Contract Farming Arrangements (CFAs): Common Forms, the Rationale and Typical Challenges

Abstract

For a long time now, a vast amount of the Contract Farming Arrangements (CFAs) literature has endeavoured to outline its meaning, the common forms of support that such arrangements (schemes) do extend to smallholder farmers, the rationale behind implementing CFAs, and the challenges CFAs encounter. However, due to the vast volume and diversity of this literature, a review article was deemed essential to provide focus and clarity regarding the meaning of CFAs, the basic types of support that the management team or the sponsoring organisation sponsoring CFAs render to smallholder farmers, the typical reasons why sponsoring firms execute CFAs as part of their supply chain management responsibility and challenges encountered. This review of literature could provide a summary of general ideas pertaining to these specific points and it can also be used as a framework to undertake an empirical investigation of CFAs in a particular context.