Can Producer Associations Improve Rural Livelihoods? Evidence from Farmer Centres in India
评估了印度古吉拉特邦将女性农民组织成生产者协会的影响，发现该计划在18个月内微弱增加了非农收入和市场准入，但对金融服务的认知和使用影响更强，表明生产者协会可降低交易成本，但减贫需更长时间。
Rural producer associations are considered a potential community-driven solution to the problems of smallholder agriculture. This article evaluates the impact of organising female farmers into producer associations in Gujarat, India. The initiative provided training, information, access to inputs, risk mitigation, and market linkages. Over 18 months, the programme weakly increased members’ non-farm income and access to output markets. It had stronger impacts on members’ awareness and utilisation of financial services. Impacts were heterogeneous, varying by pre-existing socioeconomic conditions. These findings suggest that producer associations can lower transaction costs for smallholders, but that poverty alleviation may be a longer-term prospect.