Food aid, food prices and producer disincentives in Ethiopia

TR Number
Date
2009
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Agricultural & Applied Economics Association
Abstract

Although the short-term aims of food aid are well conceived, strong concerns have been voiced regarding the long-term impacts of such aid on incentives for agricultural producers in recipient countries. This paper examines the statistical link between food aid shipments and food prices in Ethiopia over the period 1996-2006. Monthly data from three markets and three commodities are used to estimate a system of seemingly unrelated regression models for food prices. Results indicate that previous year food aid shipments reduce prices in all producer and consumer markets. These effects, however, appear to be limited to the set of internationally traded commodities that are domestically marketed. A recursive regression procedure is used to identify the food aid threshold at which a negative aid effect emerges. Food aid shipments that constitute less than 10% of domestic production appear to be benign, but shipments above this level show signs of being disruptive to local markets. We use a simple policy simulation to argue that production-sensitive targeting, e.g. conditioning food aid on local food production, would help to circumvent disincentive effects.

Description
Metadata only record
Keywords
Food strategy, Food consumption, Famine, International trade, Arid zones, Food security, Poverty, Economic modeling and analysis, Economic impacts, Social impacts, Local markets, Market demand, Government institutions, Storage infrastructure, World markets, Commercialization, Government policy, Administration, Market supply, Imports, Economic policy, Disaster assistance, Agencies, Vulnerability and risk, Transportation infrastructure, Economic statistics and indicators, Ethiopia, Price analysis, Food policy, Food aid, Governance
Citation
American Journal of Agricultural Economics 91(4): 942-955