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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Distributional Effects of Maize Self-Sufficiency in Zimbabwe: Implications for Pricing and Trade Policy
Authors:Jayne, Thomas S.ISNI
Rukuni, MandivambaISNI
Year:1993
Periodical:Food Policy
Volume:18
Issue:4
Period:August
Pages:334-341
Language:English
Geographic term:Zimbabwe
Subjects:prices
maize
food policy
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Development and Technology
Economics and Trade
Politics and Government
External link:https://doi.org/10.1016/0306-9192(93)90053-E
Abstract:Maize self-sufficiency has normally been an explicit policy goal throughout eastern and southern Africa because of the perception that it could be achieved at prices below import parity and that it contributes to rural income growth. This article reassesses the effects of maize self-sufficiency pricing on income distribution, household food security and the government treasury in Zimbabwe. The analysis, which is based on household survey data from 1978-1991 and the results of an econometrically based simulation model, indicates that a pricing policy geared towards maize self-sufficiency would mainly benefit a small set of well-off farmers and require either greater subsidies or higher prices to consumers, many of whom are low-income rural farmers in low-rainfall areas. The broader implications of this analysis are that, even if the producer price needed for self-sufficiency is below import parity, the pursuit of food self-sufficiency may inflate food costs and exacerbate rural and urban food insecurity compared to a self-reliance policy involving imports. Notes, ref., sum.
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