Respondent selection and sampling procedure

Empirical value-chain analysis examines three general types of actors within the value chain, namely: farmers, intermediaries and retailers, within each of the three typologies of value chains that were introduced (modern domestic, modern international, and traditional). Qualitative and quantitative interviews with all relevant stakeholders in the various different value chains were conducted in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Chittoor. The total number of interviews with each type of actor in the value chain is shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Main groups of respondents and number of interviews

Farmers Intermediaries Retailers

Marginal

(below 1 ha) 20 Commission agents 9 Large Indian chains 9 Small

(1 – 2 ha) 36 Traders 7 Large chains with

foreign shares 3

Semi-medium

(2 – 4 ha) 24 Collection centre

officers 6 Franchisees of large

foreign chains 1

Medium

(4 – 10 ha) 24 Traditional retailers 12

Large

(above 10 ha) 2

Total 106 Total 22 Total 25

Source: Authors

The initial plan to employ random sampling for farmer respondents using farmers’ registers at the Block Development Offices (BDO), located at the Panachayat Samiti level of local government proved to be challenging (see,

for instance, Jha, 2012). Farmers’ lists were difficult to obtain, and were, moreover, incomplete. This predicament, together with logistical, time and budget considerations resulted in the decision to use ‘snowball sampling’

and ‘convenience sampling’ procedures.

For the qualitative part − which was extensively drawn upon to explain estimation results − snowballing offered the advantage that more in-depth discussions within the stakeholder groups could be achieved (Verschuren &

Doorewaard, 2010) and allowed the researcher to access interview partners who were difficult to reach and with whom a particular level of trust was a prerequisite (Atkinson & Flint, 2001). Snowball sampling started at the APMC-regulated markets where APMC officials referred the research team to intermediaries in the selected value chains. Moreover, snowball sampling was also employed at rythu bazaars. The farmers that were interviewed also referred the team to other farmers in their particular villages and allowed the team to contact other farmers in their home areas.

Nonetheless, snowballing as a sampling method also has its disadvantages:

Primarily, the interviewee is indirectly connected to a chain of reference persons leading up to the interviewer. This poses potential problems with representativeness, and the (unwanted) involvement of respondents as informal research assistants (Atkinson & Flint, 2001). As such, however, the snowball method is particularly appropriate for tracing back the value chains from either end of the chain, or from the centre (that is, the APMC markets) where many of the relevant stakeholders come together.

To generate data on the potential of farmers to participate in or gain access to the different types of value chains, the research team also conducted a number of brief quantitative interviews. The quantitative questionnaires with farmers are extracts of the longer qualitative farmers’ interviews that were used for the study. They consisted of 25 out of the 58 original items from longer questionnaire.¹⁰ The team interviewed roughly 30 farmer respondents who fell into each value-chain category (modern domestic, modern international, and traditional). Data that was gathered included socio-economic information, information on the farmer, farm characteristics

10 Four questionnaires (modern retailers; traditional retailers; farmers; middlemen) are presented in the Annex (Annex Tables 6-9).

and transaction characteristics.¹¹ After five weeks of data collection, a total of 101 valid farmer interviews (n = 101) had been obtained.

Interviews with intermediaries (that is, commission agents and traders) were conducted in mandis in Andhra Preadesh. Foremost, a courtesy call and expert interview with mandi officials was conducted, after which the group conducted interviews with market intermediaries. While some interviews were facilitated by mandi officials, the majority of intermediaries were interviewed without the assistance of market officers. A total of 22 intermediaries were interviewed, consisting of 9 commission agents, 7 traders, and 6 collection centre officers.

Interviews with the representatives of domestic and international retail supermarkets were based on purposive sampling. This is because of the limited number of large retail chains and wholesalers in Hyderabad and Vijayawada. Modern retailers in the two sample cities and the locations of their stores were identified and store managers of supermarket chains were interviewed. Since not all store managers were willing to be interviewed, the sample size was determined in situ. A total of 25 retailers were interviewed consisting of 9 store managers of domestic supermarket chains, 4 store managers of international chains (both retail and wholesale), and 12 traditional retailers. The sample of traditional retailers consisted of kirana shop owners, pushcart sellers and market stall vendors, but did not include rythu bazaar farmers, even if these farmers were technically selling their produce in retail.

To complement value-chain analysis, qualitative expert interviews with policy stakeholders at the central and state levels, with representatives of relevant research institutions, and with managers at supermarket headquarters in Hyderabad, Bengaluru (Bangalore) and Mumbai (Bombay) were also conducted. Moreover, from interviews with well-connected and

11 The team interviewed five farmers who supplied their goods through an innovative new channel, a combination of APMC-style marketing (spot market) but with the produce being weighed and packed at the village level. This new marketing channel derived from the Andhra Pradesh Department of Agricultural Marketing’s pilot project called

“Manakuragayalu”, which was launched in January 2014. These five farmers were not included in the final sample pool for two reasons: Firstly, the “Manakuragayalu” project only began at the time of field research, and many of its innovative elements were still in their pilot phases. Secondly, the project farmers that we interviewed previously sold produce exclusively to mandis, and the change brought about only an additional link to their mandi marketing channel.

well-informed stakeholders, endorsements and references for additional interview partners via snowballing were obtained.