This study represents one of the first attempts to examine the process of adjustment within the farming and marketing sectors to the reform of agricultural markets in Egypt. Even though it is primarily based on rice sector data, it gives the following interesting insights into the initial...

This paper investigates the respective roles of spatial integration and arbitrage costs in explaining the adjustment of local prices to policy changes using the example of Ghana. We introduce a model of price formation and market integration that incorporates the price transmission process...

The response of local markets to sectoral and macroeconomic policy changes is a key determinant of the long term impact of policy reforms on reforming economies. In other words, changes in arbitrage costs that are associated with policy reforms as well as the level of integration among local...

Market integration analysis may be helpful in providing a photograph of the operation of local markets at a given point in time. However, the process of market reform in the context of structural and institutional deficiencies, rather than being a one-shot issue, involves a lengthy transition...

The study carried out on behalf of the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture of West and Central Africa represents one of the first attempts to analyze the impact of the devaluation of the CFA Franc that took place in early 1994. Its main focus is on the impact the change in parity has had on...

Although the techniques that are being used have become much more sophisticated, recent methodological developments in market research have hardly gone beyond the econometric test of market integration. While more efficient methods are being proposed to analyze price interdependence, the...

Using urban price data for the period 1976 to 1992 and rural price data for the period 1982 to 1992, the study assesses the degree of market integration for wheat, maize and rice. The study finds that i) reforms have not destabilized foodgrain prices; ii) there is some indication that the degree...

The development of the maize seed industry and private seed companies in selected Sub-Saharan Africa countries over the past 95 years is outlined. The study provides evidence that seed industry development is an evolutionary learning-by-doing process of fitting together a set of interactive and...

It is argued that dairying is vital to future viability of many small farms in East Africa and that high transactions costs for dairy production and marketing limit participation by asset- and information-poor smallholders. Case studies from Kenya and Ethiopia illustrate the role of dairy...

The author argues that African rural areas behave differently from rural areas in fully commercialized market economies. In commercialized economies, price signals quickly induce factor flows, including items such as investment and technological change. A need for more food is quickly translated...