Value Chains and Global Inequalities: Plantain, Contract Farming, and Vulnerability of the Small-Scale Farmers in Colombia (Discussion Paper)

Baquero Melo, Jairo (2014): Value Chains and Global Inequalities: Plantain, Contract Farming, and Vulnerability of the Small-Scale Farmers in Colombia (Discussion Paper).

Abstract

The plantain is an important agricultural product worldwide. It is the staple food of millions of people, and represents a source of incomes for farmers participating in the international trade. In Colombia, the exportation plantain is chiefly harvested by small-scale farmers. However, they are in a position of vulnerability, facing several risks. Firstly, the obstacles to access the global markets, and the competition with the trader companies. Secondly, the volatility of prices and the exchange rate, which produce unequal effects on them. Thirdly, the environmental risks associated with windstorms and tree diseases. Amid the economic liberalization, the small-scale farmers lack a permanent governmental support to cope with those risks. And the international cooperation is unable to support all the growers. Thus, the small-scale farmers have created organizations to raise their demands, amid nationwide peasant protests against the Free Trade Agreements.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: value chains, plantain, globalization, inequalities, small-scale farmers
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O2 - Development Planning and Policy > O24 - Trade Policy ; Factor Movement Policy ; Foreign Exchange Policy; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q15 - Land Ownership and Tenure ; Land Reform ; Land Use ; Irrigation ; Agriculture and Environment; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q1 - Agriculture > Q17 - Agriculture in International Trade; Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics ; Environmental and Ecological Economics > Q5 - Environmental Economics > Q56 - Environment and Development ; Environment and Trade ; Sustainability ; Environmental Accounts and Accounting ; Environmental Equity ; Population Growth

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