Measuring the Impact of a Change in the Price of Cashew Received by Exporters on Farmgate Prices and Poverty in Guinea-Bissau

Cont, Walter ; Porto, Guido

World Bank Group, Washington, DC

关键词: AGRICULTURE;    AUCTION;    AVERAGE COSTS;    AVERAGE PRICE;    BENEFICIARIES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-7036
RP-ID  :  WPS7036

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This paper assesses the impact of achange in the price of cashew received by exporters ingeneral -- and by FUNPI, a fund to promote theindustrialization of agricultural products, in particular --on farmgate prices and poverty in Guinea-Bissau. Theanalysis builds a theoretical model of supply chains inexport agriculture that includes exporters, traders, andfarmers competing in a bilateral oligopoly fashion. Themodel is adapted to data from the country's cashewsector and a household survey. Given the market structure, ashock on export prices or the introduction of an export tax,such as the FUNPI contribution, has a strong effect onfarmgate prices, as farmers absorb about 80 percent of thetax (while exporters take up 13 percent and traders absorbthe remaining 7 percent). The effect is uneven acrosshouseholds, as poor rural households are more exposed toprice volatility and most cashew farmers are poor. It isestimated that their income falls by 12 percent as a resultof the FUNPI contribution. Complementary policies canovercome the effect of the FUNPI surcharge on farmgateprices by aiming for reductions in transport,infrastructure, and transaction costs for traders andexporters. Fostering cashew processing would create addedvalue through a displacement of volume from exporters toprocessors. The analysis finds it implausible that, underreasonable assumtions, a subsidy would overturn the welfarecosts of the FUNPI contribution.