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ArticleAchieving food security and industrial development in Malawi: Are export restrictions the solution? 2018
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No results found.Restrictions on staple or cash crop exports are frequently imposed in developing countries to promote food security or industrial development. By diverting production to local markets, these policies tend to reduce prices and increase domestic supply of food or intermediate inputs in the short term, to the benefit of consumers or manufacturers, which make them attractive to policymakers. However, in the long term, export restrictions discourage agricultural production, which may ultimately negate the short-term gains. This study assesses the economy-wide effects of Malawi’s long-term maize export ban, which was only recently lifted, and a proposed oilseed export levy intended to improve food security and support local processing industries, respectively. We find that maize export bans only benefit the urban non-poor, while poor farmers’ incomes and maize consumption levels decline in the longer run. The oilseed export levy also fails to achieve its long run objectives: even when tax revenues are used to further subsidize food processors, their gains in value-addition are outweighed by declining agricultural value-addition. More generally, these results show that while export restrictions may have the desired outcomes in the short run, production responses may render the policies ineffective in the medium to long run. Ultimately, such restrictive policies reinforce a subsistence approach to agriculture, which is inconsistent with the stated economic transformation goals of many Sub-Saharan African countries. -
Book (series)Cropping system diversification in Eastern and Southern Africa: Identifying policy options to enhance productivity and build resilience 2018
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No results found.Crop diversification is an important policy objective to promote climate change adaptation, yet the drivers and impacts of crop diversification vary considerably depending on the specific combinations of crops a farmer grows. This paper examines adoption determinants of seven different cropping systems in Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, and the impact of their adoption on maize productivity and income volatility – using a multinomial endogenous treatment effect model. These cropping systems consist in different combinations of four categories of crops: dominate staple (maize), alternative staples, legumes, and cash-crops. The study finds that relative to maize mono-cropping systems, the vast majority of systems have either neutral or positive effects on maize productivity, and either reduce or have neutral effects on crop income volatility. In particular, cropping systems that include legumes produce better outcome in most cases than those that feature cash crops. From a policy perspective, three recurrent determinants of diversification are found. First, private sector output market access is an important driver of diversification out of maize mono-cropping. Policies crowding in private output market actors can help to promote a wide range of more diverse cropping systems. Second, proximity to public marketing board buying depots discourages the adoption of more diverse cropping systems. Therefore, reforms to these institutions must be part of any diversification strategy. Finally, in all countries and for all systems, land size is a key determinant of adopting more diverse systems. Thus, land policy is an integral element of any boarder diversification strategy. -
Book (series)Achieving food security and industrial development in Malawi: Are export restrictions the solution? 2016
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No results found.This document evaluates whether export restrictions support food security and industrial development in Malawi, by examining the pertinent issue of export bans on maize, an existing and longstanding policy in Malawi, and oilseed export levies, a policy under consideration. We use a general equilibrium model calibrated to recent Malawi data to show that while these policies may under certain conditions achieve their respective objectives of increased domestic maize availability (‘food security’) and value-addition in the food processing sector in the short run, they are ineffective and self-defeating in the long run. This buttresses arguments for a more liberal stance towards trade policy in Malawi, which for years has been a leading cause of market uncertainty and consequently agricultural stagnation and the persistence of a subsistence-oriented approach to farming, despite significant government support to the agricultural sector in the form of input subsidies and agro-processing supp ort.
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