Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study

HIAS-E-110

The Role of Agricultural Market Information on Farmers’ Agricultural Outcomes: Evidence from Smallholder Coffee Producers in Ethiopia

Abstract:

Using data from 466 smallholder coffee farmers in Ethiopia, this paper examines the effect of a public agricultural market information system (AMIS) on the farmers’ agricultural outcomes. Our findings confirm that providing market price information via the AMIS is positively related to coffee sales, the ratio of sales to production, and coffee income. In addition, we consider market heterogeneity by comparing two zones with different market characteristics. We find that the AMIS is positively associated with increasing coffee sales, the ratio of sales to production, and coffee income in only one zone with relatively lower market participation. On the contrary, the sales and income of AMIS users in the other zone with higher market participation did not increase although their selling price increased. While public information provision via ICT is more beneficial to underdeveloped markets, we suggest correcting other market imperfections is important to maximize the utility of AMISs.

Report No.: HIAS-E-110
Author(s): Guenwoo Lee (a), Aya Suzuki (b), Yu Ri Kim(c)
Affiliation: (a) Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University
(b) The University of Tokyo
(c) The University of Tokyo
Issued Date: August 2021
Keywords: Agricultural Market Information System; Coffee Farmer; Ethiopia; ICT4D; IPWRA
JEL: D80; Q12
Links: PDF, HERMES-IR, RePEc,