(PDF) Commercialisation Of Smallholder Agriculture In Selected Tef ...

Agricultural commercialisation is a process that involves the transformation of subsistence-oriented smallholder farming systems into systems that are primarily oriented toward production for the market. Agricultural production is no longer viewed merely as the means to meet household consumption requirements, drawing on local resources, but becomes the household"s main incomegenerating activity, tying farmers into the wider market economy, not only through the sale of farm commodities, but through the purchase of inputs, labour, assets, credit, and consumer goods. This process is part of an agrarian transition driven by economic growth and development, global market integration, and increasing global demand for farm products. Cash crop booms have been a significant catalyst for the process, spurring farmers to invest in commercial agriculture, though often with considerable risk and disruption. Some claim agricultural commercialisation is a pathway out of poverty for rural households, while others highlight the darker site of commercialisation in terms of widening inequality and the marginalisation and exclusion of disadvantaged households. Agricultural commercialisation has been underway in Cambodia for several decades. There has been a rapid transition from subsistence to semi-commercial and commercial production as indicated by the expanding area of commercial crops, production increases, and export growth. This transition has been closely linked to booming demand for agricultural commodities such as cassava within the Asian region. This raises the question whether the commercialisation of smallholder agriculture in Cambodia has had positive impacts on farmers" livelihoods through improving their productivity, income, and resilience, thus contributing to inclusive economic growth. The aim of this research was to explore the commercialisation of smallholder agriculture in Cambodia through a case study of responses to and impacts of the cassava boom. The specific objectives were to: (i) understand the role of the cassava boom in the commercialisation of smallholder agriculture in Cambodia; (ii) appraise the economic viability (profitability and riskiness) of smallholder cassava production; (iii) evaluate the impacts of commercial cassava production on farmers" livelihoods; (iv) trace the livelihood trajectories of different types of rural household as a consequence of the cassava boom; (v) identify options to ensure agricultural commercialisation contributes to more inclusive agricultural growth. The study used Agrarian Systems Analysis (ASA) as a framework. ASA encompasses a set of techniques to understand and diagnose farm-household systems, the agrarian systems in which they are embedded, and longer-term processes of agrarian change. In particular, ASA highlights the importance of understanding the connection between commercialisation and agrarian differentiation, whereby farm households can end up on contrasting livelihood trajectories. Within iii this framework, a comparative case study approach was used. Two different agro-economic zones with significant cassava production were selected-Dambae District in Tbong Khmum Province bordering Vietnam in the east and Kamrieng District in Battambang Province bordering Thailand in the west. By choosing two study sites, the study was able to compare and contrast agrarian trajectories and thus identify key factors explaining how agrarian change unfolds and impacts on farmers" livelihoods. Mixed methods were used, generating both quantitative and qualitative data. A total of 200 farm households were interviewed. Primary data were also collected from group interviews with farmers in different categories, case studies of individual farm households, key informant interviews, and direct observation, and a range of secondary data were used. Data collection was undertaken in two rounds, in and , with the second round used to validate the findings and analysis emerging from the first round. Both descriptive and analytical statistics were used to analyse the quantitative data. The economic viability of cassava production was assessed through conventional techniques of enterprise budgeting, sensitivity analysis, and risk analysis. Economic analysis of survey data confirmed that cassava has been a profitable cash crop, giving high returns to the household"s land and labour. Sensitivity analysis showed that cassava production was profitable in all but the low-yield/low-price scenario. Likewise, risk analysis revealed a relatively small financial risk based on the kinds of variation in yields and prices farmers had experienced. Given the larger scale of production, the higher dependence on cassava, and the greater use of purchased inputs, hired labour, contract services, and credit, farmers in Kamrieng were more vulnerable than those in Dambae and could quickly become better-off or worse-off. The future economic viability of cassava was less certain given evidence of declining yields and the more recent collapse in prices. The analysis showed that the cassava boom has contributed to a significant transformation of existing farming systems and agrarian structures in the two research sites. This transformation involved three broad stages: (i) subsistence farming; (ii) transition to semi-commercial farming; (iii) predominantly commercial farming. As farming became more commercialised, farmers were more reliant on purchased farm inputs, hired labour, machinery, and credit. In both sites, the commercialisation process saw extensive forest clearance (especially in Kamrieng), a pervasive shift to cash crop production, a fundamental change in labour relations, growing inequality in access to land and capital, and a cumulative differentiation between households in livelihood assets and trajectories. The more diversified, semi-commercial farmers in Dambae had greater resilience to yield, price, and other shocks than the more specialised and indebted farmers in Kamrieng.

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