Market chain changes in a small-farm economy: A case study of mushrooms in China

The overall goal of this study is to gain a better understanding of Lanbo's mushroom marketing chain and its impact on small farmers. We conducted two surveys to achieve this: one primarily based on interviews with Lanbo's manager and designated agent, and the other based on a micro farming household survey in two villages where farmers sell their mushrooms to the agent.

The rest of this report is organised as follows: the next section discusses Lanbo and its overall marketing channels. Section three presents the data and sampling measures used to examine one of the major marketing channels that Lanbo employs to purchase mushrooms through its agent. Section four gives a brief presentation of the arrangements between Lanbo and the agent, and between the agent and farmers. Section five presents the results of the household surveys, and the concluding section considers the study findings and their implications.

This publication forms part of the Regoverning Markets project.