Contribution of Rural Roads to Access to- and Participation in Markets: Theory and Results from Northern Ethiopia

Abstract

Road accessibility is considered to be one of the major factors influencing (or correlated to) rural households’ access to- and participation in markets. However, there are few studies that investigate this important topic. This paper, therefore, explores the issue from both theoretical and practical perspectives with household and village level data from Northern Ethiopia. It is generally assumed that road accessibility significantly contributes to both access to- and participation in markets by rural households. The results in this study, however, suggest that neither participation in major markets nor the amount of purchased agricultural inputs use are significantly different for households with respect to the degree of road accessibility in the study area. Nevertheless, the situation seems somewhat better in locations with good access to roads. On the other hand, the results in this study confirm that road accessibility significantly contributes to reducing farm gate prices of manufactured goods and increasing farm gate prices of agricultural goods

Benefit Distribution of Community-Based Infrastructure: Agricultural Roads in Indonesia

“…Added value is the process of transforming raw agricultural products into a new form through a process [39]. Added value in the agriculture sector occurs because roads have opened access to wider markets that cater to various demands [40]. This encourages farmers to meet the demand by not only selling raw agricultural products but also by providing agricultural processed products.…”

Selection and Use of Textbooks in Lesson Planning of Mathematics for Grade 4 Learners in East London Education District

“…The fact that many developing countries suffer poor transportation due to poor and roads that are not tarmacked has meant that transportation of goods especially to the rural areas has been an arduous and a daunting task (Tedla 2012). Due to poor road networks, the cost and tear of the vehicles increases and the final consumers have to bear the brunt of the phenomenon through the entrepreneurs having to charge more to cover their increased costs (Arethun and Bhatta 2012). With low capital at the people's disposal especially in the rural areas, higher prices of the commodities mean low consumption and hence a lowered market for the entrepreneur.…”

Effect of Universal Rural Road Access Program (URRAP) on Rural Households’ Sociocultural Features: The Case of Jimma and Bunno Bedele Zones, South Western Ethiopia

“…The poor and remote communities realize larger benefits from roads in several ways. On the one hand, road construction and maintenance might provide employment opportunities for the local population; reduce the physical costs of access to resources and markets (Arethun & Bhatta, 2012;Terefe, 2012); reduce poverty (Shiferaw, Söderbom, Siba, & Alemu, 2013); increase (agricultural) production and generate economic growth in rural areas (Tegebu, & Seid, 2016); enable the provision of social services such as health and education (Norman, 2013); and, enhance social, economic and political development (Bogale, 2016).…”

“…The researchers discussed the aforementioned studies on rural road accessibility and their expected returns in Ethiopia. It has been widely argued by Arethun and Bhatta (2012) that roads increase job opportunities and thereby open up new sources of revenue, leading to a more diversified income structure. Terefe (2012) combined panel data of rural households in Ethiopia with provincial level panel data of road density in order to estimate the impact of roads on poverty and consumption.…”