Abstract:

Agrifood systems employ a large share of workers in low- and middle-income countries, yet most evidence on jobs in these systems is based on aggregate accounts rather than on firms and workers. This report uses harmonized micro data from ten African and Latin American countries to describe the structure, growth and employment role of non-farm micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) along the agrifood value chain. On the ownership side, agrifood MSMEs are strongly linked to women, rural areas and crop producers. Women own a large share of agrifood firms, especially in downstream activities, while midstream firms are more often rural and owned by households that also farm. These enterprises are not small, residual activities. In most countries agrifood MSMEs represent a sizeable share of all non-farm firms and are at least as present in local economies as other non-agrifood MSMEs. On the worker side, agrifood MSMEs hire a large number of employees and play a key role in absorbing non-farm labor. Within the agrifood system, midstream firms stand out as the main suppliers of better-quality jobs. They are more likely than other agrifood segments to employ wage workers, to offer written contracts and to pay wages that exceed those in the AFS and even meet the ones in non-agrifood MSMEs. The findings point to agrifood MSMEs, and especially the midstream, as a strategic focus for policies that aim to expand both the quantity and quality of jobs while closing gender and rural gaps in employment opportunities.

Keywords: Agrifood systems, MSMEs, Midstream, Employment quality, Gender gap, Rural development, Low and middle-income countries, Wage labor.