project intervention was able
to implement collective action initiatives to improve their market
situation. Unlike new groups, mature groups had a set of institutions to guide group behaviour. The combination of functioning
internal institutions and successful group activities provides the
condence for groups to take on new initiatives, and enables them
to undertake PA training and put it into practice.
There is no evidence from this study sample to support the
hypotheses that heterogeneity of endowments (hypothesis 7) or
homogeneity of identities (hypothesis 8) will better position
groups to improve their market situation.
A nal important nding that does not t neatly within the
hypotheses is that groups with a higher proportion of male to female leaders were more likely to improve their market situation.
Many female-only and female-dominated groups nd themselves
disadvantaged compared to their male counterparts when searching for and accessing new markets for existing products, and possibly even more so in pursuing new products, as would be found
under contract arrangements. Women generally assume more of
the responsibility for their households production and reproduction activities and simply do not have time to spend searching
out new market opportunities. This is compounded by the fact that
women do not have the same socio-political networks as men,
which hinders their access to new resources and services that
could lead to new market opportunities.
Study conclusions
In the nal summation of these ndings, it is appropriate to return to the studys conceptual model. Within the infrastructure domain, the two driving forces for improved marketing performance
are determined by the commodities being promoted (e.g., growing
13
Hypothesis 6 was tested using the maturity and activity level variables.
Hypotheses 7 and 8 were tested using the variables: leadership by sex; gender
composition categories; and three heterogeneity variables (education, gender,
wealth).
14
non-staple food crops) and whether or not the groups have a reliable water source. The ndings support the premise that groups
endowed with favourable agro-ecological factors, such as a reliable
water source, good lands and soils, and crops with inherent market
potential, are far better positioned to improve their market situation. Groups lacking these natural assets will nd their marketing
alternatives severely limited.
Variables in the social structure domain can play an enabling
role in a groups ability to take advantage of market opportunities.
The enabling factors found here to be positively associated with
improved marketing performance included: group maturity, number of group activities, a higher proportion of male leaders, and
better educated groups.
The PA intervention in the form of direct market linkages was
also an important factor in group market success. However, in
most cases the PA was able to link these groups to agribusinesses
because they were endowed with assets (water, land and soils) that
made the partnership worthwhile for the agribusiness, bolstering
the premise of the primacy of infrastructure.
59
15
See Barham (2007) for a more lengthy discussion on programmatic and policy
recommendations for engaging smallholder farmers in agro-enterprise development
initiatives.