This paper grows out of earlier work on cotton by the Food Security Research Project. It is directed towards policy makers and private stakeholders in Zambia’s cotton sector, and has four main purposes: (a) To provide a detailed descriptive overview of the organization of the sector and of the...

The purpose of this report is to assess the efficiency of the Ethiopian grain marketing system and identify some of the constraints on market participants which influence its performance. The main questions dealt with are: How is the grain marketing system organized and coordinated? Is the grain...

This paper aims to summarize the rationale and objectives of the Crop Marketing Authority and the possible consequences of adopting the proposed legislation. We also identify where the proposal, in its current form, requires additional specificity in order to evaluate its ability to meet...

The paper consists of three parts. The first part of the paper is a review of agricultural performance in Ethiopia over the past forty years. The second part diagnoses agricultural system performance and food security problems in Ethiopia and discusses some tentative practical strategies for...

This report provides an initial assessment of the impact of agricultural commodity taxes levied by local district authorities on the national objectives of food security, poverty alleviation and economic growth. A study was undertaken to provide government with a better understanding of the...

Because gender roles and relations are dynamic, programs built on a solid up-to-date understanding of how men and women share labor responsibilities and the proceeds from their agricultural activities have the potential to bring forth positive outcomes. Better information on gender-based...

Crop income is the predominant source of income for most rural Mozambican households, accounting for 73% of rural household income on average in 2002, and greater than 80% of the total income of the poorest 40% of rural households. While the Government of Mozambique recognizes the need to...

This paper traces the trajectories of successful commercial smallholders operating under differing sets of market institutions. Analysis focuses on maize, cotton, and horticulture, three widely marketed crops with strikingly different market institutions. Maize receives intensive government...

Many agricultural policy discussions in Zambia revolve around the cost of producing maize. Despite the importance of having accurate estimates of production costs, smallholders’ cost of maize production in Zambia remain poorly understood. Various estimates are provided by interested parties,...

In the late 1990s, several governments in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) embarked on various market reforms to improve commodity market performance. The success of such market reforms depends partly on the strength of the transmission of price signals between spatially separated markets and between...