The paper "Employment impacts of agrifood system innovations and policies: A review of the evidence" by Julio A. Berdegué, Carolina Trivelli, and Rob Vos examines the effects of innovations and policies on employment and income in agrifood systems (AFS). The agrifood sector is crucial for global employment, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), but poverty remains widespread among rural workers.
The study reviews four types of innovations: farm-level mechanization and intensification, digitalization, contract farming, and food standards. Mechanization generally increases productivity and off-farm employment but can initially cause job losses. Digitalization has mixed impacts, potentially leading to farm-level job losses but creating new non-farm jobs. Contract farming improves risk management and technical assistance for smallholders, with varied impacts on income. Food standards like Fairtrade have mixed effects, often benefiting niche markets.
Enabling policies such as productive social protection programs, labor market regulation, and support for collective action organizations are also reviewed. These policies can improve employment and income but are limited in contexts with high informal employment.
The paper concludes that combining innovations with supportive policies is essential for improving income and employment outcomes in AFS, highlighting significant knowledge gaps that need further research.