Abstract

Africa has great potential for agriculture. Although international commodity prices have been buoyant, Africa’s supply response seems to be weak. A variety of constraints may exist. Using the case of Tanzania, the paper examines the impact of market connectivity, domestic and international, on farmers’ crop choices. It is shown that the international market connectivity, measured by transport costs to the maritime port, is important for farmers to choose export crops, such as cotton and tobacco. Internal connectivity to the domestic market is also found to be important for growing food crops, such as maize and rice. Among other inputs, access to irrigation and improved seed availability are also important factors in the crop choices of farmers. The size of land area is one constraint to promote the crop shift. The paper also reports the finding that farmers are not using market prices effectively in their choice of crop, even after the endogeneity of local prices is taken into account. Document type: Book

Abstract

griculture in Tanzania accounts for 28 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs 80 percent of its labor force. The sector is also an important source of export revenues. The data and findings presented in this report provide a summary of the performance of the agriculture sector in Tanzania using a set of indicators covering six areas. These are: 1) access to and availability of certified seed; 2) availability of and access to fertilizer; 3) access to farm machinery, particularly tractor hire services for land preparation; 4) access to agricultural and agro-enterprise finance; 5) the cost and efficiency of transporting agricultural commodities; and 6) measures of policy certainty and uncertainty as perceived by private investors and the effects these have on the enabling environment for producers and agribusinesses. The Agribusiness Indicators (ABI) team conducted interviews with Government agencies, private firms (fertilizer importers, seed companies, tractor importers and distributors, transporters), commercial banks, farmer-based organizations, donors, and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). The ABI program is pilot testing an initial set of indicators on the ease (or difficulty) of operating agribusinesses in African countries. The indicators are used to assess whether the countries have an enabling environment that is conducive to agribusiness investment, competitiveness, and ultimately agriculture-led growth.

Abstract

Cambodias rice exports are on a steep upward trajectory, benefiting from import duty preferences and new investments in rice mills and polishing factories. Cambodia’s major export competitors are Thailand and Vietnam. Thailand is a main competitor for fragrant rice, exporting itself ca 2.65 million tons of aromatic rice (including brokens) in 2010/2011. Vietnam is the principal competitor for the nonaromatic white rice markets such as the Philippines and Indonesia. Pakistan and Burma are competing with Cambodia for low-grade white rice markets mainly in Africa. The government needs to intensify its export facilitation efforts to increase its rice exports. Cambodia has reduced its milling costs but more needs to be done to improve competitiveness of its rice export. The capacity of Cambodia’s logistics system from mills to ports is inadequate to accommodate large-scale volumes. All of Cambodia’s rice exports are shipped in containers from Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville ports. Unless the government obtains a transit access to Saigon Port via the Mekong River for un-containerized milled rice, it is unlikely that Cambodia will export even 500,000 tons by 2015.

Abstract

The study investigated the effects of road transport infrastructure on agricultural sector development in Nigeria from 1985 to 2014, using secondary annual time series data on agricultural development (proxy by gross domestic product in the Agric sector) road transport infrastructure (proxy by length of paved road per square kilometer of area) export and capital, all obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) [3], and National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) [16], statistical bulletins. The data were analyzed using Granger Causality test and Ordinary Least Square estimation techniques. The study concluded that a positive and statistically significant relationship exists between road transport infrastructures (LRT) also evidence was found of a unidirectional causality from agricultural sector development to transport infrastructure. The study, therefore, recommends that adequate and timely maintenance of existing roads should be carried out as well as enacting appropriate regulations that ensure proper implementation and completion of new road construction contracts in the country in order to boost agricultural sector development, reduce wastage of farm produce and increase the possibility of economic diversification. Document type: Article