Agrarian Social Pacts and Poverty Reduction (Draft)

This paper discusses agrarian social pacts and their relationship to agricultural policies in the developed and developing world. It operates from the premise that a distinct political economy characterizes agricultural policy: that the economic features of commodity production create particular policy challenges as well as political opportunities for farmers. More precisely, it describes how efforts to solve the collective action problems endemic in agriculture can lead to the creation of producer organizations responsible for policy coordination with the state.