Stabilizing price incentives for staple grain producers in the context of broader agricultural policies

Mulat Demeke, David Dawe, James Tefft, Tadele Ferede and Winnie Bell

Stabilizing price incentives for staple grain producers in the context of broader agricultural policies

Debates and country experiences

Year of publication 2012

Author Mulat Demeke, David Dawe, James Tefft, Tadele Ferede and Winnie Bell

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Series title FAO Agricultural Economics Working Paper

Edition 1

Full item page

Synopsis (short abstract) Price uncertainty is a major constraint to a sustained increase in staple food production. This paper reviews the trends and patterns of addressing this age-old problem over the course of the past several decades. Farmers in most developed countries and many Asian and Latin American countries have relied on a variety of public support programs as well as market-based marketing and price-risk management instruments to boost grain production. By contrast, inadequate support programs and weak marke t-based production services have led to stagnating production and increasing dependence on food imports in many poor African countries. State-led stabilization efforts that utilize and support private sector operations, complement market-based risk management instruments and address coordination failure and missing markets provide a better incentive to increase grain production. A more coordinated market stabilization effort is required in the future as a number of long-term structural factors s uch as climate change, water scarcity, high oil prices, soil degradation, biofuel production, and speculation in financial markets, point to a scenario of more volatile grain prices.

Language English

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