Linkages between Rural Institutions and Redistributional Networks: Ag. Marketing Coops, Corruption, and Patrimonialism in East Africa

The research subjects of this study are 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 requires need to describe these two groups. Then, the study needs to identify the linkages, both formal and informal, that exist between them. A random sampling procedure is only needed to identify the first group. The second group, the marketing institutions, is given by the first. All data can be collected using surveys. The rel evant basic variables are quite standard for socioeconomic studies. To capture social mobility, in particular transitions into or out of poverty, it is desirable to use panel data. To economize on data collection and generate synergies with existing studi es, the study will be linked to other socioeconomic studies under way in East Africa, conducted by ICRISAT in Nairobi, Kenya. These studies are conducted in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Malawi. The study sites differ wrt. key variables, in particular socioeconomi c 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 are similar wrt. predominant livel ihoods, i.e., having a sedentary population engaged in pure cropping, or mixed crop-livestock systems. This study will complement the other studies by collecting data on vertical social networks and elite capture of agricultural marketing cooperatives.