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Agricultural and food systems in the Mekong Region are undergoing transformations because of increasing engagement in international trade, alongside economic growth, dietary change and urbanisation. Food systems approaches are often used to understand these kinds of transformation processes, with particular strengths in linking social, economic and environmental dimensions of food at multiple scales. We argue that while the food systems approach strives to provide a comprehensive understanding of food production, consumption and environmental drivers, it is less well equipped to shed light on the role of actors, knowledge and power in transformation processes and on the divergent impacts and outcomes of these processes for different actors. We suggest that an approach that uses food systems as heuristics but complements it with attention to actors, knowledge and power improves our understanding of transformations such as those underway in the Mekong Region. The key transformations in the region include the emergence of regional food markets and vertically integrated supply chains that control increasing share of the market, increase in contract farming particularly in the peripheries of the region, replacement of crops cultivated for human consumption with corn grown for animal feed. These transformations are increasingly marginalising small-scale farmers, while at the same time, many other farmers increasingly pursue non-agricultural livelihoods. Food consumption is also changing, with integrated supply chains controlling substantial part of the mass market. Our analysis highlights that theoretical innovations grounded in political economy, agrarian change, development studies and rural livelihoods can help to increase theoretical depth of inquiries to accommodate the increasingly global dimensions of food. As a result, we map out a future research agenda to unpack the dynamic food system interactions and to unveil the social, economic and environmental impacts of these rapid transformations. We identify policy and managerial implications coupled with sustainable pathways for change.

This chapter examines changes in smallholder agriculture in terms of processes of de-agrarianization in a rapidly changing regional economy of Costa Rica long characterized by small-scale commercial coffee farming.

The study is based on multiple periods (1990–1991, 1993, 2006, 2010–2012) of ethnographic research on household economic strategies among farming families in two districts in the canton of Pérez Zeledón, Costa Rica.

Though occupational multiplicity and non-farm-based livelihoods are on the rise, smallholder agriculture continues to play a substantial role in the livelihood strategies of both young and old and in the regional economy, not in spite of these trends, but because an expanding business sector and an increase in non-farm employment opportunities are creating a demand for agricultural produce and providing new opportunities for smallholders to diversify agricultural production, stabilize their incomes and maintain a significant presence in the regional economy. Specific historic conditions and state policies have been important factors in shaping rural economic change, livelihood strategies and smallholder agriculture in this region.

Sample sizes are relatively small and some data on children’s economic activities were obtained second hand from siblings and/or parents.

This research has implications for policy makers, planners and social activists interested in agrarian change.

This research provides an important longitudinal lens on the economic strategies of farming households, processes of de-agrarianization and the persistence of small-scale family farmers in today’s world.

Despite the abundance of small-scale farms in the USA and their importance for both rural economic development and food availability, the extensive research on small business management and entrepreneurship has mostly neglected the agricultural context, leaving many of these farms' business challenges unexplored. The authors focus on informing a specific decision faced by small farm managers: selling directly to consumers (i.e. farmer's markets) versus selling through aggregators. By collecting historical data and a series of interviews with industry experts, the authors employ simulation methodology to offer a framework that advises how small-scale farmers can allocate their product across these two channels to increase revenue in a given season. The results, which are relevant for operations management, small business management and entrepreneurship literature, can help small-scale farmers improve their performance and compete against their larger counterparts.

The authors rely on historical and interview data from key industry players (an aggregator and a small farm manager) to design a simulation analysis that determines which factors influence season-long farm revenue performance under varying strategies of channel allocation and commodity production.

The model suggests that farm managers should plan to evenly split their production between the two distribution channels, but if an even split is not possible, they should plan to keep a larger percentage in the nonaggregator (farmers' market/direct) channel. Further, the authors find that farmers can benefit significantly from a strong aggregator channel customer base, which suggests that farmers should promote and advertise the aggregator channel even if they only use it for a limited amount of their product.

The authors integrate small business management and operations management literature to study a widely understudied context and present practical implications for the performance of small-scale farms.

The study examined the penetration of financial inclusion in the agricultural sector, using small-scale farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria, as evidence.

The study utilized survey data generated from 425 questionnaires administered to small-scale farmers in both rural and urban locations in Enugu State. The study applied the adequacy gap, timeliness gap and penetration gap indices to measure the penetration of financial inclusion among the small-scale farmers in Enugu State.

It was found that different lending agencies, except for some cooperative societies, were unable to meet the credit needs of small-scale farmers in Enugu State as shown by the adequacy gap index. The timeliness gap index revealed the existence of time gap in the credit receipt of small-scale farmers given that agriculture is rain-fed in Enugu. The penetration gap index indicated that there is gap in the penetration of agricultural credit grants to small-scale farmers in Enugu State, showing a shallow penetration of financial inclusion in agricultural sector.

The research is limited in scope as a result of data and the desire to study small-scale farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria.

The study recommended among others that government should encourage cooperatives more to meet credit needs of farmers in order to raise the level of financial inclusion penetration.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the only study that examines the penetration of financial inclusion among small-scale farmers in Enugu State, Nigeria. This study contributes to the growing literature on financial inclusion in the agricultural sector as there is dearth of literature in this study area.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate the degree of technical efficiency, determinants of technical inefficiencies and driving forces behind the production growth for a panel data set collected during the 1998/1999 and 2004/2006 Kharif cropping season, from 452 small-scale rice farming households in the Giridih and Purulia districts of Eastern India.

The estimations of technical efficiency utilize stochastic frontier production function with a sub-model of inefficiency effects at both aggregated farm level and disaggregated plot level where traditional varieties (TVs) and high-yielding varieties (HYVs) are differentiated. The output growth decomposition analysis identifies the main contributor to the total rice production growth.

The results indicate that the sampled farms are operated at moderate levels of technical efficiency. The production of HYV rice is associated with higher technical efficiency compared to TV rice. Farming experience, education attainment, landholding size, the share of non-agricultural income and the share of land in the lower terraces account for the differences in technical inefficiencies across the sampled farms. The decomposition analysis suggests that as technical efficiency decreased, technical change is the main source of production growth during the survey period.

The small sample size applied in the analysis will result in an insufficient representativeness of the study area.

This paper fills the literature gap as estimations of technical efficiency that account for subtle differences in adopted rice varieties are still rare in India.

This is a case study about the green agenda of Urban Hijau, a social enterprise which promotes urban farming as a way to a foster sustainability. It narrates how it started and progressed through the introduction of various sustainable farming systems. The landscape of farming with its opportunities and challenges such as embracing permaculture as a farming philosophy, and food security are presented. The case ends with questions which Urban Hijau has to address in order to sustain its social enterprise. Can a small urban farm contribute significantly to the food industry? If so, how? Is Urban Hijau on the right track?

This paper aims to study the different factors that determine the performance or success of small-scale, non-farm enterprises in Lesotho. Evidence shows that small-scale enterprises in developing countries are confronted with different challenges and problems that make them less viable. As a result, the capacity of small-scale, non-farm enterprises in employment creation, income generation and providing the means of livelihood to the poor people is not significant. In Lesotho, many people who are retrenched from the South African mines are absorbed in small-scale, non-farm enterprises to make a living. However, small-scale enterprises are faced with different challenges. The research findings suggest that factors leading to success/performance of rural non-farm enterprises in Lesotho include gender of the entrepreneur, age of the entrepreneur, ability of the entrepreneur to establish wider social networks, large population/market, availability of communication networks and infrastructure, participation of enterprises in the international market and costs of doing business and competition. In this regard, the paper makes policy recommendations that can be used to improve performance/success of small-scale, non-farm enterprises.

This research uses both qualitative and quantitative research methods to analyse data.

The main finding of the research is that foreign competition hinders the success of non-farm enterprises in Lesotho. The research findings further reveal that enterprises owned by women make the highest turnover compared to those owned by men.

This study brings in different factors that can ensure or hinder success/performance of small-scale, rural non-enterprises.

The research paper is of value in that it is the first study in Lesotho that considers different factors that determine business success in relation to employment creation, turnover and profitability.

This chapter provides insights into the distribution challenges faced by alternative food networks (AFNs) in Japan. Consumers in Japan are showing increasing interest in supporting and buying directly from farmers, reflecting a growing demand for local food production and consumption. This trend parallels the increasing popularity of AFNs which are often touted as distribution models that seek to reconfigure the relationship between producers and consumers. Although AFNs are defined as a bottom-up response to the unsustainable nature of the industrial food system and the exploitative trade relations that are embedded within global food supply chains, there is little in the literature regarding challenges that emerge when scaling AFNs. This chapter focuses on the distribution challenges that emerge for AFN models that exist outside of direct market transactions, by comparing AFN models in Japan with a local wholesale market system that exists within the conventional, mainstream food system. Based on an analysis of the nuances and complexities that AFNs face in coordinating aggregation and distribution, we argue that the promotion of local food systems can also benefit existing conventional food systems, by leveraging the infrastructure of local wholesale markets. The distribution logistics and fundamentals of parity pricing from the wholesale market system would enable AFNs in Japan to establish a more accessible and sustainable food system. Using four case studies, including a local wholesale-market and three AFN models that distribute agricultural products from rural to rural, and rural to urban areas located in the Kansai region of Japan, we deepen the discussion of how small-scale farmers and their involvement in AFNs can better support sustainable food system transformation.

We examine the national regulatory framework in Turkey and its interactions with actors at various levels that set the stage for the shift from a Fordist economy to a post-Fordist one. Industrial maize production expanded in the 2000s in the face of a decline in agricultural employment and state-supported conventional crop production. We use the corporate maize industry as a case to demonstrate the change in regulation and its impacts.

Utilizing a strategic-relational approach, we analyze descriptive statistics on agricultural markets, news, sector reports, and archives of national regulation related to agricultural production and the agri-food industry to identify key actors shaping the transformation of maize production.

Actors influencing the national regulatory framework come from international and national regulatory institutions, and transnational and national agri-food corporations. Local maize farmers have actively participated in the transformation, thereby offering consent to the process. The Turkish state manages maize production through its national regulatory regime, but the agri-food industry drives the trajectory.

Adopting a strategic-relational approach contributes to our understanding of the dynamics at work in economic restructuring by shedding light on the interactions between political authorities and economic actors. Following a post-Fordist mode of regulation, the Turkish government uses particular political devices in a strategically selective manner, not overtly to enhance the short-term interests of the agri-food industry, but according to the long-term goal of promoting adaptation of agricultural commodity producers to the post-Fordist capitalist accumulation regime.

State institutions utilize the tools of political intervention in markets to ensure the long-term sociopolitical consolidation and legitimation of the post-Fordist accumulation regime.

Northern Vietnam is a mountainous area where most farmers' livelihoods depend on maize production. Beside training in farming techniques, since 2013 extension courses on market access have been gradually delivered to maize farmers to help them save production costs and increase earnings.

By applying robust regression and Tobit models to estimate technical efficiency (TE), the difference-in-difference (DID) technique is used in this study to determine the change in the TE of 1,035 farmers in the period 2013–2015 in Northern Vietnam.

The DID estimator indicated the initial success of extension courses by showing a faster increase in the TE of the receivers compared to that of non-receivers. However, co-operation in production and marketing by maize farmers and access to micro-credit resulted in an insignificant impact on the TE of maize farmers in 2015. These low impact results highlighted the inefficiency of the extension and micro-credit programmes and that raised the concern of policymakers. The distance to local market signifies the determination of farmers on their crops affected by how close their location to their input/output marketplaces.

The Land Policy of the government should take into careful consideration measures to exploit all potential production and to mitigate poverty as well as foster the development of the region.

The expansion of extension courses on access to market has been recognised as an effective method to increase farmer's efficiency.