IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/agecon/v38y2008i3p251-266.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Quality control in nonstaple food markets: evidence from India

Author

Listed:
  • Marcel Fafchamps
  • Ruth Vargas Hill
  • Bart Minten

Abstract

Using original survey data collected on growers, traders, processors, markets, and village communities, we will compare the situation in four states: Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Orissa. We examine the way that information about crop attributes is conveyed (or not) along the value chain. We find that little information circulates about unobservable crop characteristics. Growers receive a price premium when they dry, grade, and pack their produce, but we find no evidence that information about crop salubrity or agricultural practices circulates through the value chain or that growers are encouraged to follow specific agricultural practices for quality purposes. Market infrastructure is deficient regarding sanitation, with few public toilets, inadequate drainage, and no coordinated pest control.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcel Fafchamps & Ruth Vargas Hill & Bart Minten, 2008. "Quality control in nonstaple food markets: evidence from India," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 38(3), pages 251-266, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:38:y:2008:i:3:p:251-266
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1574-0862.2008.00297.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-0862.2008.00297.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1574-0862.2008.00297.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Johannes Hörner, 2002. "Reputation and Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(3), pages 644-663, June.
    2. Marcel Fafchamps, 2004. "Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Theory and Evidence," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262062364, April.
    3. A. Banerji & J.V. Meenakshi, 2004. "Buyer Collusion and Efficiency of Government Intervention in Wheat Markets in Northern India: An Asymmetric Structural Auctions Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 86(1), pages 236-253.
    4. Marcel Fafchamps & Ruth Vargas Hill & Bart Minten, 2008. "Quality control in nonstaple food markets: evidence from India," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 38(3), pages 251-266, May.
    5. Jeffrey M. Perloff & Steven C. Salop, 1985. "Equilibrium with Product Differentiation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 52(1), pages 107-120.
    6. Prema‐Chandra Athukorala & Sisira Jayasuriya, 2003. "Food Safety Issues, Trade and WTO Rules: A Developing Country Perspective," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(9), pages 1395-1416, September.
    7. Aparna Sawhney, 2005. "Quality Measures in Food Trade: The Indian Experience," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 329-348, March.
    8. Storm, Servaas, 1997. "Agriculture under trade policy reform: A quantitative assessment for India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 425-436, March.
    9. Ramaswami, B. & Balakrishnan, P., 2002. "Food prices and the efficiency of public intervention: the case of the public distribution system in India," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 27(5-6), pages 419-436.
    10. Marcel Fafchamps & Ruth Vargas Hill, 2005. "Selling at the Farmgate or Traveling to Market," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(3), pages 717-734.
    11. Arne Bigsten & Paul Collier & Stefan Dercon & Marcel Fafchamps & Bernard Gauthier & Jan Willem Gunning & Abena Oduro & Remco Oostendorp & Cathy Patillo & Måns Soderbom & Francis Teal & Albert Zeufack, 2000. "Contract flexibility and dispute resolution in African manufacturing," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(4), pages 1-37.
    12. Timothy Conley & Udry Christopher, 2001. "Social Learning Through Networks: The Adoption of New Agricultural Technologies in Ghana," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(3), pages 668-673.
    13. Thomas Reardon & C. Peter Timmer & Christopher B. Barrett & Julio Berdegué, 2003. "The Rise of Supermarkets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1140-1146.
    14. Singh, Sukhpal, 2002. "Contracting Out Solutions: Political Economy of Contract Farming in the Indian Punjab," 2002 ASAE 3rd International Conference, October 18-20, Jaipur, India 294714, Asian Society of Agricultural Economists (ASAE).
    15. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1977. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(3), pages 297-308, June.
    16. Fafchamps, Marcel, 1996. "The enforcement of commercial contracts in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 427-448, March.
    17. Reardon, Thomas & Barrett, Christopher B., 2000. "Agroindustrialization, globalization, and international development: An overview of issues, patterns, and determinants," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 23(3), pages 195-205, September.
    18. Fafchamps, Marcel & Minten, Bart, 2001. "Property Rights in a Flea Market Economy," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(2), pages 229-267, January.
    19. Kirit S. Parikh & N.S.S. Narayana & Manoj Panda & A. Ganesh Kumar, 1997. "Agricultural trade liberalization: growth, welfare and large country effects," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 17(1), pages 1-20, October.
    20. Parikh, Kirit S. & Narayana, N. S. S. & Panda, Manoj & Kumar, A. Ganesh, 1997. "Agricultural trade liberalization: growth, welfare and large country effects," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 17(1), pages 1-20, October.
    21. Theodosios B. Palaskas & Barbara Harriss-White, 1996. "The identification of market exogeneity and market dominance by tests instead of assumption: An application to Indian material," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 8(1), pages 111-123.
    22. Singh, Sukhpal, 2002. "Contracting Out Solutions: Political Economy of Contract Farming in the Indian Punjab," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(9), pages 1621-1638, September.
    23. repec:bla:devpol:v:21:y:2003:i:5-6:p:627-639 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bart Minten & Anneleen Vandeplas & Yashodhan Ghorpade & Johan F.M. Swinnen, 2010. "Horticulture Wholesale Trade and Governance in India," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 5(1), pages 113-136, April.
    2. Minten, Bart & Reardon, Thomas & Vandeplas, Anneleen, 2009. "Linking urban consumers and rural farmers in India: A comparison of traditional and modern food supply chains," IFPRI discussion papers 883, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. repec:lic:licosd:28811 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Sebastian Kunte & Meike Wollni & Claudia Keser, 2017. "Making it personal: breach and private ordering in a contract farming experiment," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 44(1), pages 121-148.
    5. Nalini ARUMUGAM & Mohamed Arshad FATIMAH & Eddie F.C. CHIEW & Mohamed ZAINALABIDIN, 2010. "Supply chain analysis of fresh fruits and vegetables (FFV): Prospects of contract farming," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 56(9), pages 435-442.
    6. Pagare, Dewang & Biswas, Indranil & Agrahari, Amit & Ghosh, Sriparna, 2023. "A small farmer’s market choice in the presence of multiple markets: The Indian case," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 311(2), pages 739-753.
    7. Barrett, Christopher B., 2008. "Smallholder market participation: Concepts and evidence from eastern and southern Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 299-317, August.
    8. Bellemare, Marc F. & Bloem, Jeffrey R., 2018. "Does contract farming improve welfare? A review," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 259-271.
    9. Swinnen Johan & Vandeplas Anneleen, 2012. "Rich Consumers and Poor Producers: Quality and Rent Distribution in Global Value Chains," Journal of Globalization and Development, De Gruyter, vol. 2(2), pages 1-30, January.
    10. Schipmann, Christin & Qaim, Matin, 2011. "Supply chain differentiation, contract agriculture, and farmers’ marketing preferences: The case of sweet pepper in Thailand," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 667-677.
    11. Koushik Das, 2014. "General Equilibrium Analysis of Strategic Trade," Foreign Trade Review, , vol. 49(3), pages 219-245, August.
    12. Schipmann, Christin & Qaim, Matin, 2011. "Supply chain differentiation, contract agriculture, and farmers’ marketing preferences: the case of sweet pepper in Thailand," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 108349, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    13. Sommarat Chantarat & Christopher Barrett, 2012. "Social network capital, economic mobility and poverty traps," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 10(3), pages 299-342, September.
    14. Adu-Gyamfi Poku & Regina Birner & Saurabh Gupta, 2018. "Making Contract Farming Arrangements Work in Africa’s Bioeconomy: Evidence from Cassava Outgrower Schemes in Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-21, May.
    15. Reardon, Thomas & Barrett, Christopher B. & Berdegué, Julio A. & Swinnen, Johan F.M., 2009. "Agrifood Industry Transformation and Small Farmers in Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 1717-1727, November.
    16. Ferrali, Romain, 2012. "The Maghribi industrialists: contract enforcement in the Moroccan industry, 1956-82," Economic History Working Papers 45680, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    17. repec:ags:aaea22:335470 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Andersson, Camilla I.M. & Kiria, Christine G. & Qaim, Matin & Rao, Elizaphan J.O., 2013. "Following up on smallholder farmers and supermarkets," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 158142, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    19. Fafchamps, Marcel & Gabre-Madhin, Eleni Z., 2006. "Agricultural markets in Benin and Malawi," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 1(1), pages 1-28, November.
    20. Miyata, Sachiko & Minot, Nicholas & Hu, Dinghuan, 2009. "Impact of Contract Farming on Income: Linking Small Farmers, Packers, and Supermarkets in China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(11), pages 1781-1790, November.
    21. Assefa, Thomas Woldu & Minten, Bart, 2015. "Can agricultural traders be trusted? Evidence from urban coffee markets in Ethiopia:," ESSP working papers 72, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:agecon:v:38:y:2008:i:3:p:251-266. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.