Choosing the right strategies for increasing farmers’ market power: instruments put to the test
Report by CSA for europAfrica: towards food sovereignty.
The Strategies for increasing farmers’ market power can be collective or individual. The collective strategies are based on instruments such as market discipline (aimed at managing the supply), pooling production (in order to negotiate its sale collectively), cooperative integration of the commodity value chain (i.e., getting involved in processing and distribution so as to have better control over the whole chain), etc. The more individual strategies entail searching for market niches and having direct access to consumers.
The aim of this publication is to give farmers theoretical and practical foundations for setting up and wielding strategies to increase their market power. The theoretical considerations will improve their understanding of the various instruments by explaining the type of mechanism, aims, implementation, and advantages and disadvantages of each instrument. Concrete examples give farmers a fuller understanding of how the various instruments were and can be implemented, especially of the conditions under which they have been implemented, the outcomes of their use and the benefits and problems that have resulted for the farmers themselves.
Report: