A Partial Equilibrium Model Of The Malawi Maize Commodity Market

A Partial Equilibrium Model Of The Malawi Maize Commodity Market Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle version is available to download in english. Read online anytime anywhere directly from your device. Click on the download button below to get a free pdf file of A Partial Equilibrium Model Of The Malawi Maize Commodity Market book. This book definitely worth reading, it is an incredibly well-written.

A Partial Equilibrium Model of the Malawi Maize Commodity Market

Mariam A. T. J. Mapila,Johann F. Kirsten,Ferdinand Meyer,Henry Kankwamba
A Partial Equilibrium Model of the Malawi Maize Commodity Market Book PDF

Author : Mariam A. T. J. Mapila,Johann F. Kirsten,Ferdinand Meyer,Henry Kankwamba
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 40 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2013-03-29
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

A Partial Equilibrium Model of the Malawi Maize Commodity Market by Mariam A. T. J. Mapila,Johann F. Kirsten,Ferdinand Meyer,Henry Kankwamba Pdf

This paper presents a model of the Malawi maize commodity market that is developed for use as a policy analysis tool. The model captures national and local maize market dynamics and the linkages existing within the maize market in the country. This research has been undertaken in order to provide policy makers with a robust tool which can be used to simulate the impact of policy changes on markets and households. Such a tool ensures the availability of evidence for informing food and agricultural policies. The model is a multiequation partial equilibrium model of the national maize market in Malawi. It is developed and linked in a top-down unidirectional manner to the local maize economy via a price linkage equation. A nonbehavioral arithmetic microaccounting approach is used to estimate rural household incomes that are linked to the local economy, through which macroeconomic-level maize price changes transmit. The model can be used as a tool for analyzing the impacts of macroeconomic and agricultural policy changes on the maize industry as well as on rural households that rely on maize. The novelty of the model is that it takes into account the interrelationships between farm/household, local-economy, and national maize market prices, as well as economic theory and existing empirical evidence, to build a framework that is capable of linking to the macroeconomy rural subsistence households that are traditionally deemed to have few or no backward and forward linkages.

The Impact of Alternative Input Subsidy Exit Strategies on Malawi’s Maize Commodity Market

Mariam A. T. J. Mapila
The Impact of Alternative Input Subsidy Exit Strategies on Malawi s Maize Commodity Market Book PDF

Author : Mariam A. T. J. Mapila
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 32 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2013-07-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

The Impact of Alternative Input Subsidy Exit Strategies on Malawi’s Maize Commodity Market by Mariam A. T. J. Mapila Pdf

This study has been conducted in order to generate evidence of the visibility of exit from farm input subsidies in an African context. The study simulates the impact of alternative exit strategies from Malawi’s farm input subsidy program on maize markets. The simulation is conducted using a multiequation partial equilibrium model of the national maize market, which is sequentially linked via a price-linkage equation to local rural maize markets. The model accounts for market imperfections prevailing in the country that arise from government price interventions. Findings show that some alternative exit strategies have negative and sustained impacts on maize yields, production, and acreage allocated to maize over the simulation period. Market prices rise steadily as a result of the implementation of different exit strategies. Despite higher maize prices, domestic maize consumption remains fairly stable, with a slow but increasing trend over the simulation period. Results further suggest that exit strategies that are coupled with improvements in agricultural extension services have the potential to offset the negative impacts of the removal or scaling down of agricultural input subsidies. The study findings demonstrate the difficulty of feasibly removing farm input subsidies. Study recommendations are therefore relevant for policymakers and development partners debating removal or implementation of farm input subsidies.

Structure, conduct and performance of maize markets in Malawi

Ochieng, Dennis O.,Botha, Rosemary,Baulch, Bob
Structure conduct and performance of maize markets in Malawi Book PDF

Author : Ochieng, Dennis O.,Botha, Rosemary,Baulch, Bob
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 63 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2019-08-21
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Structure, conduct and performance of maize markets in Malawi by Ochieng, Dennis O.,Botha, Rosemary,Baulch, Bob Pdf

Seasonal analysis of the structure, conduct, and performance (SCP) of markets for staple crops has received relatively little attention in food policy analysis yet it has important implications for food and nutrition security. This study employs a mixed methods approach to analyze the SCP of maize markets in Malawi in the 2018/19 main harvest and lean seasons. We interviewed 749 traders from 74 markets across 8 districts, held 28 focus group discussions (FGD) with a total of 480 farmers and analyzed daily and weekly price data from 13 regional markets. The structure of maize markets was explored by examining marketing channels, barriers to entry and the competitiveness of different tiers of the marketing chain. Inequality in sales revenues, switches in trader types between seasons, quality and weights standardization, and the behavior of traders were used to examine market conduct. Performance was assessed by examining traders’ costs and margins, and the spatial and temporal integration of maize markets. We find that Malawi’s maize market is pyramidal in structure and highly competitive at lower tiers of trade but ‘oligopolistic’ at higher tiers. The market channels vary across seasons with switches between trader types and instances of rural-urban trade reversals. There is considerable inequality of sales revenues among traders of similar capacities, and a widespread lack of structured trading despite existing institutions. A high ratio of marketing costs to revenue suggests marketing inefficiencies. Malawi maize prices were highly seasonal and more volatile than neighboring countries. In contrast to previous studies, our findings show weak spatial integration of markets and slow price adjustments to long-run equilibrium values even among short-distance market pairs. The study highlights five pathways to improving Malawi’s maize marketing system: (1) increased policy predictability to promote private-sector investment; (2) institutionalization of quality grades and standardization of weights and measures; (3) increased commercialization of smallholder maize production; (4) investment in enabling infrastructure; and (5) the promotion of structured trading.

Who talks to whom in African agricultural research information networks? The Malawi case

Klaus Droppelmann,Klaus Droppelmann, Mariam A. T. J. Mapila, John Mazunda, Paul Thangata, and Jason Yauney,Mariam A. T. J. Mapila,John Mazunda,Paul Thangata,Jason Yauney
Who talks to whom in African agricultural research information networks The Malawi case Book PDF

Author : Klaus Droppelmann,Klaus Droppelmann, Mariam A. T. J. Mapila, John Mazunda, Paul Thangata, and Jason Yauney,Mariam A. T. J. Mapila,John Mazunda,Paul Thangata,Jason Yauney
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 24 pages
File Size : 54,8 Mb
Release : 2013-04-17
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Who talks to whom in African agricultural research information networks? The Malawi case by Klaus Droppelmann,Klaus Droppelmann, Mariam A. T. J. Mapila, John Mazunda, Paul Thangata, and Jason Yauney,Mariam A. T. J. Mapila,John Mazunda,Paul Thangata,Jason Yauney Pdf

The sector-wide approach currently dominates as the strategy for developing the agricultural sector of many African countries. Although it is recognized that agricultural research plays a vital role in ensuring success of sectorwide agricultural development strategies, there has been little or no effort to explicitly link the research strategies of the National Agricultural Research System (NARS) in African countries to the research agenda that is articulated in sectorwide agricultural development strategies. This study fills that gap by analyzing the readiness of Malawi’s NARS to respond to the research needs of the national agricultural sector development strategy, namely the Agriculture Sector Wide Approach (ASWAp) program. Results of a social network analysis demonstrate that public agricultural research departments play a central coordinating role in facilitating information sharing, with other actors remaining on the periphery. However, that analysis also shows the important role other actors play in relaying information to a wider network of stakeholders. These secondary information pathways can play a crucial role in ensuring successful implementation of the national agricultural research agenda. Policymakers and managers of public research programs are called upon to integrate other research actors into the mainstream national agricultural research information network. This is vital as other research actors are, at the global level, increasingly taking up a greater role in financing and disseminating research and research results, and in enhancing the scaling up and out of new agricultural technologies.

Agricultural Mechanization in Ghana

Nazaire Houssou,Xinshen Diao,Frances Cossar,Shashidhara Kolavalli,Kipo Jimah,Patrick Aboagye
Agricultural Mechanization in Ghana Book PDF

Author : Nazaire Houssou,Xinshen Diao,Frances Cossar,Shashidhara Kolavalli,Kipo Jimah,Patrick Aboagye
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 24 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2013-03-29
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Agricultural Mechanization in Ghana by Nazaire Houssou,Xinshen Diao,Frances Cossar,Shashidhara Kolavalli,Kipo Jimah,Patrick Aboagye Pdf

Since 2007, the government of Ghana has been providing subsidized agricultural machines to private enterprises established as Agricultural Mechanization Services Enterprise Centers (AMSEC) to scale up tractor-hire services to smallholder farmers. Although farmer’s demand for mechanization has increased in recent years, most of this demand concentrates on land preparation (plowing) service. Using the firm investment model and recent data, this paper quantitatively assesses whether AMSEC as a private enterprise is a viable business model attractive to private investors. Even though the intention of the government is to promote private sector-led mechanization, findings suggest that the AMSEC model is unlikely to be a profitable business model attractive to private investors even with the current level of subsidy. The low tractor utilization rate as a result of low operational scale is the most important constraint to the intertemporal profitability of tractor-hire services. Our findings further support the argument of Pingali, Bigot, and Binswanger (1987), who indicated that mechanization service centers supported through government’s heavy subsidy are not a policy option anywhere in the world, even in the current situation in Ghana. Although the tractor rental service market is a proper way of mechanizing agriculture in a smallholder-dominated agricultural economy such as Ghana, this paper concludes that the development of such a market depends crucially on a number of factors, including increased tractor use through migration across the two very different rainfall zones (north and south), increased tractor use through multiple tasks, and use of low-cost tractors. The government can play an important role in facilitating the development of a tractor service market; however, the successful development of such a market depends on the incentive and innovation of the private sector, including farmers who want to own tractors as part of their business portfolio, traders who know how to bring in affordable tractors and expand the market, and manufacturers in exporting countries who want to seek a long-term potential market opportunity in Ghana and in other west African countries.

The Impact of Oportunidades on Human Capital and Income Distribution

Dario Debowicz,Jennifer Golan
The Impact of Oportunidades on Human Capital and Income Distribution Book PDF

Author : Dario Debowicz,Jennifer Golan
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 44 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2013-04-05
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

The Impact of Oportunidades on Human Capital and Income Distribution by Dario Debowicz,Jennifer Golan Pdf

In an effort to inform social policy in Mexico, this paper analyzes the effects of a major social program on school attendance and household income distribution, accounting for its partial and general equilibrium effects. Linking a microeconometric simulation model and a general equilibrium model in a bidirectional way, the paper explicitly takes spillover effects of the Oportunidades conditional cash transfer program into account. Our results suggest that partial equilibrium analysis alone may underestimate the distributional effects of the program. Extending the coverage of the program leads to a significant increase in school attendance, which reduces labor supply and increases the equilibrium wages of the children who remain at work. This general equilibrium effect indirectly reduces income inequality and poverty at the national level.

Filling the learning gap in program implementation using participatory monitoring and evaluation

Elias Zerfu,Sindu W. Kebede
Filling the learning gap in program implementation using participatory monitoring and evaluation Book PDF

Author : Elias Zerfu,Sindu W. Kebede
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 44 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2013-03-29
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Filling the learning gap in program implementation using participatory monitoring and evaluation by Elias Zerfu,Sindu W. Kebede Pdf

This study is motivated by the idea that even though participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) is widely accepted as a tool to manage development programs to be effective, its application is widely constrained by its high start-up resource requirements in terms of both finance and time. However, this paper argues that after the initial investment is made, the payback from using PM&E is much higher both in terms of grassroots-level learning, empowerment, and capacity building and in terms of higher-level strategic decision making which enhances impact. This is demonstrated using field-level experience of implementing PM&E in farmer field schools (FFSs) under the Agricultural Services Support Program and Agricultural Sector Development Program–Livestock (ASSP/ASDP-L) program in Zanzibar, Tanzania. After describing the major steps followed in designing and implementing a PM&E for FFSs, the major lessons learned and challenges faced in the process are discussed. The study found out that PM&E has enabled the tracking of technology uptake and reasons behind adoption and nonadoption of technologies through detailed data collection. This informed and improved decision making at a higher level to design feasible methods to scale up adoption at other FFSs and to devise solutions for nonadoption. The need for incentives to undertake PM&E was found to be one of the major challenges of implementation, among others.

Assessing the effectiveness of multistakeholder platforms

Thaddée Badibanga,Catherine Ragasa,John Ulimwengu
Assessing the effectiveness of multistakeholder platforms Book PDF

Author : Thaddée Badibanga,Catherine Ragasa,John Ulimwengu
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 32 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2013-04-05
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Assessing the effectiveness of multistakeholder platforms by Thaddée Badibanga,Catherine Ragasa,John Ulimwengu Pdf

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of local-level (territory) multistakeholder platforms using data from 55 CARGs in 23 randomly selected territories in three provinces (Bandundu, Bas-Congo, and Kinshasa) of the DRC. The first CARG was established in 2008, and the survey was conducted three years later, from August to October 2011.

The Impact of Irrigation on Nutrition, Health, and Gender

Laia Domenech
The Impact of Irrigation on Nutrition Health and Gender Book PDF

Author : Laia Domenech
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 28 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 2013-04-11
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

The Impact of Irrigation on Nutrition, Health, and Gender by Laia Domenech Pdf

Agriculture in Africa south of the Sahara (SSA) is still largely rainfed. SSA also exhibits the lowest crop yields for major staples in the world, largely due to low use of irrigation and fertilizer. Rainfed agriculture poses growing production risks with increased climate variability and change. At the same time, smallholder irrigation in the region developed rapidly over the past decade, albeit starting from very low levels. In addition to largely demand-driven irrigation development by smallholders, there is a significant push by donors for large-scale irrigation development, as well as some push for smallholder irrigation. There has also been a long-standing debate about whether irrigation in SSA should be large scale or small scale to achieve its potential. However, given the potentially high rewards, but also high possibility of failure, the assessment of irrigation potential must go beyond large scale versus small scale to integrate concerns regarding environmental sustainability, resource use efficiency, nutrition and health impacts, and women’s empowerment. The hypothesis underlying this review paper is that how irrigation gets deployed in SSA will be decisive not only for environmental sustainability (such as deciding remaining forest cover in the region) and poverty reduction, but also for health, nutrition, and gender outcomes in the region. The focus of this paper is on the health, nutrition, and gender linkage. We find that to date, few studies have analyzed the impact of irrigation interventions on nutrition, health, and women’s empowerment, despite the large potential of irrigation to affect these important variables. Irrigation interventions may have differential effects on different members in the household and in the community, such as irrigators, non-irrigators, children, and women. Measuring and understanding such differences, followed by improving design and implementation to maximize gender, health, and nutrition outcomes, could transform irrigation programs from focusing solely on increased food production toward becoming an integral component of poverty-reduction strategies.

Understanding the Role of Research in the Evolution of Fertilizer Policies in Malawi

Michael Johnson,Regina Birner
Understanding the Role of Research in the Evolution of Fertilizer Policies in Malawi Book PDF

Author : Michael Johnson,Regina Birner
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 32 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2013-04-25
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Understanding the Role of Research in the Evolution of Fertilizer Policies in Malawi by Michael Johnson,Regina Birner Pdf

This study examines the role of research in agricultural policy making in Malawi at a time when the Africa Union and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development have been seeking to promote greater evidenced-based decision making in agriculture. Drawing on both theory and actual past experiences documented in the literature, results are intended to improve our understanding of the extent to which research has played any role in influencing policy change in Malawi. This is done in the context of the evolution of the country’s fertilizer subsidy policies. Results point to some general lessons. First, strengthening the Ministry of Agriculture’s capacity for policy analysis and becoming more proactive in the policy process proved critical in the earlier years of Malawi’s long history of fertilizer subsidies. Second, the government’s experience of bargaining with donors may have actually strengthened its own ability to position and assert its legitimacy in shaping policies. Third, while research may have played a historically marginal role, researchers have been able to influence policy choices whenever a window of opportunity arose for technical input—such as at times of crisis. However, researchers would also benefit from engaging more with the policy debates and policymaking process. Finally, while the paper draws on existing theoretical frameworks to understand the role of research in the policy process more generally, a better framework still needs to be developed in describing the standard experiences and realities of the African agricultural policy landscape.

Typology of Farm Households and Irrigation Systems

Hiroyuki Takeshima,Hyacinth Edeh
Typology of Farm Households and Irrigation Systems Book PDF

Author : Hiroyuki Takeshima,Hyacinth Edeh
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 36 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2013-04-25
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Typology of Farm Households and Irrigation Systems by Hiroyuki Takeshima,Hyacinth Edeh Pdf

Irrigation is considered an important factor for agriculture and food security. Knowledge gaps, however, still exist with regard to how farmers in Africa south of Sahara, including Nigeria, are using irrigation. Given the diverse agroecological and socioeconomic environment in countries like Nigeria, understanding the diverse patterns of irrigation use and their associations with household characteristics is important in designing how irrigation can contribute to the agricultural transformation. This report summarizes the typology of farm households and irrigators in Nigeria. We apply a cluster analysis method to the Living Standard Measurement Survey (LSMS)—Integrated Survey on Agriculture data and various secondary data. We also compare the costs and inputs used across different irrigation crops, as reported in Nigeria. Findings indicate that the three major irrigation systems in Nigeria are (1) labor-intensive diverted stream irrigation of rice, (2) supplementary irrigation of coarse grains and legumes using groundwater, and (3) dry season irrigation of vegetables. Each crop is irrigated during a specific season and using a specific water source and irrigation system. Farmers’ choice of irrigation system tends to depend on many factors. For example, in the South, tractorization is often a necessary precondition for rice irrigation. In the North, intensive irrigation of rice and vegetables may make sense only if labor is cheap, whereas irrigation of sorghum and legumes is supplementary and may not affect farm households’ behaviors. Although more rigorous studies are needed in the future, observed patterns of irrigation use in Nigeria indicate that the policies aiming to raise agricultural productivity and to develop the value chains of key crops may need to be based on an understanding of why irrigation is used in specific ways in different systems and of what the key constraints in scaling up such systems in other locations are.

Group Lending with Heterogeneous Types

Li Gan,Manuel A. Hernandez,Yanyan Liu
Group Lending with Heterogeneous Types Book PDF

Author : Li Gan,Manuel A. Hernandez,Yanyan Liu
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 44 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2013-04-30
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Group Lending with Heterogeneous Types by Li Gan,Manuel A. Hernandez,Yanyan Liu Pdf

Group lending has been widely adopted in the past thirty years by many microfinance institutions as a means to mitigate information asymmetries when delivering credit to the poor. This paper proposes an empirical method to address the potential omitted-variable problem resulting from unobserved group types when modeling the repayment behavior of group members. We estimate the model using a rich dataset from a group-lending program in India. The estimation results support our model specification and show the advantages of relying on a type-varying method when analyzing the probability of default of group members. In particular, our model helps to better understand the factors driving repayment behavior, which may differ across group types, and shows a higher predictive power than standard single-agent choice models.

Population Density, Migration, and the Returns to Human Capital and Land

Yanyan Liu,Futoshi Yamauchi
Population Density Migration and the Returns to Human Capital and Land Book PDF

Author : Yanyan Liu,Futoshi Yamauchi
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 28 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2013-06-07
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Population Density, Migration, and the Returns to Human Capital and Land by Yanyan Liu,Futoshi Yamauchi Pdf

Rapid population growth in many developing countries has raised concerns regarding food security and household welfare. To understand the consequences of population growth on in the general equilibrium setting, we examine the dynamics of population density and its impacts on household outcomes using panel data from Indonesia. More specifically we explicitly highlight the importance of migration to urban sectors in the analysis. Empirical results show that human capital in the household determines the effect of increased population density on per capita household consumption expenditure. The effect of population density is positive if the average educational attainment is high (above junior high school), while it is negative otherwise. On the other hand, farmers with larger holdings maintain their advantage in farming regardless of population density. The paper concludes with some potential lessons for African countries from Indonesia’s more successful rural development experiences.

Reverse-Share-Tenancy and Marshallian Inefficiency

Hosaena Ghebru Hagos,Stein T. Holden
Reverse Share Tenancy and Marshallian Inefficiency Book PDF

Author : Hosaena Ghebru Hagos,Stein T. Holden
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 48 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2013-05-17
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Reverse-Share-Tenancy and Marshallian Inefficiency by Hosaena Ghebru Hagos,Stein T. Holden Pdf

While there are ample empirical studies that claim the potential disincentive effects of sharecropping arrangements, the existing literature is shallow in explaining why share tenancy contracts are prevalent and diffusing in many developing countries. Using a unique tenant-landlord matched dataset from the Tigray region of Ethiopia, we are able to show how the tenants’ strategic response to the varying economic and tenure-security status of the landlords can explain sharecroppers’ productivity differentials. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to use tenant–landlord matched data that accounts for both the supply (landlord) and demand (tenant) side characteristics in analyzing sharecroppers’ level of effort and productivity. The study reveals that sharecroppers’ yields are significantly lower on plots leased from landlords who are non-kin, who are female, who have lower income-generating opportunity, and who are tenure insecure than on plots leased from landlords with the opposite characteristics. While, on aggregate, the results show no significant efficiency loss on kin-operated sharecropped plots, more decomposed analyses indicate strong evidence of Marshallian inefficiency on kin-operated plots leased from landlords with weaker bargaining power and higher tenure insecurity. This study thus shows how failure to control for the heterogeneity of landowners’ characteristics can explain the lack of clarity in the existing empirical literature on the extent of moral hazard problems in sharecropping contracts.

Dynamics of Transformation

Hiroyuki Takeshima,Kipo Jimah,Shashidhara Kolavalli,Xinshen Diao,Rebecca Lee Funk
Dynamics of Transformation Book PDF

Author : Hiroyuki Takeshima,Kipo Jimah,Shashidhara Kolavalli,Xinshen Diao,Rebecca Lee Funk
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 36 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2013-06-21
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Dynamics of Transformation by Hiroyuki Takeshima,Kipo Jimah,Shashidhara Kolavalli,Xinshen Diao,Rebecca Lee Funk Pdf

Agriculture in African South of the Sahara (SSA) can be transformed if the right public support is provided at the initial stage, and it can sustain itself once the enabling environment is put in place. Successes are also specific to the location of projects. In Ghana, interesting insights are obtained from the successful Kpong Irrigation Project (KIP), contrasted with other major irrigation projects in the country. Through an exploratory review, we describe how a productive system evolved in KIP and how public support for critical aspects (accumulation of crop husbandry knowledge, selection and supply of profitable varieties, and mechanization of land preparation) might have created a productive environment that the private sector could enter and fill in the market for credit, processing, mechanization of harvesting, and other institutional voids that typically have constrained agricultural transformation in the rest of SSA. Slower progress in other projects also raises a number of questions. We conclude by summarizing those questions and some testable hypotheses for future research.