ABSTRACT
Small-farm agriculture has been presented as a growth-equity ‘win–win’, and this has encouraged a resurgence of interest in smallholder agriculture in the poverty reduction debate. But making small farms effective agents of wealth creation is quite a challenge for governments during a period of globalization and market liberalization. The opportunities for smallholder farming may be restricted by the costs of dealing with modern markets. There are concerns that the evolving structures of food chains, characterized by the concentration of market power in the hands of large processors and retailers, and the new standards associated with modern chains, can work against the interests of small- to medium-scale producers and workers. This can be either through creating barriers to market entry or worsening the terms on which they engage in trade.
