What Impact of Social Networks on Farmers' Performances; Case of The Milk Sector in Ghardaïa, Algeria

Abstract

In many developing countries, farmers are struggling to improve their productivity and economic performance. This is due to the markets' imperfections, including information market. Numerous empirical studies point to the limitations of the so-called conventional information system set up by public institutions, which forces farmers to bear significant additional transaction costs to access information. These limits have led to the emergence of other modes of information transfer, of which collaboration seems to be the most successful. Social networks, by their very conception, have allowed this mode to materialise and develop rapidly. Algeria is no exception, since these techniques are found in some of the country's agricultural contexts. By analyzing the dairy value chain in the wilaya of Ghardaïa (South of the country), we evaluate in this study the impact of the use of social networks on farmers' performance. We surveyed 50 farmers in the region, randomly selected using the snowball method – one respondent leads to another. The results highlight the relevance of information obtained from social networks, which allows farmers to make savings (13.000 DZD per year per dairy cow: production and transaction costs) and technical changes, and thus leads to a significant improvement in productivity and economic performance (net profit per year per dairy cow: 170.000 DZD versus 78.000 DZD, net profit per litre of milk: 20 DZD versus 11 DZD respectively). The study shows, however, that the use of social networks is not generalized and remains subject to structural variables specific to farmers such as age and level of education.