Impacts of Smallholder Contract Farming in Uganda - Evidence from the "IMPROVE" Coffee Scheme

Sammanfattning: This master thesis analyzes the effects of smallholder participation in contract farming on profits and adoption of new farming techniques in a tropical African context. We use a unique panel data set collected by the Danish Institute for International Studies to identify the effects of continued scheme participation for a group of smallholder coffee farmers relative to a control group of non-scheme farmers. Our results show that participation in the contract farming scheme between 2005 and 2008 has no statistically significant effect on profits from coffee production. However, project farmers respond to scheme trainings by applying more "good agricultural practices" in coffee production.