Regoverning Markets: A Place for Small-scale Producers in Modern Agrifood Chains?

The internationalisation of food retailing and manufacturing that has swept through the agri-food system in industrialised countries is now moving into middle- and low-income countries with large rural populations, causing significant institutional changes that affect small producer agriculture and the livelihoods of rural communities the world over. Farmers and policy-makers are struggling to keep up with the wave of new demands being made on their supply chains by food manufacturers and retailers. In the process, new questions and challenges are arising: Can small-scale farmers organise to meet the demands of corporate giants? Should governments liberalise Foreign Direct Investment in the retail sector and expose numerous small shops to competition from multinationals? Can distribution systems be adapted to make markets work better for the poor? This book offers a contemporary look at what happens when the modernisation of food supply chains comes face to face with the livelihoods of rural and poor people. The authors are drawn from eighteen countries participating in the 'Regoverning Markets' programme, which aims to not only improve our understanding of the way modernisation and re-structuring of food supply chains is affecting food production and distribution systems, but also identify best-practice in involving small-scale producers in supermarket supply chains, and ascertain the barriers to inclusion which need to be removed. The book is aimed primarily at academics but will also appeal to practitioners in developing countries, civil servants, policy-makers and NGOs.

Dr Bill Vorley is with the International Institute for Environment and Development, which has a focus on policy and market research for sustainable agriculture and rural development. He has coordinated the Regoverning Markets programme since 2003. Previously, he was with the Institute for Agriculture Trade and Policy in Minneapolis, Minnesota as director of the Environment and Agriculture Programme. Dr Andrew Fearne is Principal Research Fellow at Kent Business School (KBS), University of Kent, where he is the Director of the Centre for Supply Chain Research. He is also the founding editor of the International Journal of Supply Chain Management. Derek Ray was a senior lecturer in agricultural economics in higher education before becoming a freelance writer and editor. He has lived and worked in the UK, and abroad in Malawi and the Sudan, and on projects in countries such as Kenya, Uzbekistan, Russia and India.