How Competitive are Food Crop Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Dillon, Brian; Dambro, Chelsey

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2752748

Cited by 7 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…High transaction costs contribute to this limited market integration. Transport costs in Africa are the highest in the world (Teravaninthorn and Raballand 2009); also prevalent are harder-to-measure costs associated with search (Aker 2010), contractual risk (Startz 2017), and price uncertainty (Dillon and Dambro 2016).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1 Another set of papers attempts to directly measure traders' profits in order to draw inference about the size of rents and model of competition. These have generally found that average trader profits are moderately large, though subject to significant variability, leaving a question mark on whether these returns represent rents or risk premia (Dillon and Dambro 2016). Moreover, these direct measures are subject to potentially severe measurement error in the face of difficult-to-quantify search, own labor, and fixed costs, as well as a general lack of record keeping (Fafchamps, Gabre-Madhin, and Minten 2005).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While most studies find null results Minten 2012, Mitra et al 2015), 3 it is unclear if this suggests traders are already offering competitive prices given their costs or whether farmers are simply unable to use this information to improve their bargaining position. There is therefore a paucity of causal evidence on how traders compete (Dillon and Dambro 2016) despite a growing interest in the role these intermediaries play in determining the allocation of gains from trade (Antràs and Costinot 2011;Bardhan, Mookherjee, and Tsumagari 2013). 4 More broadly, this paper follows a long literature on testing among different models of competition.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Competition and Entry in Agricultural Markets: Experimental Evidence from Kenya

Bergquist

Dinerstein

2020

American Economic Review

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

African agricultural markets are characterized by low farmer revenues and high consumer food prices. Many have worried that this wedge is partially driven by imperfect competition among intermediaries. This paper provides experimental evidence from Kenya on intermediary market structure. Randomized cost shocks and demand subsidies are used to identify a structural model of market competition. Estimates reveal that traders act consistently with joint profit maximization and earn median markups of 39 percent. Exogenously induced firm entry has negligible effects on prices, and low take-up of subsidized entry offers implies large fixed costs. We estimate that traders capture 82 percent of total surplus. (JEL L13, O13, Q11, Q12, Q13)

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Competition and Entry in Agricultural Markets: Experimental Evidence from Kenya

Bergquist

Dinerstein

2020

American Economic Review

103

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Resource-constrained households with no other source of income suffer the most and face difficulty in accessing credit for smoothing their consumption (Shonchoy, 2014). As a result, most poor farmers resort to informal credit (Mallick, 2012) A well-functioning food market is equally important in promoting market oriented production (Dillon & Dambro, 2016). Effective incentive structures in production rely on farmers' access to markets and to the proceeds of their labour for reinvestment.…”

Section: Seasonal Food Prices Credit Institutions and Market Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Using a field experiment, Bergquist (2016) also finds a high degree of collusion among maize traders in Kenya and this affects competition. While a number of studies have been done in sub-Saharan Africa, there is little evidence on whether food crop markets are competitive or not (Dillon & Dambro, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From subsistence to market production : Implications for rural household food security in Uganda

Ntakyo¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Source: UBOS and MAAIF From 1999, the trend of the proportion of food crop sales to output has been increasing; marketed agricultural output increased from 56 % in 2002/03 to 58% in 2005/06 (Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2007). FAO statistics indicate that from 2004, food exports excluding fish increased by 340% in 2010. As agricultural land continues to shrink due to population pressure, there is less land available for plantations such as coffee and tea, so most food crops have become cash crops. Market-oriented production is further driven by increased food demand because of the growing and urbanizing population. With increased globalization there is growing pressure from policy makers on farm households to specialize and produce products that compete on the global market. The opening up of external markets provides an incentive for farmers to allocate their resources to those crops that easily trade in the regional market. Consequently, production of non-traditional crops such as rice has increased in most parts of Uganda. While Uganda is a net food exporting country (Benson et al., 2008), households in rural areas continue to face persistent food shortages. The proportion of staples marketed is not necessarily surplus as many households do not even produce enough for home consumption. Small holder farmers and poor farm households often sell food to raise income to satisfy demand for other family needs (Martey et al., 2012; Rahut et al., 2010). 1.2.3 Market production, gender relations and food security Gender relations are dynamic and men and women respond differently to new economic circumstances. The implications of commercializing food crops for gender relations and in turn food security are not well understood. How has market production affected intrahousehold gender relations? How does market production affect the patterns of labour, land and resource allocation including income between men and women? How has market production changed traditional and cultural attitudes regarding the dominance of women in production and men in marketing? And how has it affected women's perceived role of food provision? These questions are fundamental and this thesis attempts to contribute to literature by answering some of them. Gender affects farmers' access to resources and may also affect farmers' preferences concerning outputs. Men and women in agriculture play different roles and quite often are engaged in different enterprises. The literature indicates that, in most areas, cash crops are "men's crops" while subsistence or staple crops are "women's crops" (Orr et, al., 2014). Therefore, women are responsible for providing food for the household and men for providing other consumption goods. In most African communities, social norms and cultural practices dictate that males dominate decision making, production and marketing of cash crops (World Bank, 2009). There is evidence that even traditional women crops may be taken over by men when they become commercially viable (Doss, 2001; Kasente et al., 2002). Gender inequa...

show abstract

Smallholders and Markets

Brauw

Bulte

2021

African Farmers, Value Chains and Agricultural Development

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How Competitive are Food Crop Markets in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Cited by 7 publications

References 43 publications

Competition and Entry in Agricultural Markets: Experimental Evidence from Kenya

Competition and Entry in Agricultural Markets: Experimental Evidence from Kenya

From subsistence to market production : Implications for rural household food security in Uganda

Smallholders and Markets

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About