ABSTRACT This paper proposes an alternative typology of contract farming arrangements (CFA) based on transaction cost theory. To construct the typology, we first surveyed managers of agribusiness firms and contracted farmers in Zimbabwe to understand the provisions in their contracts, the motivations for their inclusion and the level of transaction attributes, particularly the sub-categories of asset specificity and uncertainty. We then developed a two-by-two matrix of contract types based on the interaction of transaction attributes. The results show that four contract types can be distinguished: total, group, lean and market contracts. Furthermore, CFAs that are misaligned with transaction attributes have problems of side-selling and inefficiency. Our new empirically based categorisation can help managers and policymakers to design CFAs that match with underlying transaction attributes, thus enhancing the stability and efficiency of CFAs.

中文翻译：

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合同农业安排的类型：交易成本角度

摘要 本文提出了一种基于交易成本理论的合同农业安排（CFA）的替代类型。为了构建类型学，我们首先调查了津巴布韦的农业综合企业和签约农民的经理，以了解他们合同中的条款、将其纳入的动机和交易属性的水平，尤其是资产专用性和不确定性的子类别。然后，我们基于交易属性的交互开发了一个二乘二的合约类型矩阵。结果表明，可以区分四种合同类型：总合同、集团合同、精益合同和市场合同。此外，与交易属性不一致的 CFA 存在侧卖和效率低下的问题。