Measurement of Smallholder Inclusion in High-Value Markets

Facilitating smallholders to access high-value agricultural value chains and markets (HVMs) is a common intervention to support rural poverty alleviation. It is widely recognised that some smallholder cohorts are unable to participate in HVMs. However, empirical research rarely seeks to understand whether HVM non-participation derives from the intentional choices made by smallholders to opt for alternative livelihood options, or whether HVM exclusion is rooted in unequal opportunities. This paper develops empirical methods to measure smallholder inclusion and exclusion in HVMs. Adapting methodologies from the inequality in opportunity literature, I identify inequality in HVM participation opportunities, which disentangles exclusion driven by structural barriers (or circumstances), from exclusion arising from the choices, preferences, and efforts within a smallholder’s control. These methods are tested using a case study focused on smallholder participation in high-value coffee value chains in Eastern Uganda. Using binary and continuous measures of HVM participation, for both households and individuals, the results indicate that spatial factors and financial decision-making disagreements within the household are strongly associated with HVM exclusion. I argue that these methods can be applied more broadly to measure whether individuals have the substantive freedoms and opportunities to choose among alternative livelihood pathways they value.