Impact of contract farming on product quality upgrading: the case of rice in Togo

Purpose: Due to rapid urbanization, rice consumption in Togo has also rapidly increased. Most consumers prefer imported rice over domestically produced rice due to the higher quality of the imported rice. The purpose of this paper is to show that it is possible to upgrade the quality of Togo’s domestically produced rice by providing technical and management support in the form of contract farming. Design/methodology/approach: Cross-sectional data were collected using a multi-stage sampling technique. An endogenous switching regression model was used for data analysis. Findings: The results show that by participating in contract farming, paddy rice quality was upgraded from Grade IV (poor quality) to Grade I (premium quality). The factors influencing this upgrade in the quality of paddy rice grown through contract farming are: the number of extension visits to the farmer, the mode of threshing used by the farmer, and the agro-ecological zone of the farmer. Research limitations/implications: The data for this study are limited to one country, Togo and this may have implications for generalizing the results for other countries. Originality/value: This study is original research that contributes to an improved understanding of the impacts of contract farming on the quality of agricultural products produced in developing and emerging economies.