How can sector governance models drive sustainability performance in smallholder-dominated agricultural sectors?

Reports/papers (non-specific)
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Language:
English
Published: April 2015
ISBN: 9781784311599
Product code:16583IIED

Governance of agricultural sectors and commodity markets can have significant influence on their performance, and good governance is key to achieving ‘sector quality’. High quality sectors are resilient in the face of market volatility and climate change; have a net positive impact on natural capital and quality of life in rural communities; and have a good product reputation on world markets. High quality sectors support progress towards ‘farm quality’ – whereby farmers (and their workers) earn a decent living; are adaptive, resilient and innovative; produce at optimum productivity and product quality levels; and that farming has a positive social and environmental impact.

In a liberalised world economy there has been a general shift away from intervention in and governance of markets, as a reaction against the failed models that existed before liberalisation, many of which were associated with rent seeking, patronage and government mismanagement. Instead, sector management has been left to individual value chain participants. This has created ‘islands of success’ – limiting the scope to a smaller number of producers and a smaller proportion of the production base, and limiting the longevity of interventions. This has led to a net loss in the sector of resilience, natural capital, and quality of life in rural communities.

This paper explores the drivers and potential benefits of sector governance models in enabling the transition of smallholder-dominated agricultural sectors towards sustainability; the different forms of sector governance models and market governance mechanisms that exist; their strengths and weaknesses in relation to promoting sector quality; and key success factors that should be borne in mind when designing and implementing sector governance models in current economic and market realities.~ 

Cite this publication

Blackmore, E., Vorley, B., Molenaar, J., Gorter, J., Heilbron, L., Simons, L. and Dallinger, J. (2015). How can sector governance models drive sustainability performance in smallholder-dominated agricultural sectors?. .
Available at https://www.iied.org/16583iied