Marketing Of Food Crops Research Articles

Women development in agriculture as agency for fostering innovative agricultural financing in Nigeria

The significant contribution of women in agricultural development cannot be over-emphasised. Women farmers are commonly side-lined and their efforts under-valued in conventional agricultural and economic evaluations despite the substantial impact they have made in the sector. Globally, women’s contributions to the agricultural sector have been appraised as the world’s major producers and organisers of food crops where half of the world’s foods have been grown by them. In Africa, Nigeria included, women dominate and play major roles in producing subsistence crops and livestock. Their contribution to agriculture is estimated to be 65% in Nigeria. However, their contributions are undermined largely because women are often economically marginalised. Though women are food producers for most of the households in rural areas, their marginalisation has been historical. Factors hindering women from accessing agricultural financing include patriarchy, an unfavourable land tenure system that deprives women of access to collateral security in accessing bank loans and the vagueness of women’s limited self-agency. Anchored in patriarchal and liberal feminism theories, this study examines how Nigerian women are marginalised in selected spheres of agrarian livelihoods in the south-eastern parts of Nigeria. South-East Nigerian women farmers participate fully in all key stages of farming activities such as production, processing and marketing of food crops. The Igbo men cultivate mainly cash crops. Similarly, in the Northern parts of Nigeria, women are only allowed to participate in certain stages of cash crop growing but they are fully allowed to engage in subsistence farming as they are relegated to home front activities. Patriarchy limits women's access and control over land resources in all forms. Patriarchal and liberal feminism denoted that the actions and ideas of male farmers dominant over those of women has prevented female farmers the autonomy and freedom to become rational beings. This paper recommends mainstreaming of gender in the design, implementation and monitoring of agricultural policies and programmes for inclusive financing for food security and sustainable development.

Assessment of Agricultural Credit Sources for Food Crop Marketing in Ondo State of Nigeria

Assessment of Agricultural Credit Sources for Food Crop Marketing in Ondo State of Nigeria

Food crop marketing and agricultural productivity in a high price environment: evidence and implications for Mozambique

This paper assesses the relationships between smallholder agricultural productivity and market participation in a high food price environment in Mozambique. To understand the bi-directional nature of these relationships we used panel data methods to evaluate the relative importance of market participation (measured in terms of sales intensity) compared to household and farm-level factors in explaining productivity changes; and the relative importance of crop productivity versus marketing investments in explaining household market participation. Results indicate that, for smallholder farmers in Mozambique, investments that lead to increased adoption of productivity enhancing technologies could have significantly higher impacts on sales intensity than efforts to increase sales intensity could have on productivity. The magnitude of estimated effects is relatively stronger for cereals and beans/groundnuts than for roots/tubers, reflecting the role of the latter as food reserve/insurance crops. The results indicate that productivity investments for cereals and beans/groundnuts crops can help boost production and sales intensity significantly in a time when market participation rates are on the rise in response to better prices. For roots/tubers, investing in processing facilities and creating demand for processed root products combined with improvements in farm-level productivity may provide better long-term prospects than improvements in productivity alone.

Traditional Food Crop Marketing in Sub-Saharan Africa: Does Gender Matter?

The present study aims to contribute to the scarce literature on traditional food crop marketing by analysing the factors influencing (a) the household’s decision to participate in the market and (b) the selling prices obtained by the household. Using an econometric approach, we analyse household data from 270 finger millet producers in western Kenya. A main focus of the study lies on the role of gender and farmer group participation. Results show that group membership increases the probability of market participation and is of particular importance for female farmers, who obtain higher selling prices when participating in a group.

Trees, agroforestry and multifunctional agriculture in Cameroon

Modern agriculture has deprived local communities in the tropics of their natural life-support system—the forest resource and the traditional knowledge about indigenous species—and this has not been replaced by employment opportunities or social services. This project in the west and northwest regions of Cameroon takes an innovative three-step approach to improving the lives of local people by establishing rural resource centres (RRCs) to: (i) Rehabilitate degraded land and promote food security through the use of nitrogen-fixing trees to restore crop yields and then the diversification of the farming system with new crops; (ii) Create income generation opportunities from village tree nurseries and the domestication of indigenous fruits and nuts for local and regional trade. Income is rising annually and currently averages $150, $16,000 and $21,000 per RRC after 2, 5 and 10 years, respectively; (iii) Encourage the processing and marketing of food crops and tree products in order to create employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for community members. Income is currently $2400 per enterprise. The project's philosophy is one of helping smallholder farming communities to help themselves: first to become self-sufficient and economically independent, and then to be a hub for the dissemination of knowledge and skills to neighbouring communities.

Global Theme Issue: Poverty and Human Development The effect of poverty on access to oral health care in Nigeria

Nigeria is a country with a population of over 140 million people (1). Over 60% of Nigerians live in rural areas. Poverty is especially severe in rural areas where social services and infrastructure are limited or non existent. Africa is the continent where the poorest people in the world live. Nigeria is the most populous black African country where about 70% of the population live under one dollar per day (2). Nigeria has been classified as a poor nation. In Nigeria, majority of those living in rural areas are poor and depend on agriculture for food and income. Small scale farmers who cultivate tiny plots of land and depend on rainfall rather than irrigation system produce about 90% of the country\'s food. Women play a major role in the production, processing and marketing of food crops. The poorest group go on subsistence living but are often short of food, particularly during the pre-harvest period. Many poor Nigerians suffer from malnutrition and other diseases related to poor nutrition such as acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis (ANUG) and cancrum oris (3-6). The HIV/AIDS pandemic has also taken a heavy toll on the rural population and could be considered an emerging public health problem. The extremes of poverty in Nigeria are outrageous. The outrage is not just that avoidable deprivation, suffering and death are intolerable; it is also that these situations coexist with affluence. Corruption is endemic in Nigeria and this has impoverished the nation. Intergenerational poverty exists in the country. Fight against poverty is necessary to reduce intergenerational transfer of poverty in Nigeria because most Nigerian children are born into poverty. The oral health status of underprivileged Nigerians is generally poor. Many Nigerians suffer from oral diseases such as caries, fracture teeth, gingivitis, periodontitis, acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis, cancrum oris, malocclusion, tumours and other dental problems (7-15). Non availability of National data on the prevalence of common oral diseases among Nigerians is a major problem and poses a great challenge to the Nigerian Dental Association whose members are major stakeholders regarding oral health care delivery system in the country. Lack of national data has affected planning meaningful oral health care for Nigerians. This paper identified the barriers to access oral health care and stress the various strategies by which the Nigerian Dental Association and all stakeholders could assist the Federal Government of Nigeria to overcome these barriers and formulate policies that will prevent oral disease and move the nation forward to achieve the millennium development goal. Nigerian Dental Journal Vol. 16 (1) 2008: pp. 40-42

Poverty Effects of Expansion and Policies in Cotton Economies in Rural Mozambique: An Economy-wide Approach

This paper uses a Regional Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model calibrated with a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for the Mozambique Zambezi Valley cotton concession sub-region to examine the economy-wide impacts and relative changes in the levels of income poverty of grower and non-grower household groups, following exogenous shocks, such as contract faming specific capital expansion, technology improvements, changes in world prices, and Government policies. Simulation results indicate that productivity gains have a broad-based income growth and poverty reduction potential, even greater than increased cotton world prices; because sustained increases in world prices are unlikely, this result is encouraging. While employment linkages are relatively weak in these economies when compared to tobacco growing areas, income diversification strategies by non-grower households, particularly through non-farm selfemployment and food crop marketing, ensure that they are not left behind when interventions are focused on cotton growers. Even when impacts are limited among growers, any expansion in cotton production results in some positive effects to nongrowers. The implied potential of interventions focused on increasing cotton productivity present a great opportunity for concession firms and policy makers to design strategies that are beneficial to both grower farmers, firms and the population at large. This will require public-private coordination efforts stressing better research and extension, the use of high yielding seed varieties, and emphasis on quality. Although results indicate limited negative effects of high import prices for inputs, measures aimed at reducing the costs of importation and transportation are highly encouraged as they can help minimize or counterbalance any negative effects from factors outside the control of domestic agents. While current poverty impacts of cotton cropping are relatively small, there is high potential for significant broad based gains under a more productive system.

Transaction costs and crop marketing in the communal areas of Impendle and Swayimana, KwaZulu-Natal

High transaction costs are detrimental to the efficient operation or existence of markets for inputs and outputs. The cost of information and the costs associated with the search for trade partners, the distance to formal markets and contract enforcement are likely to influence the marketing of food crops. This study hypothesises that the level of income generated from food-crop sales by small-scale farmers in the Impendle and Swayimana districts of KwaZuluNatal is influenced by transaction costs and certain household and farm characteristics. Regression analysis shows that the depth of marketing methods is significantly influenced by transaction cost proxies, such as cooperation with large commercial farmers and ownership of means of transport. Results from a block-recursive regression analysis show that the level of crop income generated is determined by the depth of marketing methods, the size of allocated arable land and off-farm income. Households with lower transaction costs, sizeable allocated land and off-farm income can be expected to generate higher income from food crops. Investment in public goods such as roads, telecommunications and an efficient legal system (to uphold commercial contracts), as well as farmer support services (input supply, extension, marketing information and research), would probably raise farm and non-farm income by reducing transaction costs. This would increase the effective demand for locally produced goods and services, thus contributing to rural employment and livelihoods within rural communal areas.

Impact of Macroeconomic Change on Deforestation in South Cameroon: Integration of Household Survey and Remotely-Sensed Data

The integration of information from household surveys and data on land-cover changes derived from remote sensing improves our understanding of the causes and processes of land-use/land-cover changes. A household survey covering 552 households in 33 villages was carried out in the East Province of Cameroon. This survey focused on land-use changes since the 1970s. Those data were related to time series of remote sensing satellite data. A major interest of the field data lies in the longitudinal framework of the survey. It highlighted the evolution of the household and its land-use over three periods related to the key macroeconomic periods, and corresponding to the dates of acquisition of the remote sensing data. The research results demonstrate that macroeconomic changes affecting Cameroon have played a fundamental role in the way land-use practices influence the forest cover. The results show that the annual rate of deforestation increased after the economic crisis as compared to the previous period. The household survey information enables identification of the causal relationships and the processes of land-use and land-cover changes. Observations reveal that the beginning of the economic crisis (1986) is associated in time with a strong increase of the deforestation rate related to population growth, increased marketing of food crops, modification of farming systems, and colonization of new agricultural areas in remote forest zones.

Employment and food crop/food marketing

Analysis of the marketing of food crops and food, and support programmes of this subsector, have focused more on the cost-efficiency and structure of the operations than upon considerations of employment and income of those involved. In recent years the subsector has experienced increased labour absorption, but still comparatively little is known of the employment and income generating potential and dynamic of this subsector. The non-integration of these considerations in a period when employment generation is of increasing importance, is a weakness that needs to be addressed. This article begins to address the consideration of employment and the marketing of food crops and food in ‘developing’ countries, and pinpoints some specific deficiencies that need further attention.

Measuring the Effects of Partial Decontrol on Agricultural Markets: Application of a Dual Channel Marketing Model for Maize in Zimbabwe

Abstract Policy reform in agricultural markets is on the agenda of many developing countries. Having intervened heavily in the marketing of food crops, many governments seek to reduce their participation in food procurement from farms, centralized processing, and redistribution to consumers. However, radical reforms are rare, instead gradual or partial decontrols seem to be politically feasible intermediate solutions. This situation creates the necessity to investigate the link between formal and informal marketing of staple foods. The Zimbabwean maize economy provides a good example of the current policy debate. From an analytical point of view marketing decisions play a key role in the description of the performance with two marketing channels, informal and formal. If producers simultaneously sell to official marketing boards and to the informal market and consumers purchase industrially processed foods or locally processed crops, their behaviour becomes crucial for the analysis of policy reform. This p...

The impact of export crop production on nutritional status in Côte d'Ivoire

In exploring the implications of the commercialization of agriculture on nutrition in Côte d'Ivoire, this paper found that sales of export crops, combined with the domestic marketing of food crops, represent the most important sources of incomes for rural households, rich and poor alike. Increasing the price of the heavily taxed export crops, cocoa and coffee, will raise incomes throughout the income distribution. Increasing the profitability and productivity of cotton will not only raise rural incomes but will also have positive distributional consequences. A reduced-form nutrition model was estimated in order to examine the impact of income, as well as the allocation of land to the production of the major export crops rather than to food crops, on nutritional status. Results indicate that higher incomes improve long-term nutritional status, and that the share of land allocated to export crops does not affect the nutritional status of preschool-aged children, even when controlling for income. In combination, these facts suggest that raising incomes through exploiting comparative advantage in export crops, such as coffee, cocoa, and cotton, will have positive nutritional outcomes in Côte d'Ivoire.

Exploitation and Inefficiency in Cameroon Food Marketing Systems–Myth or Reality?: Some Evidence from the West Province

Urbanization and the food crisis have contributed to increased allegations of consumer exploitation and inefficiency in African food marketing systems. This article investigates the question of consumer exploitation and inefficiency in the food crop marketing system of the West Province of Cameroon. Exploitation is evaluated in terms of net marketing margin, and efficiency in terms of the provision of foodstuffs at competitive prices, consistent with the cost of moving commodities from producers to consumers, under prevailing conditions. Multiple regression models are employed to evaluate the determinants of gross marketing margins for vendors of four food commodities—plantain, maize, tomato, and potato. Findings suggest that the food marketing system is highly competitive with no formal entry barriers, and that allegations of consumer exploitation are largely unfounded. Given the multiplicity of economic constraints facing food vendors, they appear to carry out their marketing functions with a surprising degree of efficiency.

Patterns of market intervention in agrarian Africa

The article summarizes recent interpretations of government behaviour toward agriculture in Africa and assesses their credibility. With respect to the marketing of food crops, governments are seen as intervening on behalf of organized urban interests; for cash crops, they are viewed as manipulating prices in order to tax, both to collect public revenues and to redistribute purchasing power to consumers of imports. Such interpretations seek to account for the generally Draconian nature of agricultural prices.