Crop Choice and Infrastructure Accessibility in Tanzania : Subsistence Crops or Export Crops?

Iimi, Atsushi ; Humphreys, Richard Martin ; Melibaeva, Sevara

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: LIVING STANDARDS;    AGRICULTURAL PRODUCERS;    AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH;    HOUSEHOLD SIZE;    ACCESS TO FERTILIZER;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7306
RP-ID  :  WPS7306

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Africa has great potential foragriculture. Although international commodity prices havebeen buoyant, Africa’s supply response seems to be weak. Avariety of constraints may exist. Using the case ofTanzania, the paper examines the impact of marketconnectivity, domestic and international, on farmers’ cropchoices. It is shown that the international marketconnectivity, measured by transport costs to the maritimeport, is important for farmers to choose export crops, suchas cotton and tobacco. Internal connectivity to the domesticmarket is also found to be important for growing food crops,such as maize and rice. Among other inputs, access toirrigation and improved seed availability are also importantfactors in the crop choices of farmers. The size of landarea is one constraint to promote the crop shift. The paperalso reports the finding that farmers are not using marketprices effectively in their choice of crop, even after theendogeneity of local prices is taken into account.