Agricultural Markets and Prices

In recent years, there has been renewed interest among both public and private organizations to establish farmer based organizations (FBOs) in Ghana.

A well-integrated market system is central to a well-functioning market economy (Dercon, 1995). As production decisions are based on observed prices, the most efficient allocation of resources would come about when prices represent scarcity conditions. In other words, a large network of markets connected by fast and efficient arbitrage is needed in order to exploit spatial comparative advantages (Fackler and Goodwin, 2001).

The livestock sector is a large contributor to the Ethiopian economy as well as a mainstay in the livelihoods of many Ethiopians. It comprised 11 percent of national GDP and 24 percent of agricultural GDP between the years of 1995/96 and 2005/06 (NBE 2005/06). Livestock production and markets vary substantially across space in Ethiopia due to a variety of reasons including topographical variations, market access, water availability, and population characteristics.

The cocoa sector in Ghana is one of few examples of an export commodity sector in an African country that has withstood the pressure to fully liberalize. Despite substantial government control over internal and external marketing via the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD), the current institutional arrangement is able to pass on a significant share of export prices to farmers, a key objective of the liberalization of commodity markets in Africa.

This paper documents a Ugandan Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for the year 2007. The SAM is based on newly estimated supply-use tables, national accounts, government budgets, and balance of payments. The SAM reconciles these data using cross-entropy estimation techniques. The final SAM is a detailed representation of Uganda’s economy. It separates 37 activities and commodities; 5 types of factors of production; and 5 representative household groups.