References p. 41-46.

The agribusiness supply chain includes a number of processes such as supply management, production management, and demand management to customers through a competitive distribution channel. Each step of the way can be plagued with issues such as diversity of production and demand, bulkiness of produce, perishability, and seasonality. Highlighting t

This book examines supply and value chains in African agriculture, providing both a thorough analysis of existing practices and practical business models for future development. It examines why Africa is a net importer of food, despite its vast agricultural potential, using the tomato value chain in Ghana as a case study. The book explores commodity value chain structures; commodity clusters, arenas, linkages and business models; systematic constraints within commodity value chains; and value chain profiling in practice among others. It would benefit policy makers, policy implementers, development practitioners, agri-entrepreneurs, researchers and all those who have interests in the transformation of African agriculture. It will also be an excellent reference material for students of agriculture management, agribusiness, agricultural economics, and rural development.

Contract farming has received renewed attention recently as developing economies try to grapple with how to transform the agricultural sector and its associated value chains. This book examines different contract arrangements for selected crops, applying both qualitative and quantitative approaches in order to examine how contract farming affects smallholders and value chain dynamics in Tanzania. Major themes covered in the book include: contract farming policy; contract farming and value chain dynamics; contract farming adoption decisions; contract farming and income diversification. The authors also discuss alternative aspects of contract farming such as trust, conspiracy, empowerment and corporate social responsibility. The book presents original research from case studies conducted in Tanzania on sugarcane, tobacco, sunflower and cotton. These crops have a history of trials and errors with contract farming involving smallholders. Furthermore, they are targeted in national strategies as some of the main crops for establishment and upgrading of agro-industrial activities in Tanzania.