Identifying ripple effects from new market institutions to household rules -Malawi’s Agricultural Commodity Exchange

Figures & data

Table A1 Details of women farmers in sample.

Position	Risks & constraints to profitability	Resources gained with ACE	Investment of resources gained with ACE	Livelihood aspirations and strategies
Divorced	Make informed business decisions (“a-typical for a woman”)	Cash (loss and profit)	Farm inputs	Expand business, increase profitability
	Government ruining market; Not enough capital, high interest rates	Business skills & confidence	School fees	Start warehouse with ACE
	No support with roll-out business plans; No influence in ACE set-up		Employ piece workers	Not remarry “unless new husband respects me as a business woman”
	No discussions on what we can learn from those who’ve failed business
Divorced	Cannot afford to wait for selling and “gamble with livelihood”	Cash (profit)	Food; School fees	Expand business and increase profitability
	Producing skills, does not know when and how to plant; specific production of different crops		Improve the house	Acquire production skills and technology
	Worried to make the threshold for storage		Farm inputs	Be a role model
	Slow system of ACE		Solar battery	Invest in small-scale business of son
	Dealing with local vendors (steal & cheat)		Bought a plot to build a house for renting out	Nor remarry because “men steal your life”
				Secure livelihood and education of children and family “to break cycle of poverty”
Unmarried, Single mother	Limited produce capacity, not enough hands and having to do everything alone	Cash (loss)	Farm inputs	Secure independency with ACE and delay marriage
	Government ruining the market	Skills (training / new way to produce)	Food	Have something to do; Buy own plot, build house with electricity
	Worried not make the threshold for storage warehouse			Buy a fridge (for small scale business)
	Dealing with local vendors (steal & cheat)			Start school again; Expand the land
	Slow payment of ACE; No capital, high interest rates			Acquire knowledge on timing when to sell
	Struggles to repay ACE loan from 2014
Widow	Produce capacity at old age, not enough hands and having to do everything alone	Cash (loss and profit)	Food; Farm inputs; An irrigation system	Rest
	Worried not make the threshold for storage warehouse		Clothes; School fees	Not remarry
	Dealing with local vendors (steal & cheat); No phone
Widow	Government ruining the market	Cash (loss and profit)	Farm inputs	Expand business, increase profitability
	No government support (training, financing) with producing legumes, life-stock	Skills (technology for produce)	School fees	Build capital with ACE to reinvest in father’s land
	Not enough capital		Electricity	Buy from local vendors and deposit with ACE
	No collateral for bank loan, high interest rates		Furniture	Acquire more technology for farming and life-stock
			New way of producing	Not remarry “but stay free”
Widow	Produce capacity at old age, not enough hands and having to do everything alone	Cash (loss and profit)	Farm inputs	Build a brick house
	Being sick, HIV infected and medical fees		Medical bills	Buy enough fertilizer to farm 80 acres
	Not enough cash to buy fertilizer		School fees	Start a restaurant at the trading centre in the village
	Worried not make the threshold for storage			Not remarry, stay free
	Dealing with local vendors (steal & cheat)
	Government ruining the market; Slow payment of ACE
	No agency in the farm group, take the profit.; No phone
Widow	Produce capacity at old age, not enough hands and having to do everything alone	Cash (loss and profit)	Oxcart and 2 donkeys	Expand business and increase profitability; Not remarry, stay free; Buy iron sheets
	Worried to make the threshold for storage		Food	Respect and recognition for her farming
	Dealing with local vendors (steal & cheat)		Farm inputs	Have enough food; Improve relationship with ACE
	Government ruining the market		School fees
	Decision-making and distribution in farm group		Solar battery
	No phone, depends on farm group and experiences delay of price information
	Relationship with ACE field staff
	Paying back the ACE loan
Widow	Produce capacity at old age, not enough hands and having to do everything alone	Cash (loss)	Farm inputs	Build a brick house; Buy nice chairs, sit, eat and be happy; Cement floor (mop with sand)
	Worried to make the threshold for storage; Dealing with local vendors (steal & cheat)		Food	Iron sheets to stop the rain
	Government ruining the market; Decision-making and distribution in farm group
	No phone, depends on farm group and ACE field staff for information and experiences delay of price information
Married	Transport costs farm to warehouse; Government ruining the market	Cash (profit and loss)	Farm inputs; School fees	Maintain profitability, satisfy household needs
	Dealing with local vendors (steal & cheat)	Not having to deal with embezzling local vendors	Clothes; Food; Emergency money	Ensure daughter’s education and upkeep so she won’t have to marry young (“like I had to”)
	Cannot read English, depends on daughter for text with price information		Surplus in bank; Employ piece workers
Married	Husband controls allocation of her money	Cash (profit)	Farm inputs	Expand business and increase profitability
	Not enough cash left to buy fertilizer for land		Food	Buy land, construct a house and rent
	No emotional, physical support from husband		School fees	Use profit to be independent and divorce.
	Domestic violence		Electricity	Be free from abuse, build new life with children
	Community advice ‘to be less vocal’			Be intelligent, pro-active, smart
				Move back to a ‘less rural environment’
Married	Husband controls allocation of her money	Cash (profit)	Farm inputs	Build a brick house
	Not enough cash left to buy fertilizer for land		Food	Make a cement floor to reduce sweeping time
	No emotional, physical support from husband
	“Business women are seen as prostitutes”
	No phone, depends on farm group and experiences delay of price information
	Limited contact with ACE officer, not explaining properly
	Worried to make the threshold for storage; Transport costs farm to warehouse
Married	Limited contact with ACE officer	Cash (profit and loss)	Farm inputs	Wants learn how to speak in public; Provide and care for her family
			Food	Learn how to do business; Be a role model

Fig. 1 Relationship between rules-in-use and Elements of the Policy Action Arena.

Source: Polski and Ostrom’s (1999: 39)

Fig. 2 Ripple effects from market to household.

Source: Own elaboration

Table 1 Diagnostic tool to identify ripple effects from one institutional field to another.

Diagnostic tool	Our study
1. Selection of an institutional field A in which rules changed by policy	Market institutional field: ACE introduced new rules to help farmers sell their produce
2. Identification of agents in institutional field A whose actions are possibly affected by the new rules	Farmers who trade commodities
3. Selection of subgroup of agents	Women farmers
4. Selection of secondary institutional field B where effects may ripple	Household institutional field
5. Identification of different positions occupied by agents in field B	Women farmers in positions: married, unmarried, widow, divorced
6. Deployment of Ostrom’s seven types of rules to analyse how changes in rules in field A enable/restrain agents to change rules in field B	Research question: in what ways did the introduction of ACE enable/constrain the actions of women farmers to affect household rules?
7. Identification of new opportunities and constraints in field B as a result of the ripple effect from field A

Source: Own elaboration.

Table 2 From framework to data collection.

Questions asked on	Referring to
Women farmers	Boundary rules
Positions filled by members of ACE	Position rules
Allowable actions and functions	Choice rules
Control of participants in regard to actions and functions	Aggregation rules
Information available to participants about actions and outcomes	Information rules
Realized outcomes	Scope rules
Constraints linked to actions and outcomes	Pay-off rules

Source: Own elaboration

Table 3 In what ways has ACE affected rules in the households?

Boundary rules	ACE has not affected women’s farming.
Position rules	Positive ripple effect: Engaging ACE, women get valuable feelings of recognition and affirmation of being ‘a business woman’, signalling their contribution as social and economic agents in the household. Slight increase in profits allows women farmers to remain single or unmarried, hence controlling their household positions.
Choice rules	Positive impact in market field without ripple effect on rules in household field: With ACE women can get a better price without having to travel. It implies no change in household rules.
Information rules	Mixed evidence. For female farmers, improved information rules with ACE reduced stress of finding a market and negotiating as weaker link with local middlemen, but ACE information only reaches literate women with a phone or contact with ACE agent.
Aggregation rules	Control over resources in the household remains with men
Pay-off rules	Mixed evidence. ACE warehouse-receipt system has given some women a bit more bargaining power to benefit from their farming. Unmarried female farmers see ACE as way to secure improved livelihood and freedom to stay unmarried.

Source: Own elaboration.