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Abstract
Prices volatility is one of the critical problems that highly affects smallholder producer s income and so, might contribute to deeper poverty. This study applies both portfolio and stochastic simulation analysis to decision of governance structures (GS) selection to find the income that can allow producers to maximize their revenue and minimize the risk of its fluctuation. Data were collected in Benin in 2015 about 300 rice producers. The respondents were randomly selected from forty-one (41) villages. The simulations of the incomes generated by the highest revenue portfolio and the lowest risk one indicate that for both a risk averse and a risk loving producer, the optimal portfolio consist of selling 17% and 83% of their production through spot market and formal contract, respectively, in the case of two GS. In the case of three GS, the best portfolio consists of selling 13%, 57%, and 30% of the production through spot market, formal contract, and farmer association. Finally, a portfolio that consist of selling 10%, 25%, 43%, and 22% of the production through spot market, informal contract, formal contract, and farmers association, respectively, is the best one in the case of four GS.
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