Contract farming schemes often amplify existing patterns of socio-economic differentiation. In Zimbabwe, processes differentiation were underway before the current expansion contract and they have deepened through Fast Track Land Reform process. This article examines how pre-existing dynamics shape forms adopted, as well which groups farmers gain access on what terms. Social partly explains out...

Abstract Since the early 2000s, border regions of Russian Far East have seen rapid growth in large-scale Chinese agriculture through contract-farming arrangements. This article, drawing on archival and ethnographic findings, focuses contract relations between agribusinesses small farmers as a labour regime, unusual context. It argues that practices informal subcontracting, mediation governance ...

In the future the Mallee is going to be hot and dry. Farming in the Mallee is going to be very profitable sometimes, middling profitable in some years and not profitable at all at times as has always been the case. In 10 years time there will be less Mallee farmers; they will be farming a little differently to now; and most will earn a good living. The scale of operations will be greater. The r...

Since independence, different institutional arrangements have been tried to reorganize the land and production relations for bringing change in farming systems and enhancing crop yield of small farmers. But, these interventions have not been successful in bringing any meaningful improvement. Non-viability of small landholdings, inadequacies in the availability of inputs, poor extension and infr...

Institutional innovations are increasingly seen as key to achieving not only agricultural growth, by overcoming market failures, but also to ensure that poor smallholders also benefit from this process. This paper analyses institutional arrangements for vegetable marketing in East Africa from a transaction cost perspective. Marketing of vegetables is still dominated by spot markets with some, b...