Small-scale farmer participation in new agri-food supply chains

The proportion of income from fresh fruit and vegetables and the number of months of production have a positive relationship with the probability of participating in the SSC, as expected. [...] Broadly, the tobit results are consistent with those from the probit analysis, suggesting that the same set of variables explain the incidence and intensity of participation in the SSC. [...] While the marginal effects in the probit model assess the underlying factors associated with the probability of small scale-farmer participation in the SSC, the marginal effects in the tobit model explain the effect of the same factors on the share of production marketed via the SSC among participating producers. [...] Thus, a one unit increase in the risk of producing fresh fruit and vegetables of low quality and the level of problems with grading would result in a reduction in the proportion of produce sold in the SSC by 1.3 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. [...] On the contrary, a one unit increase in the level of trust in the buyer would result in an increase in the share of fresh fruit and vegetables sold to the SSC by 2.0 percent.