2019 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Agricultural cooperatives in Madagascar: impact on smallholders and rural development
| Project/Area Number |
18K05847
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
ラランディソン ツィラヴ 京都大学, 経済学研究科, 特定講師 (60807478)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | agricultural cooperative / rural development / Madagascar / agri-food systems / peasant farming / vanilla / commodity chain analysis |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Up until the 1990s, cooperatives were largely absent from the mainstream international development agenda. Now, we are witnessing a growing consensus that agricultural cooperatives (coops) are needed to bring about sustainable rural development in developing countries. At the same time, a revival of coops, of various forms, has been taking place in sub-Saharan Africa. A significant part of that trend is multinational corporations in the food industries (MNCs) directly creating and partnering with coops that handle export cash crops. This study aims to take a closer look at these newly-formed relations between MNCs and coops to disentangle what these - what I would call “corporate-cooperative arrangements” (CCAs) - are and why they happen now. The study’s preliminary findings reveal that coops are part of MNCs’ new procurement strategies that involve complete overhauls of their supply chain that put them in direct contact with peasant producers. Considering the asymmetric power relations and peasant farmers’ positions within the wider economic hierarchy, these CCAs may undermine their struggle for autonomy, which is often one of the main reasons for joining a coop, as they are drawn into new relations of dependency. This raises concerns about what happens when coops are becoming controlled by MNCs. What is left for the peasants involved in export markets to negotiate a better deal when the institution that is supposed to do that is owned by the group that needs to be protected against?
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The research focuses on the case of vanilla cooperatives in Madagascar where there has been a recent rise in arrangements between cooperatives and international buyers. Data collection could be well-carried out thanks to the collaboration of scholars and practitioners in Madagascar and France. Data collected include interviews with representatives of key actors in the vanilla industry such as farmers, coop leaders and managers, vanilla collectors, export company and international buyer representatives, and non-governmental and government officials which were conducted in August and September 2019; archival documents, corporate reports, government statistics and other publications. Notes of the preliminary findings were presented at conferences and a draft paper was presented at a writing workshop.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Collect and analyze supplementary field data in Madagascar. Present findings at conferences and seminars. Submit a paper for a peer-reviewed journal publication.
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