The benefits of geographical indication certification through farmer organizations on low-income farmers: the case of Hoa Vang sticky rice in Vietnam

• Published in: Agricultures (Montrouge) 2021, Vol.30, p.46
• Main Authors: Wang, Huaiyu, Anh, Dao The, Moustier, Paule
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agricultural economics; Commercialization; Crop yield; Family income; farmer organization; Farmers; Fraud; geographical indication; Households; Humanities and Social Sciences; Income; Indication; Labelling; Organizations; Rice; Signal quality; Small-scale farming; sticky rice; vietnam
• ISSN: 1166-7699; 1777-5949; 1777-5949
• DOI: 10.1051/cagri/2021032

Origin labeling and quality upgrading through farmer organizations have been considered as solutions to reduce transaction costs and improve market bargaining power. This paper explores whether belonging to a farmer organization that improves and signals quality can help increase yields and household incomes of small-scale farmers for a specific quality product, Hoa Vang sticky rice in Vietnam. The paper is based on primary data on 185 households collected in 2013 and on 149 households collected in 2015. Different econometric methods were applied to investigate the effect based on rice yield, rice income and household income as the outcome variables. The results show that membership of farmer organization does not significantly improve household income compared to non-membership. However, members of farmer organizations have less resources in terms of land and inputs than non-members. These results suggest that the economic results achieved by farmers with fewer opportunities to access markets are similar to those obtained by farmers with more opportunities thanks to the involvement of farmer organizations in marketing. The specificities of the Hoa Vang sticky rice are still not reflected in higher farmer sales prices and incomes. More dialogue between farmer organizations and their customers is thus required, as well as better public control of labeling fraud. L’indication géographique et l’amélioration de la qualité par le biais des organisations de producteurs sont considérées comme des solutions pour réduire les coûts de transaction et améliorer les capacités de négociation sur les marchés. Cet article examine si l’appartenance à une organisation de producteurs qui améliore et signale la qualité peut contribuer à augmenter les rendements et les revenus des ménages de petits agriculteurs pour un produit de qualité spécifique, le riz gluant Hoa Vang au Vietnam. L’article est basé sur des données primaires collectées auprès de 185 ménages en 2013 et 149 ménages en 2015. Différentes méthodes économétriques ont été appliquées pour étudier l’effet de l’appartenance à une organisation en prenant comme variables de résultat le rendement du riz, le revenu du riz et le revenu du ménage. Les résultats montrent que l’adhésion à une organisation de producteurs n’améliore pas significativement le revenu des ménages par rapport à la non-adhésion. Cependant, les membres des organisations de producteurs disposent de moins de ressources en termes de terres et d’intrants