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| Title: | The Determinants of Livestock Prices in Niger |
| Authors: | Fafchamps, Marcel Gavian, Sarah |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Periodical: | Journal of African Economies |
| Volume: | 6 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Period: | July |
| Pages: | 255-295 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Niger |
| Subjects: | prices animal husbandry Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment Economics and Trade |
| External link: | https://jae.oxfordjournals.org/content/6/2/255.full.pdf |
| Abstract: | The traditional importance of livestock as a source of rural incomes and export earnings in the Sahel has been further reinforced by rapid urbanization along the West African coast and by the rising consumption of meat in the region. Livestock, however, is more than a productive investment. It is also kept as insurance against weather risk. Fluctuations in livestock prices can therefore trigger food entitlement failures. This paper shows that livestock prices in Niger respond not only to weather shocks and pasture availability, but also to shifts in the rural and urban demand for meat in the country and in neighbouring Nigeria. Long-distance livestock trade thus adds an important element of risk to the livelihood of Sahelian producers as livestock prices are affected by the vagaries of primary commodity cycles and their effect on regional economies. All this suggests that determinants of aggregate demand for livestock products help predict entitlement failures and should be incorporated in early warning systems. The basis for the analysis is price data on 15 animal categories collected monthly in 38 districts of Niger over a period of 21 years (1968-1988). Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. |
