Legal, Policy, and Institutional Innovations for Responsible Contract Farming

Contract farming is an inclusive agricultural business model that can help farmers access better inputs, markets, training, and prices. Governments across Africa are increasingly interested in contract farming as a strategy for poverty reduction, rural development, and agricultural transformation. Evidence shows that under a favourable environment, contract farming can sustainably increase investments in agriculture while also safeguarding the livelihoods and incomes of small-scale producers. But contract farming can also be risky or unfair when the right legal and policy frameworks are not in place to correct the power imbalance between small-scale producers and large buyers. Outcomes for women in contract farming can be especially poor. Yet there are legal, policy, and institutional approaches to governing the contract farming relationship and ensuring it is fair, balanced, enforceable, and transparent for all parties, including women.

On February 25, 2022, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), the Liberia Ministry of Agriculture, the MAP Liberia Land Platform, and the Willian N. Tolbert College of Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Liberia, in collaboration with the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), will hold an in-person workshop on responsible contract farming.

The workshop will bring together 30 participants—including policy-makers, farmer organizations, civil society organization representatives and private sector actors from Liberia—to discuss legal, policy, and institutional innovations to support and promote contract farming as an important inclusive business model for responsible investment in agriculture.

The event will feature presentations on contract farming in law and practice; the IISD–Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ (FAO) Model Agreement for Responsible Contract Farming; the UNIDROIT–FAO–International Fund for Agricultural Development’s (IFAD) Legal Guide on Contract Farming; the UNIDROIT/IFAD’s Legal Guide on Agricultural Land Investment Contracts, and gender considerations in contract farming. The workshop format will include presentations and roundtable discussions.