Market Linkages, Trade Costs and Technology Adoption in the Agricultural Sector

贫困的交通基础设施限制了小规模农民和企业进入市场，这些农民和企业在全球雇用了超过15亿人。由于运输成本高昂，作物购买中介和零售商的投入不太可能进入地理上孤立的地区，而由于运输成本过高，农村农民也不太可能进入市场销售其产品。本项目力求通过审查道路密度和质量如何影响投入和产出价格，评价发展中国家供应网络的作用。该项目的重点是无机肥料和玉米，玉米是研究国（坦桑尼亚）的主要作物。 该项目有助于我们了解农村和农业经济中的贫困以及阻碍脱贫的障碍。决策者投入了大量资源，以促进非洲广泛采用化肥，但这并不成功。这项研究将评估一种可能的解释：在农村市场，糟糕的道路提高了投入价格，降低了产出价格，使得化肥即使提高了产量也无利可图。 我们的研究提供了额外的指导，说明在哪里花费资源来帮助数百万贫困的农村人口摆脱贫困。 本研究的结果也可以应用于美国的小规模产业政策，说明运输成本如何影响类似小规模企业的生产率和竞争力。本项目旨在回答与农村市场功能相关的三个基本问题。多少钱：（1）运输成本对价格空间分散的贡献，以及运输成本在多大程度上提高了投入品价格，降低了农民的价格？ （2）运输成本影响中间商进入投入和产出市场，中间商对市场的选择如何影响投入和产出价格？(3)运输成本影响技术采用？具体来说，对化肥投资有何影响？为了回答这些问题，我们将使用五项主要调查，在坦桑尼亚两个行政区的代表性市场样本中收集调查和价格数据。我们将利用这些数据来帮助我们理解农村市场的功能和摆脱贫困的途径。首先，本项目将从经验上阐明运输基础设施在农村市场的重要性。第二，这项研究的独特之处在于它对中介机构的关注-农村经济的一个未充分研究的方面。第三，关于撒哈拉以南非洲等发展中地区的价格数据很少，特别是在我们研究的农村地区。第四，这些调查是新颖的，将提供关于农村市场运作的新信息，特别是投入和产出中间人与农民之间的互动。

Project AbstractPoor transportation infrastructure limits access to markets for small scale farmers and enterprises which together employ over 1.5 billion people world-wide. Crop-buying intermediaries and retailers inputs are unlikely to enter geographically isolated areas with high transportation costs, and rural farmers are unlikely to access markets to sell their product due to prohibitive transport costs. This project seeks to evaluate the role of supply networks in developing countries by examining how the density and quality of roads affect the prices of inputs and output. The project focuses on inorganic fertilizer and maize, a staple crop in the country of study (Tanzania). The project contributes to our understanding of poverty in rural, agrarian economies, and the barriers that block pathways out of poverty. Policy makers have devoted considerable resources to promote widespread adoption of fertilizer use in Africa but this has not been successful. This study will evaluate a potential explanation: poor roads increase input prices and decrease output prices in rural markets, making fertilizer unprofitable even if it increases yields. Our study provides additional guidance regarding where to spend resources to help move millions of poor, rural people out of poverty. The results of this study also have applications for small scale industry policy in the U.S. in showing how transportation cost affect the productivity and competitiveness of similar small-scale businesses.This project aims to answer three fundamental questions related to the functioning of rural markets. How much do: (1) transportation costs contribute to spatial price dispersion, and how much do they increase input prices, and decrease farmers' prices? (2)transportation costs affect entry of intermediaries in input and output markets and how does selection of markets by intermediaries affect input and output prices? (3) transportation costs affect technology adoption? Specifically, how does it affect investment in chemical fertilizer? To answer these questions, we will collect survey and price data in a representative sample of markets in two administrative zones in Tanzania using five main surveys. We will use this data to make some contributions to our understanding of rural markets function, and pathways out of poverty. First, this project will shed empirical light on the importance of transport infrastructure in rural markets. Second, the study is unique in its focus on intermediaries---an understudied aspect of rural economies. Third, there is little data on prices in developing regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, especially in rural areas such as the ones we study. Fourth, the surveys are novel and will provide new information on the functioning of rural markets, particularly, the interactions between input and output intermediaries and farmers.