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...

This paper assesses three of these policy initiatives: input credit provision for smallholder producers of selected cash crops including cotton, the proposed creation of a Cotton Board, and the emergence in 2003 of District Council levies as a point of conflict between local governments and...

Rapid growth in urban populations and renewed growth in per capita incomes in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are creating major opportunities for local farmers by driving rapid growth in domestic market demand for food. At the same time, these trends plus rising income are putting enormous stress on...

Key findings regarding the structure of trade for tomato, rape, and onion into Lusaka are (a) regional trade is an important part of Zambia’s fresh produce system, (b) supply chains for tomato, rape, and onion are short, (c) the role of the modern market system is very small, and (d) the role...

Brokers are agents who arrange sales without taking ownership of the commodity, earning their money on a commission. Brokers are a common but often controversial presence in wholesale markets of East and Southern Africa. Efficient brokering can be beneficial by matching buyers and sellers more...

Daily quantities of tomato, rape and onion entering Soweto market in Lusaka fluctuate dramatically. The market does a remarkable job of moderating the impact on prices of these unstable quantities, through stabilizing mechanisms such as short-term storage of tomato and rape by traders and...

This report discusses the potential for procurement of food aid in local/regional markets to improve the effectiveness of response to food emergency victims. The paper examines the relevance of local/regional procurement (LRP) to donors and the rationale for using it, reviews LRP’s efficiency...

By law, US food aid relies on commodity procurement in the US. A powerful political coalition of US farm groups, shippers and relief agencies vigorously supports these in-kind food aid donation. As an alternative, local procurement of food aid, in Africa, has attracted growing interest because...

Cotton is an unquestioned success of Zambia’s turn towards a market economy. After privatization in late 1994, seed cotton production rose from 32,000 metric tons (mt) to about 180,000 mt a decade later (three-year averages centered on 1994 and 2005). The number of farmers involved in the...

1. Changes in spinning technology have increased the premium on high quality lint in the world market and increased the discount for lint contaminated with non-vegetative matter 2. The inherent characteristics of most African lint, plus the fact that it is hand-picked, should give it a...