Are Low Food Prices Pro-Poor? Net Food Buyers and Sellers in Low-Income Countries

Aksoy, M. Ataman ; Isik-Dikmelik, Aylin

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES;    AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY;    AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS;    AGRICULTURAL INCOMES;    AGRICULTURAL INPUTS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-4642
RP-ID  :  WPS4642

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

There is a general consensus that mostof the poor in developing countries are net food buyers andfood price increases are bad for the poor. This could beexpected of urban poor, but it is also often attributed tothe rural poor. Recent food price increases have increasedthe importance of this issue, and the possible policyresponses to these price increases. This paper examines thecharacteristics of net food sellers and buyers in ninelow-income countries. Although the largest share of poorhouseholds are found to be net food buyers, almost 50percent of net food buyers are marginal net food buyers whowould not be significantly affected by food price increases.Only three of the nine countries examined exhibited asubstantial proportion of vulnerable households. The averageincomes (as measured by expenditure) of net food buyers werefound to be higher than net food sellers in eight of thenine countries examined. Thus, food price increases, ceterisparibus, would transfer income from generally higher incomenet food buyers to poorer net food sellers. The analysisalso finds that the occupations and income sources of netsellers and buyers in rural areas are significantlydifferent. In rural areas where food production is the mainactivity and where there are limited non-food activities,the incomes of net buyers might depend on the incomes andfarming activities of net food sellers. These resultssuggest the need for reevaluation of the consensus on theimpact of food prices on food needs. Further work on theregional differences, and more important, on the secondorder effects, are necessary to answer these questions moreprecisely. Only on the basis of further analysis can westart generating better policy responses.