IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-18-00982.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spatial heterogeneity in price (dis)incentives: evidence from the Ugandan maize value chain

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Letta

    (Sapienza University of Rome, Italy)

  • Emiliano Magrini

    (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO))

  • Pierluigi Montalbano

    (Sapienza University of Rome (Italy) and Sussex University (UK))

Abstract

Impact assessments of policy interventions on agricultural commodity prices are carried out by international organizations using nationwide measures which overlook the effects of spatial heterogeneity in incomplete markets. We introduce a multi-step methodology to build spatially-disaggregated nominal rates of protection in a data-scarce environment and test it along the maize value chain in Uganda. Results confirm that the spatial dispersion of farmers plays a key role in determining heterogeneity in nominal rates of protection. This finding has far-reaching policy implications: i) the assumption of a nationally-representative market pathway is unrealistic; ii) pan-national interventions may exacerbate, rather than reduce, price distortions.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Letta & Emiliano Magrini & Pierluigi Montalbano, 2019. "Spatial heterogeneity in price (dis)incentives: evidence from the Ugandan maize value chain," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(1), pages 495-501.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-18-00982
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2019/Volume39/EB-19-V39-I1-P49.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. C. Larochez-Dupraz & M. Huchet-Bourdon, 2016. "Agricultural support and vulnerability of food security to trade in developing countries," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(6), pages 1191-1206, December.
    2. Renkow, Mitch & Hallstrom, Daniel G. & Karanja, Daniel D., 2004. "Rural infrastructure, transactions costs and market participation in Kenya," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 349-367, February.
    3. Marcel Fafchamps & Ruth Vargas Hill, 2005. "Selling at the Farmgate or Traveling to Market," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(3), pages 717-734.
    4. Emiliano Magrini & Pierluigi Montalbano & Silvia Nenci & Luca Salvatici, 2017. "Agricultural (Dis)Incentives and Food Security: Is There a Link?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(4), pages 847-871.
    5. Osborne, Theresa, 2005. "Imperfect competition in agricultural markets: evidence from Ethiopia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 405-428, April.
    6. World Bank, 2009. "Eastern Africa - A study of the Regional Maize Market and Marketing Costs," World Bank Publications - Reports 3155, The World Bank Group.
    7. Abdulai, Awudu, 2000. "Spatial price transmission and asymmetry in the Ghanaian maize market," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 327-349, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Montalbano, P. & Pietrelli, R. & Salvatici, L., 2018. "Participation in the market chain and food security: The case of the Ugandan maize farmers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 81-98.
    2. Isaac Bonuedi & Lukas Kornher & Nicolas Gerber, 2022. "Agricultural seasonality, market access, and food security in Sierra Leone," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(2), pages 471-494, April.
    3. Sigei, Geoffrey & Bett, Hillary & Kibet, Lawrence, 2014. "Determinants of Market Participation among Small-scale Pineapple Farmers in Kericho County, Kenya," MPRA Paper 56149, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Barrett, Christopher B., 2008. "Smallholder market participation: Concepts and evidence from eastern and southern Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 299-317, August.
    5. Lodovico Muratori, 2016. "Price Gap along the Ugandan Coffee Value Chain," Working Papers 1/16, Sapienza University of Rome, DISS.
    6. Cossar, Frances, 2016. "Boserupian pressure and agricultural mechanization in modern Ghana:," IFPRI discussion papers 1528, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Momanyi, Denis & Lagat, Prof. Job K. & Ayuya, Dr. Oscar I., 2016. "Analysis of the Marketing Behaviour of African Indigenous Leafy Vegetables among Smallholder Farmers in Nyamira County, Kenya," MPRA Paper 69202, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 27 Jan 2016.
    8. Wouter Zant, 2012. "How does Market Access affect Smallholder Behavior? The Case of Tobacco Marketing in Malawi," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 12-088/V, Tinbergen Institute, revised 25 Aug 2014.
    9. Jin Guo & Tetsuji Tanaka, 2020. "Examining the determinants of global and local price passthrough in cereal markets: evidence from DCC-GJR-GARCH and panel analyses," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-22, December.
    10. Fekadu Gelaw & Stijn Speelman & Guido Huylenbroeck, 2017. "Impacts of Institutional Intervention on Price Transmissions: The Case of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(4), pages 88-106, November.
    11. Takeshima, Hiroyuki, 2008. "Behavior of subsistence producers in response to technological change- The elasticity of cassava production and home consumption in Benin," 2008 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2008, Orlando, Florida 6108, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    12. Mahdi, Shireen, 2012. "Distance to market and search costs in an African maize market," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6172, The World Bank.
    13. Ebata, Ayako & Pacheco, Pamela Alejandra & Cramon-Taubadel, Stephan von, 2015. "Distance to market and farm-gate prices of staple beans in rural Nicaragua," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211582, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    14. Tione, Sarah Ephridah, 2011. "Analysis of Effectiveness of Modern Information and Communication Technologies on Maize Marketing Efficiency in Lilongwe and Dedza Districts and Selected Markets of Malawi," Research Theses 198525, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    15. Marcel Fafchamps & Ruth Vargas Hill, 2008. "Price Transmission and Trader Entry in Domestic Commodity Markets," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 729-766, July.
    16. Mejía, Gonzalo & García-Díaz, César, 2018. "Market-level effects of firm-level adaptation and intermediation in networked markets of fresh foods: A case study in Colombia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 132-142.
    17. Giacomo Zanello & Chittur S. Srinivasan & Bhavani Shankar, 2014. "Transaction Costs, Information Technologies, and the Choice of Marketplace among Farmers in Northern Ghana," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(9), pages 1226-1239, September.
    18. Escobal, Javier, 2005. "The Role of Public Infraestructure in Market Development in Rural Peru," MPRA Paper 727, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Dagim G. Belay & Hailemariam Ayalew, 2020. "Nudging farmers in crop choice using price information: Evidence from Ethiopian Commodity Exchange," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(5), pages 793-808, September.
    20. Wouter Zant, 2016. "How does Market Access for Smallholders affect Export Supply? The Case of Tobacco Marketing in Malawi," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 16-054/V, Tinbergen Institute, revised 08 Aug 2018.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    nominal rates of protection; spatial price heterogeneity; maize value chain; Uganda.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • Q1 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-18-00982. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.