Sowing seeds of change
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2025-07-02
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en
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Smallholder farmers are widely recognized as the heart and engine of the global food system, but constitute a large portion of the world’s poor. Although many interventions claim to ‘empower’ smallholder farmers, their actual impact remains contested. Existing literature yet fails to capture an understanding of the structural mechanisms and constraints that shape empowerment. This research explores why financial interventions in emerging markets fail to effectively empower smallholder farmers and drive systemic change. Data is collected through 14 semi-structured interviews with 16 respondents, six documents, and three observations. Results show that smallholder farmers’ agency is constrained not only by limited access, but by a lack of autonomy and control, shaped by the institutional logics and interests guiding financial interventions. Empowerment and systemic change are not guaranteed outcomes, but depend on how these interventions restructure institutional conditions. The research contributes to institutional work literature by challenging the rigid conceptualization of institutional work, and to empowerment literature by showing how institutional work can be the missing link in understanding why certain interventions fail to empower and drive systemic change. This suggests a shift in policy from interventions focused on access towards approaches that strengthen agency, through coordinated multi-actor engagement and alignment of institutional logics and interests
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen