Contract Farming in Developing Countries

“This book provides a much-needed empirically-grounded perspective on the practice and implications of contract farming based on Dr. Narayanan’s sustained research engagement in this domain in India. It examines the nature and dynamics of contract farming, including the role of the state, in a very refreshing manner.”—Sukhpal Singh, Professor, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad

“Dr. Narayanan’s important and meticulous peace-making contribution to the field of contract agriculture develops a systemic, comparative institutional frame tested in India across a generation of experience. Heterogeneity, dynamism, multi-scales, and context all matter. This book is essential reading for progress in this fractious field.”—Barbara Harriss-White, Emeritus Professor of Development Studies, Oxford University

Contract farming is an institutional arrangement between farmers and businesses to produce and transact agricultural commodities at predetermined prices and conditions, and it has recently received a heightened amount of attention despite it being a relatively old phenomenon. A new wave of agricultural industrialization and the emergence of large-scale food retailing in developing countries may be precipitating the unprecedented shift in favor of contract farming.  

This open access book identifies the methodological differences across disciplines that have generated a false binary in discussions of contract farming. The author explains the importance of adopting a more integrated theoretical perspective, providing insights into the ways in which this can reconcile conflicting positions. Given the immense diversity of contracting schemes, commodities and contexts—as well as the substantial regional differences in contract farming experiences across a range of outcomes—a syncretic understanding of contract farming is essential to the evaluation of the promise and perils of contract farming. This book proposes a way forward that is holistic in nature, framing contract farming within a comparative institutional analysis so that it can better accommodate multidisciplinary priorities.

Sudha Narayanan is Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. She holds a PhD from Cornell University, where she specialized in agricultural economics.