Livelihoods, institutions and the small farmer - Institutional Constraints to Small Farmer Development in Southern Africa - page 293

A situation such as this set of chain reactions that touched all segments of the economy,
including the disappearance of markets, the emergence of informal exchange arrangements
that represent adjustments to the aberrant phenomenon of hyper-inflation emerging in the
absence of both cash and products. To date, there has been systematic assessment of this
dimension of the land reform programme with the aim of drawing lessons that can provide
some basis for developing strategies for revamping the economy now that clear signs are
emerging that the long-running political crisis might soon end. To understand what might
have happened an initial broad appraisal of specific indicators of agricultural output and
prices for the livestock and maize products has been conducted in one district.
12.11 Future directions for institutional analysis
As the World Bank (2008) noted in its World Development Report 2008 , institutional
innovation is still a 'work-in-progress'. This has long been recognized as the profession
grapples with the challenge of dealing decisively with developing country hunger. But there
are still many disagreements about definition and methodology which may stand in the way
of gaining deeper understanding about the workings of institutions and how they influence
income growth among smallholder farmers. There is obviously a lot more empirical work
done around the conception of institutions as market-enhancing arrangements and
mechanisms than in their other roles and functions (Rodrik, 2003).
But Rodrik's (2003) suggestions to address this short-coming ends up recommending even
more market-related enquiries. This is probably because traditional academic literature
and the contemporary thematic concerns of development organisations have reached a
new consensus on the efficacy of market access which is often seen as being more about
marketing and prices than anything else. This is also probably why it is fashionable to focus
recommendations for improving market access around the need to remove trade barriers
such as tariffs and quotas, etc. (Partnerships for Sustainable Development, 2004). In
reality, because product quality has become an important issue these days, especially with
growing concerns about food safety and the role food plays in human health, market access
is as much a production issue as it is a marketing one and both production and marketing
environments need to be considered in an analysis of market access. The crucial role that the
market access concept plays in the extent to which small producers are able to sell produce
at a profit is therefore worth examining in a systematic manner as a guide to more viable
policy responses. Over and above all these, it is also important that institutions are in place
to enhance the capacity of the beneficiaries of the increased income to cope effectively with
change, often through collective action and other mechanisms that have evolved in response
to the increasing complexity of society (Eigen-Zucchi et al. , 2003).
On the basis of the work of Ruttan (1984), Hayami and Ruttan (1985) and several others, it
is clear that countries that fail to undertake institutional innovation are eventually penalized