Reforming agricultural markets in Africa

Reforming agricultural markets in Africa

Author: Kherallah, Mylene

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2002-01-01

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0801871980

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The long-term reduction of hunger and poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa remains one of the great challenges for the international development community. Eliminating hunger and promoting widespread growth in the region inevitably involves agriculture, given its central role in the region’s economies. Over the past 20 years, most African governments have carried out reforms to deregulate agricultural markets and reduce the role of state enterprises. How much has the state actually withdrawn from agricultural markets? Have well-functioning private markets emerged? How successful were these reforms in boosting agricultural production, economic growth, and the incomes of the rural poor? What lessons can we learn from the reform process? The authors of this book address these questions through an analysis based on an extensive review of experiences with reform, focusing on three major agricultural markets: fertilizer, food crops, and export crops. They examine the historical rationales for intervention, the factors contributing to reform, the process of implementation, and the impact of the reforms on farmers and consumers in Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors find that reforms have had many favorable results, but that the impact has been muted by partial implementation and structural constraints. They propose a new agenda for promoting the development of agricultural markets in Sub-Saharan Africa, identifying areas where governments can play a supportive role. They argue that appropriate agricultural marketing policies and investments can improve livelihoods and the economic health of the region.


Market Institutions, Transaction Costs, and Social Capital in the Ethiopian Grain Market

Market Institutions, Transaction Costs, and Social Capital in the Ethiopian Grain Market

Author: Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2001-01-01

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 089629126X

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This report addresses the overarching question regarding the role of institutions in enhancing market development following market reforms. It uses the New Institutional Economics framework to empirically analyze the role of a specific market institution, that of brokers acting as intermediaries to match traders in the Ethiopian grain market in reducing the transaction costs of search faced by traders. Brokers play a key role in facilitating exchange in a weak marketing environment where limited public market information, the lack of grain standardization, oral contracts, and weak legal enforcement of contracts increase the risk of contract failure. Relying on primary data, it analyzes traders' microeconomic behavior, social capital, the nature and extent of their transaction costs, and the norms and rules governing the relationship between brokers and traders.The study uses an innovative approach to quantify the costs of search and demonstrates that the brokerage institution is economically efficient both for individual traders and for global economic welfare.


The Dragon and the Elephant

The Dragon and the Elephant

Author: Ashok Gulati

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

Published: 2007-11-20

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780801887864

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China and India are the most extraordinary economic success stories of the developing world. Both nations’ economies have grown dramatically over the past few decades, elevating them from two of the world’s poorest countries into projected economic superpowers. As a result, the numbers of Chinese and Indians living in poverty have rapidly fallen and per capita incomes in China and India have quadrupled and doubled, respectively. This book investigates the reasons for these staggering accomplishments and the lessons that can be applied both to other developing nations and to the problem of poverty that remains in these two countries. The contributors pay particular attention to agriculture and the rural economy, examining how initial conditions and investments and the prioritization and sequencing of different policies and strategies have led to successes, and how the agricultural and rural sectors connect to overall economic expansion. They also emphasize the importance of anti-poverty programs and safety nets in helping poor people escape poverty. The book offers a set of policy and strategic options for future growth and poverty reduction. These include setting the right priorities for public spending, identifying trade and market reforms, building social safety nets for the poorest of the poor, and building accountable institutions that can provide public goods and services effectively. The book concludes by examining future challenges to China and India’s economic development, such as the need to ensure growth that is sustainable, equitable, and environmentally friendly. The Dragon and the Elephant offers valuable insights to development specialists anxious to multiply the benefits experienced by two of the greatest economic successes in recent times.


The Road Half Traveled

The Road Half Traveled

Author: Mylène Kherallah

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 23

ISBN-13: 0896295257

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The need for agricultural reform; How far did reforms go? Impact of the reforms; The future of agricultural market reform in Sub-Saharan Africa.


Market participation of smallholder common bean producers in Malawi

Market participation of smallholder common bean producers in Malawi

Author: Lifeyo, Yanjanani

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2017-12-15

Total Pages: 26

ISBN-13:

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This study has analyzed the factors affecting common bean production and marketing decisions by agricultural households in Malawi. The empirical results from applying the triple hurdle model to the IHS3 data demonstrate that different sets of factors affect smallholder farmers’ production, market participation and the intensity of participation decisions with respect to common beans. The location of the farmer, ownership of a radio, receipt of production extension services and FISP benefits, distance to main road and distance to the nearest market affected the agricultural household’s decision to produce common beans.


Distortions to Agricultural Incentives

Distortions to Agricultural Incentives

Author: Kym Anderson

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 682

ISBN-13: 0821376667

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This volume in the 'Distortions to Agricultural Incentives' series focus on distortions to agricultural incentives from a global perspective.