هزینه های معاملات، ترتیبات نهادی و نابرابری نتایج: بازاریابی سیب زمینی توسط تولید کنندگان کوچک در مناطق روستایی پرو

We explore the distributional effects of lowering transaction costs to allow access to improved market opportunities for small farmers in the Peruvian Highlands. We find that when new marketing opportunities arise, those that have more land, are better educated and are well organized are able to deal with the complexities that the new contractual arrangements entail. Although this on average implies an increase in net income for small farmers, it also affects the distribution of earnings, generating a more polarized small farmer economy. To counteract this effect and reduce inequality in the opportunities of less endowed small farmers, complementary policies need to be put in place.

Peruvian national statistics indicate that the country has enjoyed sustained economic expansion in recent times (annual growth averaging over 5% during the last 15 years). However, this growth has not been accompanied by a substantial reduction in poverty, especially in rural areas. Further, within rural areas, growth-to-poverty elasticities are substantially higher in the better endowed coastal areas and lower in the highlands where poverty conditions affect two of every three inhabitants. Although structural reforms and sound macroeconomic policies have improved prospects for long term growth in Peru, there is an urgent need for complementary policies to assure that growth will not enhance the already acute disparities in endowments, opportunities, and income that Peru has. Expanding local demand and increasing exports has open opportunities for new forms of contracting that link small farmers to rapidly increasing markets. These agroindustrial markets offer higher returns to small farmer’s investments in comparison to traditional markets. However is not easy for poor farmers to overcome the transaction costs that these more complex markets entail. In mountainous areas, where access to public infrastructure (i.e., electricity, roads, telecommunication, etc.) is low, the transportation and transaction costs to reach regional and national markets are high. This may be one important reason why expansion in aggregate demand has not helped much to connect the small producers in the country’s mountainous areas with more profitable markets.

This study shows clearly that there is a group of small producers capable of making strategic investments to gain access to agroindustrial markets where their produce is more profitable. We have also shown that these producers are capable of establishing more complex contractual arrangements with potential purchasers. Describing the transactions that small producers carry out in these markets, the study suggests that when producers move into more distant markets, they establish more complex marketing arrangements—arrangements that are likely to be more impersonal and subject to greater transaction costs. We have shown what factors are most relevant to small agricultural producers’ decisions to enter agroindustrial markets, that is markets that can absorb increasing quantities of crop providing higher returns for producers. It is evident that their degree of organization, educational level and training, and their land farm scale are constraints that need to be overcome in order to access the agroindustry potato market. The household educational level is a variable that distinguishes between those who succeed in selling to more complex markets, and those who do not. The producers selling to the agroindustry have on average two more years of schooling than those selling their crop elsewhere. Also, their average land holding is also greater (more than double), as well as the average value of their productive assets.