The objectives of this report are to identify market-oriented strategies to alleviate both chronic and transitory food insecurity, and to examine the interactions between short-run targeting mechanisms and longer-run strategies designed to alleviate the chronic causes of inadequate access to...

This study surveys the empirical record of grain marketing and pricing policy in selected Eastern and Southern Africa countries. The paper addresses five key issues with major implications for food policy in Africa: (a) why the anticipated supply response to market liberalization has not yet...

The objective of this report is to analyze the effects of smallholder commercialization on food crop input use and productivity in rural Kenya. The main research issues were: (1) To examine the determinants of smallholder fertilizer use on food crops, with a focus on the effects of household and...

This paper summarizes and synthesizes across the results of a set of country studies on the effects of prime-age adult mortality on rural households in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Zambia. Each study is based on large representative rural household surveys. These findings have...

This report summarizes the results of the USAID-sponsored Beyond Mindelo conference on food security policy and the competitiveness of agriculture in the Sahel.

The Effects of Market Reform on Maize Marketing Margins in South Africa Abstract: This article determines the effect of market reform on the size of maize milling/retail margins in South Africa. Simulations indicate that the deregulation of maize meal prices has caused a 16 to 20% increase in...

A major role of agricultural policy is to identify policy changes that may induce technological innovation and productivity growth throughout the food system, in order to increase the living standards of people who must relate to it in one way or another. While food market reform has been...

This report analyzes the effects of grain market reform in Ethiopia on grain prices and price spreads between major wholesale markets. The experience of Ethiopia during the 1990s represents a case in which a relatively consistent and internally-driven program of grain market liberalization has...

Improving the Impact of Market Reform on Agricultural Productivity in Africa: How Institutional Design Makes a Difference Abstract: This paper reviews the emerging empirical record of agricultural marketing policy reform and agricultural productivity, drawing from research on food access and...