1.
Farmer Entrepreneurship & their Social Context
Evidence from Emerging Economies
Dr. Domenico Dentoni, Associate Professor in Agribusiness Management
Business Management & Organization Group, Wageningen University
Photo credit: Global Forum on Ag Research (GFAR) 2017.
2nd International Conference of Agriculture and Life Sciences | Tirana, Albania, May 7-8, 2018

2.
Key assumptions in current policy and agribusiness debate:
FARMER OR AG-ENTREPRENEURSHIP
(i.e. agricultural/rural entrepreneurship) as a key solution for:
ECONOMIC GROWTH; SOCIAL EQUITY; CLIMATE RESILIENCE
Challenging assumptions on Ag-entrepreneurship
Still open questions that we address here:
1 à WHAT exactly is AG-ENTREPRENEURSHIP?
2 à WHEN are farmers more likely to be entrepreneurial?
3 à HOW do rural YOUTH become entrepreneurial?
4 à WHY studying ag-entrepreneurship has implications?

3.
What is ag-entrepreneurship in emerging
economies?
Photo credit: La Linea Verde (2017).

4.
What is ag-entrepreneurship in emerging
economies?

5.
What is ag-entrepreneurship in emerging
economies?

6.
What is Agri-entrepreneurship vs. Innovation?
Starting a NEW
BUSINESS
Developing a NEW
PRODUCT; Using a
NEW TECHNOLOGY
Building a NEW
MARKET
CHANNEL
ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION, LEARNING
AND PROCESSES WITH EXISTING (= not new)
BUSINESSES, MARKETS, TECHNOLOGIES
Entrepreneurship (Shane & Venkataraman 2000) =
recombining resources innovatively to seize opportunities for
value creation.
…NOT ONLY IN-
FARM, BUT ALSO
AROUND AND
COMPLEMENTARY
TO FARMING!

7.
What is Agri-entrepreneurship vs. Innovation?
INNOVATION
More visible & easier to
measure:
Starting a NEW BUSINESS;
Developing a NEW
PRODUCT; Using a NEW
TECHNOLOGY; Building a
NEW MARKET CHANNEL
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
More latent & more difficult to
measure:
ENTREPRENEURIAL
ORIENTATION, LEARNING
AND PROCESSES WITH
EXISTING BUSINESSES,
MARKETS, TECHNOLOGIES

8.
What is ag-entrepreneurship outside the West?
Authors: Lai, Dentoni, Chan, Neyra (published in 2017)
Data: survey with 386 youth taking ag-entrepreneurship training in The Philippines (2013-2014).
Analysis: Confirmatory Factor Analysis.
Photo credit: Dr. Cynthia Lai (2016).

9.
Innovativeness
Proactivity or
Autonomy
Farmers’
Entrepreneurial
Orientation
Risk-taking
+
+
+
What is ag-entrepreneurship outside the West?
Authors: Lai, Dentoni, Chan, Neyra (published in 2017)
Data: survey with 386 youth taking ag-entrepreneurship training in The Philippines (2013-2014).
Analysis: Confirmatory Factor Analysis.
Key Finding: differently from Western ag-entrepreneurs,
need for achievement does not reflect entrepreneurial
orientation in rural Philippines à ag-entrepreneurship
reflects different mindsets in different social contexts.
Need for
achievement
Farmers’
Entrepreneurial
Orientation
+
Proactivity or
Autonomy
Risk-taking
Innovativeness
+
+
+
Western-based
measurement
model
RMSEA = 0,082
Locally adapted
measurement
model
RMSEA = 0,033

10.
Authors: Barzola, Dentoni, Mordini, Isubikalu et al. (published in 2018)
Data: survey with 152 coffee and honey farmers in Uganda (2016)
Analysis: Confirmatory Factor Analysis; Multiple Linear Regressions.
What is ag-entrepreneurship vs. Innovation?

11.
Innovativeness
Proactivity or
Autonomy
Farmers’
Entrepreneurial
OrientationFarm size
Farmers’
Market
Innovation
Risk-taking
Education
Farmers’
Product
Innovation
Farmers’
Process
Innovation
+
+
+
+***
+***
What is ag-entrepreneurship vs. Innovation?
+**
+*
Authors: Barzola, Dentoni, Mordini, Isubikalu et al. (published in 2018)
Data: survey with 152 coffee and honey farmers in Uganda (2016)
Analysis: Confirmatory Factor Analysis; Multiple Linear Regressions.
Key Findings: 1) Innovative farmers with small
farm size & 2) proactive farmers with large farm
size are most likely to innovate.
Access to
resources
Farmers’
Innovation
+**
+ +
+
+**
+**
-**

12.
When people are more likely to be(come)
ag-entrepreneurial?

13.
When are farmers entrepreneurial?
Authors: Xhoxhi, Imami, Skreli, Dentoni (working paper)
Data: survey with 200+ citrus farmers in Albania (2017).
Analysis: Structural Equation Modelling
Photo credit: AgroWeb (2017).

14.
Innovativeness
Proactivity or
Autonomy
Farmers’
Entrepreneurial
Orientation
Access to
unused
arable land
Reciprocity
Risk-taking
Reputation
Trust
Age
+
+
+
+***
+**
+*
When are farmers entrepreneurial?
+***
+**
-***
Authors: Xhoxhi, Imami, Skreli, Dentoni (working paper)
Data: survey with 200+ citrus farmers in Albania (2017).
Analysis: Structural Equation Modelling
Key Findings: 1) youth have more
entrepreneurial orientation; 2) but age
builds trust; 3) and trust fosters
entrepreneurial orientation.

15.
When are farmers entrepreneurial?
Authors: Barzola, Dentoni, Van der Slikke, Isubikalu et al. (under review)
Data: Semi-structured interviews with 36 coffee farmers and informants in Uganda (2016).
Analysis: Value Network Analysis; Cluster Analysis.

16.
When are farmers entrepreneurial?
Authors: Barzola, Dentoni, Van der Slikke, Isubikalu et al. (under review)
Data: Semi-structured interviews with 36 coffee farmers and informants in Uganda (2016).
Analysis: Value Network Analysis; Cluster Analysis.
Cluster 1: Young
male farmers
Cluster 2: Elder female
farmers
Cluster 3: Middle-age male
farmers
34 years avg. 66 years avg. 52 years avg.
Mostly highlands Mostly midlands Mostly lowlands
<0,5 acres 0,5 < acres < 2,5 2,5 < acres
Low resource
diversification
High resource
reciprocity
(through cooperatives)
Low resource reciprocity; high
resource diversification
Constraints in finance,
market info &
knowledge.
Constraints in finance
and ag inputs.
Rapid growth: increased
access to banks, urban and
niche export markets.
Key Findings: geographic location, farm size and
resource diversification plays a critical role in
entrepreneurial outcomes.

17.
How rural youth become more ag-
entrepreneurial?

18.
How do rural youth become entrepreneurial?
Authors: Ochago, Dentoni, Lans, Trienekens (on-going research)
Data: Survey and interviews with 200+ coffee farmers in Uganda (2018).
Analysis: Structural Equation Modelling; Content analysis
Ag-
Entrepreneurial
Experience
Ag-
Entrepreneurial
Knowledge
Experimenting
Sense-making
Family resource
endowments
Dominant
community logics
Collectivism
Land stewardship
Land ownership
Family education
Social capital
Value networks
+/-
+
Key Hypotheses: 1) Family resource
endowments may trigger youth
entrepreneurial learning; 2) yet
dominant community logics,
depending on circumstances, may
hamper or support learning.

19.
How do rural youth become entrepreneurial?
Authors: Afari-Kwarteng, Dentoni, Lubberink, Lans (working paper)
Data: Interviews with 47 rural community members in Ghana (2017).
Analysis: Qualitative Analysis of Critical Incidents.

20.
How do rural youth become entrepreneurial?
Authors: Afari-Kwarteng, Dentoni, Lubberink, Lans (working paper)
Data: Interviews with 47 rural community members in Ghana (2017).
Analysis: Qualitative Analysis of Critical Incidents.
Entrepreneurial
processes:
-Idea generation
-Idea incubation
-Idea championing
-Idea implementation
Community
organization:
-Social capital (trust
and social networks)
-Governance
structures (knowledge-
sharing, decision-
making, enforcement)
External poverty
reduction
initiatives
Influencing through resource access & peer pressure
Developing new routines & giving new examples
Key Findings: 1) Community
organization and youth
individual entrepreneurial
processes challenged each
other; 2) External poverty
reduction initiatives
strengthened community yet
hampered individual
entrepreneurship.

21.
Why this ag-entrepreneurship research has implications?
Photo credit: United Nations Albania 2018.

22.
Why ag-entrepreneurship research has implications?
Ag-entrepreneurship in emerging economies may:
• Fuel product, process and market innovation.
• Support adaptation and resilience in turbulent contexts.
• Empower youth and marginalized actors in communities.
Yet, ag-entrepreneurship can create serious misunderstandings among
donors, policy-makers and managers :
• Meaning of ag-entrepreneurship differs across social contexts;
Donors, policy-makers and managers need to:
Ø Understand the different meanings that stakeholders give to
ag-entrepreneurship BEFORE new interventions.
Ø Collectively create a common understanding of ag-
entrepreneurship in DURING new interventions.

23.
High risk of making powerful actors more powerful:
● Actors with larger farms and access to unused land;
● Actors with richer family endowments (education, finance, value networks);
● Elderly in relation to trust and social networks in communities;
● Actors embracing leading dominant community logics.
Donors, policy-makers and managers need to:
Ø Agree (or agree to disagree) on which specific rural actors will take
advantage through ag-entrepreneurship and which effects they generate.
Ø Systematically understand these power structures BEFORE interventions.
Why ag-entrepreneurship research has implications?

24.
We invite you to engage on global debate on the
what, when, how and why of ag-entrepreneurship
§ Track on “Entrepreneurship &
Innovation in Emerging Economies”.
§ Conference Wageningen International
Chains & NEtworks Management
(WICANEM).
§ Ancona, Italy, July 2nd-3rd, 2018.
§ Organized every two years by
Wageningen University.

25.
We invite you to engage on global debate on the
what, when, how and why of ag-entrepreneurship
§ Special issue on ”Entrepreneurship
and Innovation in Emerging
Economies”.
§ Sustainability journal (MDPI publisher)
§ Impact factor: 1,79.
§ Call for papers soon online.
§ Deadline January 2019.

26.
We invite you to engage on global debate on the
what, when, how and why of ag-entrepreneurship
§ Special issue on ”New organizational
forms in emerging economies”.
§ Journal of Agribusiness in Developing
and Emerging Economies
§ Clarivate emerging citation index
§ 10 co-guest editors worldwide.
§ Call for papers soon online.
§ Deadline December 2018.

27.
Faleminderit! Questions?
Happy to engage further in person or feel free to contact:
Dr. Domenico Dentoni, Business Management & Organization Group, Wageningen University
domenico.dentoni@wur.nl