Principal Supervisor: Dr Mehroosh Tak, Department of Economics (SOAS University of London)

Co-Supervisor: Professor Barbara Haesler (Royal Veterinary College), Dr Kevin Queenan (Royal Veterinary College)

Project Description

Rationale: Industrial poultry systems in Global South countries have boosted the availability of affordable proteins while also increasing the risk of a new pandemic and livelihood vulnerabilities. Industrial poultry systems are highly corporatised, integrated and consolidated, with only two firms producing global breeding stock for chicken meat. Corporate concentration can create anti-competitive behaviour, skew market power to exclude smallholder producers, undermine environmental standards, and reduce the genetic diversity of local chicken breeds. This project will deliver urgently needed evidence on corporate capture of South African or Indian poultry industries by focusing on trade-offs between increased productivity, livelihood and disease impact of intensive production systems.

Aim: Using an interdisciplinary approach based within political economy and One Health, the student will investigate the implications of corporate concentration in poultry industry on sustained participation of smallholder farmers in commercial value chains in South Africa or India*.

Objectives:
RQ1: What is the livelihood and One Health implications of corporate concentration in study country?

RQ2: How do the regional expansion strategies of global genetics producers shape power relations, competition, farmer participation and profits in SA or India?

RQ3: How does corporate concentration manifest itself in contractual relationships between the corporations and farmers in SA/India and what are barriers to sustained participation for smallholders in a rapidly industrialising production system?

*Study site for this project will be either India or South Africa. The student can choose the study site based on their interest. The studentship can leverage from existing projects including Critical Research on Industrial Livestock Research (CRILS- www.crils.org) and Sustainable & Healthy Food Systems Southern Africa (SHEFS-SA) projects.

Significance: The project aims to inform pro-poor livestock policies that can reduce disease risk of intensive poultry production systems. The project enquiry is a novel, welcomed contribution to critical food systems scholarship and evidence on pandemic potential of intensive livestock production systems, because most existing analysis have occurred in disciplinary silos. For example, on affordability of protein, livestock production efficiency, disease surveillance and management of disease risk, or barriers to market access. Existing literature lacks an explicit systems analysis of economic and financial structures of increasing corporatisation and thus, declining space for state-led regulation of Global South poultry industry and its One Health implications.

Methodology: The project will employ systems thinking to map new modalities of corporate concentration at international and national level. Using a mixed method data analysis approach, we will combine political economy theories of Systems of Provision (Bayliss and Fine- stemming from SOAS economics dept), global value chains (Ponte and Gereffi) with One Health (Haesler – a leading thinker of OH based at RVC) outcomes – to conduct the following studies with corresponding key methods –

1. RQ1: Conceptual framework: using systems thinking and systems of provision approaches, the student will generate a conceptual framework that explains the nexus between industrialisation, corporate concentration and disease.
2. RQ2: Systems mapping of concentration from global genetics industry to national level poultry industry for SA/India addressing power relations. We will utilise value chain mapping, key informant interviews (KIIs), participatory mapping tools with poultry stakeholders, casual loop diagrams, quantitative assessment of financial accounts of firm annual reports and market analysis of industry including Herfindahl and entropy indices to measure concentration across the value chain.
3. RQ3: Political economy study of new contracting modalities between corporations and farmers: farm level survey to assess sustainability of participation for smallholders with special focus on farm level mortality of birds to assess impact of disease outbreaks on sustained participation of smallholders. Mixed methods with farm level quantitative survey and semi-structured interviews with farmers, document analysis of farmer contracts and participant observations on farms.

Informal enquiries are encouraged and should be directed to Dr Tak, mt83@soas.ac.uk.

Funding Provisions

This studentship will provide full Home tuition fees and a stipend at the UKRI rate for 3 years of full-time study. In the 2026/27 academic year, these amounts will be £5,055 (tuition fees) and £23,805 (total stipend).

Subject Areas/Keywords:

Political economy, corporate concentration, systems of provision, contract farming, agrarian change

Key References

• Tak M, Karamchedu A, Syndicus I (2022) Identifying economic and financial drivers of industrial livestock production – the case of the global chicken industry. Guidance Memo Prepared for Tiny Beam Fund.
• Goga, S., & Roberts, S. (2025). Concentration and competition from global to local: The Southern African poultry industry. Competition & Change, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10245294251344362
• Clapp J (2023) Concentration and crises: exploring the deep roots of vulnerability in the global industrial food system. Journal of Peasant Studies 50(1): 1–25.
• Sasidhar, P.V.K., and Murari Suvedi. 2015. Integrated Contract Broiler Farming: An Evaluation Case Study in India. Modernizing Extension and Advisory Services, http://www.meas.illinois.edu

Further details about the project may be obtained from:

Principal Supervisor: Mehroosh Tak, mt83@soas.ac.uk 

Co-Supervisor: Barbara Haesler, bhaesler@rvc.ac.uk; Kevin Queenan, kqueenan@rvc.ac.uk

Further information about PhDs at SOAS is available from:

https://www.soas.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees

How to Apply

Step 1

Please apply to either MPhil/PhD in Development Economics or MPhil/PhD in Economics at SOAS University of London.

In your personal statement please state you are applying for the studentship. The research proposal should reflect the applicant’s response to the funded project’s brief and scope.

Step 2

You must apply for this scholarship via the admissions portal. You will need to have applied for a course to get login credentials for this.

If you do not see the scholarship you are hoping to apply for within your admissions portal, please double-check you meet the eligibility criteria. Should you have any queries, please contact scholarships@soas.ac.uk.

Closing date for applications is:

16:00 GMT, 17th April 2026