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Elusive Empowerment: Price Information and Disintermediation in Soybean Markets in Malwa, India

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  • Richa Kumar

Abstract

type="main"> Price information provision and disintermediation have often been considered means to empower farmers, since lack of information and multiple intermediaries are seen as major obstacles preventing farmers from obtaining a higher price for their produce. Using the example of soybean in Malwa, central India, which is a cash crop that links farmers to global consumers, this article argues that the very expectation of disintermediation in the soybean supply chain is misleading. India's position in these global networks puts farmers and intermediaries in Malwa in the position of price receivers: they are unable to influence the global price of soybean or manipulate its local price in any way. In this context, providing price information has negligible impact on the final price obtained by farmers. The potential for empowerment has to be understood more broadly, by mapping out the ways in which power is exercised by various actors in the marketplace — one of which is the determination of the quality of a farmer's crop. This article maps such possibilities by examining how norms regarding quality in soybean are created and enforced, and how they are influenced by broader logics that go beyond the soybean marketplace itself.

Suggested Citation

  • Richa Kumar, 2014. "Elusive Empowerment: Price Information and Disintermediation in Soybean Markets in Malwa, India," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(6), pages 1332-1360, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:45:y:2014:i:6:p:1332-1360
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/dech.12131
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Skidmore, Marin & Baylis, Kathy & Arends-Kuenning, Mary P. & Michelson, Hope C., 2017. "The Effect of Intermediary Market Power on Grain Quality in India," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 259174, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
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