[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/midcwp/171871.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Maize Price Spike of 2012/13: Understanding the Paradox of High Prices despite Abundant Supplies

Author

Listed:
  • Sitko, Nicholas J.
  • Kuteya, Auckland N.
Abstract
The 2012 harvest was, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock national food balance sheet estimates, a major surplus production season. However, by November the same year, Zambia started experiencing widespread maize meal shortages and skyrocketing maize meal prices. Responding to these shortages and price spikes, the government increased the price subsidies it provided on maize sold by the parastatal Food Reserve Agency (FRA) to large-scale maize mills and imposed de facto price controls on maize meal by threatening to revoke the business licenses of commercial maize mills if retail prices of a 25kg bag of maize meal exceeded kwacha rebased (KR) 50. Despite these efforts maize meal prices continued to rise, reaching as high as KR100 in some markets by February 2013.

Suggested Citation

  • Sitko, Nicholas J. & Kuteya, Auckland N., 2013. "The Maize Price Spike of 2012/13: Understanding the Paradox of High Prices despite Abundant Supplies," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 171871, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:midcwp:171871
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.171871
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/171871/files/wp81.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.171871?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicole M. Mason & Robert J. Myers, 2013. "The effects of the Food Reserve Agency on maize market prices in Zambia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 44(2), pages 203-216, March.
    2. Shenggen Fan & Peter Hazell & Sukhadeo Thorat, 2000. "Government Spending, Growth and Poverty in Rural India," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(4), pages 1038-1051.
    3. Jayne, T.S. & Zulu, Ballard & Nijhoff, J.J., 2006. "Stabilizing food markets in eastern and southern Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 328-341, August.
    4. Shenggen Fan & Xiaobo Zhang, 2008. "Public Expenditure, Growth and Poverty Reduction in Rural Uganda," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 20(3), pages 466-496.
    5. Myers, Robert J., 2006. "On the costs of food price fluctuations in low-income countries," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 288-301, August.
    6. Barrett, Christopher B., 1997. "Food marketing liberalization and trader entry: Evidence from Madagascar," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 763-777, May.
    7. Sitko, Nicholas J. & Jayne, T.S., 2012. "Why are African commodity exchanges languishing? A case study of the Zambian Agricultural Commodity Exchange," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 275-282.
    8. Mason, Nicole M. & Jayne, Thomas S., 2009. "Staple Food Consumption Patterns in Urban Zambia: Results from the 2007/2008 Urban Consumption Survey," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 56803, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    9. Sitko, Nicholas J. & Jayne, T.S., 2014. "Exploitative Briefcase Businessmen, Parasites, and Other Myths and Legends: Assembly Traders and the Performance of Maize Markets in Eastern and Southern Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 56-67.
    10. Chapoto, Antony & Jayne, Thomas S., 2006. "Trends in Breakfast Meal and Maize Marketing Margins in Zambia," Food Security Collaborative Policy Briefs 54618, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    11. Jayne, Thomas S. & Mason, Nicole M. & Myers, Robert J. & Ferris, John N. & Mather, David & Sitko, Nicholas & Beaver, Margaret & Lenski, Natalie & Chapoto, Antony & Boughton, Duncan, 2010. "Patterns and Trends in Food Staples Markets in Eastern and Southern Africa: Toward the Identification of Priority Investments and Strategies for Developing Markets and Promoting Smallholder Productivi," Food Security International Development Working Papers 62148, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    12. Chapoto, Antony & Jayne, Thomas S., 2009. "The Impacts of Trade Barriers and Market Interventions on Maize Price Predictability: Evidence from Eastern and Southern Africa," Food Security International Development Working Papers 56798, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    13. Nijhoff, Jan J. & Jayne, Thomas S. & Mwiinga, Billy & Shaffer, James D., 2002. "Markets Need Predictable Government Actions to Function Effectively: The Case of Importing Maize in Times of Deficit," Food Security Collaborative Policy Briefs 54609, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    14. Mason, Nicole M. & Jayne, T.S. & Chapoto, Antony & Donovan, Cynthia, 2011. "Putting the 2007/2008 global food crisis in longer-term perspective: Trends in staple food affordability in urban Zambia and Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 350-367, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kuteya, Auckland N. & Sitko, Nicholas J., 2014. "Creating Scarcity From Abundance: Bumper Harvests, High Prices, And The Role Of State Interventions In Zambian Maize Markets," Food Security Collaborative Policy Briefs 171877, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    2. Chapoto, Antony & Chisanga, Brian & Kuteya, Auckland & Kabwe, Stephen, 2015. "Bumper Harvests a Curse or a Blessing for Zambia: Lessons from the 2014/15 Maize Marketing Season," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 202881, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    3. Nicholas Sitko & Jordan Chamberlin, 2015. "The Anatomy of Medium-Scale Farm Growth in Zambia: What Are the Implications for the Future of Smallholder Agriculture?," Land, MDPI, vol. 4(3), pages 1-19, September.
    4. Sitko, Nicholas J. & Chisanga, Brian, 2016. "How Is Multinational Investment in Grain and Oilseed Trading Reshaping the Smallholder Markets in Zambia?," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 234948, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    5. Sitko, Nicholas J. & Chamberlin, Jordan & Mulenga, Brian, 2015. "Unpacking the Growth of Medium-scale Farms Zambia: What Are the Implications for the Future of Smallholder Agriculture?," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 212901, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    6. Fung, Winnie & Liverpool-Tasie, Saweda & Mason, Nicole & Oyelere, Ruth, 2015. "Can Crop Purchase Programs Reduce Poverty and Improve Welfare in Rural Communities? Evidence from the Food Reserve Agency in Zambia," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 211637, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sitko, Nicholas J. & Chisanga, Brian, 2016. "How Is Multinational Investment in Grain and Oilseed Trading Reshaping the Smallholder Markets in Zambia?," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 234948, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    2. Sitko, Nicholas & Jayne, T.S., 2014. "Demystifying the Role of Grain Assemblers in the Rural Maize Markets of Eastern and Southern Africa," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 176628, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    3. Sitko, Nicholas J. & Chamberlin, Jordan & Cunguara, Benedito & Muyanga, Milu & Mangisoni, Julius, 2017. "A comparative political economic analysis of maize sector policies in eastern and southern Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 243-255.
    4. Fung, Winnie & Liverpool-Tasie, Saweda & Mason, Nicole & Uwaifo Oyelere, Ruth, 2015. "Can Crop Purchase Programs Reduce Poverty and Improve Welfare in Rural Communities? Evidence from the Food Reserve Agency in Zambia," IZA Discussion Papers 9361, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Ambler, Kate & de Brauw, Alan & Herskowitz, Sylvan & Pulido, Cristhian, 2023. "Viewpoint: Finance needs of the agricultural midstream," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    6. Chapoto, Antony & Zulu-Mbata, Olipa & Hoffman, Barak D. & Kabaghe, Chance & Sitko, Nicholas & Kuteya, Auckland & Zulu, Ballard, 2015. "The Politics of Maize in Zambia: Who holds the Keys to Change the Status Quo?," Food Security Collaborative Working Papers 212905, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    7. Mason, Nicole M. & Jayne, Thomas S. & Shiferaw, Bekele A., 2012. "Wheat Consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa: Trends, Drivers, and Policy Implications," Food Security International Development Working Papers 146936, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    8. Sitko, Nicholas J. & Jayne, T.S., 2014. "Exploitative Briefcase Businessmen, Parasites, and Other Myths and Legends: Assembly Traders and the Performance of Maize Markets in Eastern and Southern Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 56-67.
    9. Antony Chapoto, 2012. "The Political Economy of Food Price Policy: the Case of Zambia," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-100, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    10. Nicholas J. Sitko & Brian Chisanga & David Tschirley & Thomas S. Jayne, 2018. "An evolution in the middle: examining the rise of multinational investment in smallholder grain trading in Zambia," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(2), pages 473-488, April.
    11. Chapoto, Antony, 2012. "The Political Economy of Food Price Policy: The Case of Zambia," WIDER Working Paper Series 100, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    12. Alobo Loison, Sarah & Hillbom, Ellen, 2020. "Regional evidence of smallholder-based growth in Zambia’s livestock sector," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).
    13. Klasen, Stephan & Reimers, Malte, 2017. "Looking at Pro-Poor Growth from an Agricultural Perspective," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 147-168.
    14. Manfred Wiebelt & Rainer Schweickert & Clemens Breisinger & Marcus Böhme, 2011. "Oil revenues for public investment in Africa: targeting urban or rural areas?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 147(4), pages 745-770, November.
    15. Lin, Jessie & Gupta, Anubhab, 2022. "Implications of Farm Size and Staple Production on Rural and Urban Food Security and Dietary Diversity," 96th Annual Conference, April 4-6, 2022, K U Leuven, Belgium 321161, Agricultural Economics Society - AES.
    16. Elodie Maître d'Hôtel & Tristan Le Cotty & Thom Jayne, 2013. "Trade Policy Inconsistency and Maize Price Volatility: An ARCH Approach in Kenya," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 25(4), pages 607-620, December.
    17. Allen, Summer L. & Badiane, Ousmane & Ulimwengu, John M., 2012. "Government expenditures, social outcomes, and marginal productivity of agricultural inputs: a case study for Tanzania," IFPRI discussion papers 1172, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    18. Kamenya, Madalitso A. & Hendriks, Sheryl L. & Gandidzanwa, Colleta & Ulimwengu, John & Odjo, Sunday, 2022. "Public agriculture investment and food security in ECOWAS," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    19. Mogues, Tewodaj & Yu, Bingxin & Fan, Shenggen & Mcbride, Linden, 2012. "The impacts of public investment in and for agriculture: Synthesis of the existing evidence," IFPRI discussion papers 1217, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    20. World Bank, 2012. "Niger : Investing for Prosperity - A Poverty Assessment [NIGER: Investir pour la prospérité - Evaluation de la pauvreté au Niger]," World Bank Publications - Reports 12312, The World Bank Group.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agricultural and Food Policy; Demand and Price Analysis; Food Security and Poverty;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:midcwp:171871. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/damsuus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.