Agricultural supply response and poverty in Mozambique

Arbeitspapier

This paper identifies the key causal factors behind farmers’ marketing decisions in Mozambique. A two-step decision making process is modelled. Farmers decide, first, whether or not to participate in the market and, second, how much to market. The model is estimated using a Heckman switching regression approach. Marginal effects are calculated for the poor and the nonpoor and broken down into a market participation component and a quantity (sales value) component. The key importance of non-price factors such as technology, transport infrastructure, farm environment and area characteristics come out clearly. The marginal effects for the poor are not substantially different from those of the nonpoor, suggesting that differences in assets and area characteristics are more important than differences in underlying behaviour. Moreover, inducing farmers previously not in the market appears more important for total sales than focussing economic policy on those already in the market. To achieve pro-poor rural growth it is therefore essential to address explicitly the conditions of high-risk, low productivity and low capital endowments of poor farmers. – agriculture ; supply response ; food marketing ; Africa ; Mozambique

Object Details

• ISBN: 9291900516
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: WIDER Discussion Paper ; No. 2001/114

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets ; Agricultural Policy; Food Policy ; Economic Development: Agriculture; Natural Resources; Energy; Environment; Other Primary Products
• Subject: Landwirtschaft ; Agrarmarkt ; Armut ; Mosambik

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Heltberg, Rasmus ; Tarp, Finn
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)
• (where): Helsinki
• (when): 2001

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/52984
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET