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

糟糕的交通基础设施限制了小农和企业进入市场的机会，这些企业在全世界总共雇佣了超过15亿人。作物购买中介机构和零售商的投入不太可能进入地理上孤立的运输成本高的地区，由于运输成本过高，农村农民不太可能进入市场销售其产品。本项目旨在通过审查道路的密度和质量如何影响投入和产出的价格来评价供应网络在发展中国家的作用。该项目的重点是无机肥料和玉米，这是研究国（坦桑尼亚）的一种主要作物。该项目有助于我们了解农村和农业经济中的贫困问题，以及阻碍摆脱贫困的障碍。决策者投入了大量资源来促进非洲广泛采用化肥，但这并未取得成功。这项研究将评估一种可能的解释：在农村市场上，糟糕的道路提高了投入价格，降低了产出价格，使得化肥即使增加了产量也无利可图。我们的研究为如何利用资源帮助数百万贫困的农村人口脱贫提供了额外的指导。这项研究的结果也适用于美国的小规模产业政策，显示运输成本如何影响类似小规模企业的生产力和竞争力。该项目旨在回答与农村市场运作有关的三个基本问题。(1)运输成本对空间价格分散的贡献有多大？运输成本在多大程度上提高了投入价格，降低了农民价格？(2)运输成本影响中间商进入投入产出市场，中间商的市场选择如何影响投入产出价格？(3)运输成本影响技术采用？具体来说，它是如何影响化肥投资的？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对我们理解农村市场的功能和摆脱贫困的途径做出一些贡献。首先，该项目将揭示交通基础设施在农村市场中的重要性。其次，这项研究的独特之处在于其对中介机构的关注——这是农村经济中一个未被充分研究的方面。第三，撒哈拉以南非洲等发展中地区的价格数据很少，尤其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介机构与农民之间的相互作用。

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.