Price Interventions as a Part of Living Income Strategies: Lessons learned from piloting a price premium mechanism for basmati rice farmers in Pakistan

20.500.12592/sghm9b

Price Interventions as a Part of Living Income Strategies: Lessons learned from piloting a price premium mechanism for basmati rice farmers in Pakistan

6 Mar 2023

Small-scale farmers produce many globally important products such as rice, cocoa, cotton and vanilla. Poverty is widespread among these farmers, and there is an urgent need to increase their incomes.A living income – what a household needs to afford a decent standard of living for all its members – is a human right. It is increasingly recognized that paying a living income is the responsibility of businesses. Pricing is a vital part part of this, but raising the prices paid to farmers can be complicated, and many companies still treat it with scepticism.This paper presents lessons learned from the piloting of a novel price premium mechanism in Pakistan. The goal of the price intervention, which targeted basmati rice farmers in Punjab province, was to make a meaningful contribution to the incomes of the most vulnerable small-scale farmers, while at the same time identifying appropriate mechanisms to minimize costs to retailers and/or consumers. The pilot indicates that price, in combination with other complementary measures, can effectively contribute to closing the income gap for even the most vulnerable small-scale farmers, but that any mechanism to raise prices must be designed carefully.
private sector agriculture gender inequality supply chains rights food and livelihoods graisea living income price intervention

Authors

Alestig, Mira

Collections
Research reports & discussion papers
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21201/2023.621486
Published in
Kenya
pages
49

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