Theory suggests that rural farm households exposed to greater risk should diversify their income portfolios to reduce variation in welfare caused by adverse events such as rainfall shocks. Rainfall shocks, however, can also degrade asset stocks and make diversification more costly. Using a panel dataset of small-scale cattle farmers from rural Togo and long-term historical rainfall data, we first examine whether and in what direction rural portfolio diversification is related to historical rainfall shocks. Second, we test whether diversification is associated with stabilised welfare in the face of recent rainfall shocks. Our results show that historical rainfall shock exposure reduces income diversification. In terms of mitigation, we find that diversification is generally not effective in insulating against welfare losses. We conclude that there is a need to stimulate rural diversification as a means of building resilient livelihoods to cope with increasing weather variability by strengthening credit, agricultural and market institutions.

This paper examines food price changes before and during the COVID‐19 pandemic over a 5‐year period from 2017 to 2021 in Fox Lake, a remote Indigenous community in Northern Alberta, and compares them to provincial trends in Alberta. Using retail price data for 51 food items from The Northern , the sole grocery store in Fox Lake, and Statistics Canada records, we analyze differences in food price levels, temporal changes in food price indices, and their implications for living wages. We identify significant food price disparities, with Fox Lake exhibiting consistently higher price levels. During the pandemic, we observe mixed trends: disparities narrowed for perishable goods but widened for non‐perishable items. The Fox Lake food price index fluctuated over time, peaking above Alberta's in 2018 but remaining lower during the pandemic. These trends may reflect targeted strategies by The Northern to reduce disparities for essential items and stabilize prices, potentially supported by the Nutrition North Canada subsidy. Despite smaller percentage increases in food prices in Fox Lake, the higher share of food costs in total expenses resulted in a greater proportional impact on living wages. These descriptive results contrast with reports showing pandemic‐related food price spikes in other remote Indigenous communities.

Contract farming is important for integrating smallholder farmers into agricultural value chains in developing countries. While previous research has explored the impacts of contract farming on welfare and productivity, there remains a gap in understanding how specific contract design attributes influence farmers’ willingness to participate. Existing studies often overlook the heterogeneity of farmer preferences and the interaction between socioeconomic/demographic/institutional factors. This study investigates Ghanaian farmers' preferences for agricultural contract design, examining how socioeconomic, demographic, and institutional willingness to participate in contract farming. A discrete choice experiment was conducted with 279 Ghanaian farmers across four regions. The DCE used a conditional logit model in analyzing farmers' preferences for contract type, pricing mechanism, yield commitments, input support, and partner reliability, and a logit model to identify participation determinants. It offers insights into the dynamics of contract farming by examining farmers' preferences for contract design attributes using a discrete choice experiment. The findings reveal that farmers favor written contracts, quality-based pricing, full yield commitments, limited input support, and openness to new partnerships – underscoring the importance of formalization, autonomy, and market incentives. Importantly, the study highlights that farmers are not a homogeneous group; preferences vary significantly by gender, household size, income, access to extension, and market distance. This study highlights the need for differentiated, farmer-centric contract models that reflect the diverse socioeconomic realities of smallholders. The findings extend contract farming theory by revealing key preference patterns and interaction effects, offering actionable insights for designing flexible, inclusive contracts that improve participation, retention, and long-term sustainability.