Madagascar

Research Tasks

The main task of the project was to understand the ramifications of changes in agricultural markets at the level of the farm household. The project was based on the assumption that i) improvements in the operations of local markets and ii) the transmission of such changes to small farmers constitute a critical vehicle to raising incomes among the farming communities. Its specific tasks were:

• to review developments related to the marketing environment of small farmers;

• to analyze the changes in crop price patterns in the context of liberalized local marketing systems;

• to study the structure, determinants, and adjustment of costs of supplying marketing services to small farmers; and

• to study the changes in the conduct and performance of local marketing systems and the adjustment by different categories of farmers thereto.

The above analysis will then be integrated later with the analysis taking place in two other components on input markets and on household adjustment to examine the impact at the farm household level.

Field Activities

A preparatory workshop was organized in Antananarivo in December 1996. It was attended by a number of FOFIFA researchers, participants from several ministries and the statistical office, and from the USAID Mission. A research seminar was be organized in December 1997, at the end of the data collection phase and before the start of the analysis phase, to refine the study hypotheses and re-focus the study questions

The project's field research activities focused on two sub-activities: i) primary data gathering; and ii) technical training to strengthen the capacities of collaborators and other interested scientist working with FOFIFA. Data collection started in January 1997 with 4 main surveys: an output trader survey; an input distributor survey; a farm-household survey; and a community-level survey. All of these surveys were completed in the fall of 1997.

The five training sessions were held are on: a) survey design methodologies; b) household modeling; c) price analysis techniques; d) subsector approach to analyzing agricultural policies; and e) policy impact modeling. The first four training sessions were organized at FOFIFA headquarters in Antananarivo between December 1996 and May 1997 and the last sessions were held in November 1997.

For further information please contact: Markets and Structural Studies Division, IFPRI, 2033 K Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20006, U.S.A.