Chapter 9. Constraints to smallholder participation in high-value agriculture in West Africa 303
Box 6. Income and poverty effects of French beans exports in Senegal
In the French bean export sector in Senegal increasing standards have induced a shift from smallholder
contract farming toward vertically-integrated estate production by the exporting companies. It is estimated
that smallholder procurement decreased from 95 percent in 1999 to 52 percent in 2005. The largest
companies especially changed changed their procurement system and started their own integrated estate
farms as part of a strategy to become GlobalGAP-certified. The shift from smallholder contract farming
toward integrated estate farming observed in the bean export sector in Senegal has also shifted the way
local households benefit: increasingly through agro-industrial employment and labor market effects rather
than through contract farming and product market effects.Figure 6. Trends in contract farming and employment impact in export-led agro-processing
Although both effects result in significantly higher incomes, the shift in supply chain governance has
resulted in a stronger poverty-alleviating effect of high-value horticulture exports.