Contract farming scheme for rubber production in Western region of Ghana: why do farmers side sell?

Contract farming guarantees smallholder farmers a reliable market, allow them to access inputs and technical support, and thus improve their welfare. However, side selling is a major threat to the promotion and development of contract farming in Sub-Saharan Africa, including in Ghana. While there is growing interest in addressing this issue for food crops and other tree crops, particularly coffee, there is limited literature on this subject for rubber. Against this background, our paper contributes to filling this knowledge gap by answering the research question “Why do smallholder farmers engage in side selling?” using primary data from 370 rubber farmers participating in an outgrower scheme in Western region of Ghana. A binary Probit regression model is applied in the empirical analysis. We find that 20% of the rubber farmers engaged in contract farming are involved in side selling. The results show that contractor’s delays in payment, delays in weighing latex and farmers’ difficulty in getting truck to transport latex to sale point are positively correlated with side selling behaviour while farmers’ age and access to extension services decrease their likelihood of engaging in side selling. To curb side selling behaviour among rubber farmers, it is important that the contractor addresses the transaction related challenges faced by farmers.

合约农业为小农提供了稳定的销售市场，使其能够获取生产投入与技术支持，进而提升其福祉。然而，私售行为（side selling）是撒哈拉以南非洲（包括加纳）合约农业推广与发展的主要威胁。尽管学界对粮食作物与其他木本作物（尤其是咖啡）的私售问题治理关注度日益提升，但针对橡胶作物相关议题的研究仍较为匮乏。在此背景下，本研究通过使用加纳西部370名参与种植户外包计划（outgrower scheme）的橡胶种植户的一手数据，解答“小农为何会从事私售行为？”这一研究问题，以填补这一知识空白。本研究在实证分析中采用二元Probit回归模型（binary Probit regression model）。研究发现，参与合约农业的橡胶种植户中，有20%存在私售行为。结果表明，合同方付款延迟、胶乳称重延误，以及农户难以找到运输胶乳至售卖点的货车，均与私售行为呈显著正相关；而农户年龄与农技推广服务（extension services）可及性则会降低其从事私售行为的概率。为遏制橡胶种植户的私售行为，合同方需着力解决农户面临的各类交易相关难题。