Collective Action in Agri-Chains

Abstract

Since the 1980s, liberalization policies have profoundly altered the economic and institutional contexts in which agricultural producers operate. As a consequence, some of the older forms of collective action, dating from a period when their autonomy and room for manoeuvre were restricted because of State interventions and political ideologies, have been called into question. And yet, liberalization has brought with it a period in which collective action is all the more necessary in order to meet the challenges of a more unpredictable and competitive economic environment. To the traditional issues of economies of scale, bargaining power within value chains, and reduction of transaction costs can now be added those of ensuring sustainable development at the various levels of the agri-chain. Collective action is thus marked by a variety of empirical forms and initiatives of actors that fall more or less in line with the policies that support them. Economic and social inclusion remains a strategic focus to be achieved through participatory inclusion mechanisms, innovation platforms, and mechanisms for cooperation and joint decision making between actors on the basis of information sharing. New mechanisms in which collective action plays a key role are now required in order to respond to environmental and health issues and to meet the new attributes of quality that the consumer now demands. The relative ineffectiveness of collective action in the agrifood sectors in countries of the South is due to the inadequate institutional framework and the weak rule of law, which limit the capacity of organized producers to enforce rules internal to their organization and also those regulating their relationships with other actors of the value chains.