Feeding Africa's Cities: The Case of the Supply Chain of Teff to Addis Ababa

Urbanization is quickly increasing in Africa, raising important questions on how food value chains to cities function and what the implications of urban growth are for the local food trade and farm sector. We study the rural-urban value chain of teff in Ethiopia, by value its most important staple value chain. Relying on unique large-scale surveys at different levels in this value chain, we find--in contrast to conventional wisdom--that value chains are relatively short and that average farmers obtain a high share, about 80%, of the final consumer price in the major terminal market, Addis Ababa. We further find that producer prices decline in line with transportation costs, the farther farmers live from the city; that seasonal price movements are rather small; and that average stock release by farmers is smooth over the year.