What is the influence of government programs on farmer organizations and their impacts? Evidence from Zambia

Governments and donors often promote farmer organizations (FOs) in the implementation of their agricultural development programs. Yet, there is a lot of uncertainty whether externally supported FOs provide benefits beyond the channelling of programs. This paper uses Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and representative data from 4,074 Zambian households to estimate FO impacts on members, with and without controlling for a national input-subsidy program. The results show that Zambian FOs tend to attract better-educated households with larger farm sizes, but can lead to female integration when external subsidies are involved. FOs also have a significantly positive effect on members’ farm performance, irrespective of whether members receive input subsidies, while the presence of the external program leads to an unequal distribution of benefits within the FOs: positive impacts on farm performance are, on average 13–44% lower amongst members who do not benefit from the Zambian government program. Overall, these findings imply that Zambian FOs seem to provide benefits that go beyond the intention of the subsidy-program, which can be used to promote women empowerment and smallholder farm performance. The findings also demonstrate, however, that governments need to carefully design their programs to not reinforce inequality amongst farmer organizations and their members.