Study title

The research subjects of this study were poor African farmers and the marketing institutions that are available to them. These institutions may be any of a range of marketing institutions, from single individuals who serve as intermediaries between farmers and markets, who buy agricultural output at the farm gates and sell in town, to organizations such as marketing cooperatives or commercial retailers. The basic data this study required needed to describe these two groups. Then, the study needed to identify the linkages, both formal and informal, that existed between them. A random sampling procedure was only needed to identify the first group. The second group, the marketing institutions, was given by the first. All data was collected by using surveys. The relevant basic variables were quite standard for socioeconomic studies. To capture social mobility, in particular transitions into or out of poverty, it wass desirable to use panel data. To economize on data collection and generate synergies with existing studies, the study was linked to other socioeconomic studies under way in East Africa, conducted by ICRISAT in Nairobi, Kenya. These studies were conducted in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Malawi. The study sites differed with regards to key variables, in particular socioeconomic variables, such as market access, opportunities for agricultural commercialization, access to off-farm income, average poverty levels, and access to external social safety-nets programs (like Food-For-Work), while they were similar with regards to predominant livelihoods, i.e., having a sedentary population engaged in pure cropping, or mixed crop-livestock systems. This study complemented the other studies by collecting data on vertical social networks and elite capture of agricultural marketing cooperatives.