Toward Improved Maize Marketing and Trade Policies to Promote Household Food Security in Central and Southern Mozambique

David Tschirley (), Danilo Abdula and Michael T. Weber ()
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David Tschirley: Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University

No MZ-MINAG-RR-60E, International Development Collaborative Working Papers from Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University

Abstract: In this paper we examine this challenge through the lens of the country’s primary staple, maize. We choose maize among the country’s several staple foods (including cassava, rice, and wheat products) for a combination of reasons. First, it is the most widely produced staple in the country. In no province do fewer than two-thirds of rural households produce maize; rice’s participation, in contrast, falls below 10% in four provinces, and wheat is not produced locally at all. Second, maize is the most widely sold staple in the country: cassava rivals maize in breadth and level of production, but three times more households sell maize than sell cassava. Third, maize is the only staple food in Mozambique which is regularly exported, generating substantial income for smallholder farmers in the Center and North of the country. Finally, maize is the most widely consumed staple across the country, occupying as much of the average budget share in 2002 as high as rice, cassava, wheat, sorghum, and millet combined.

Keywords: food security; food policy; maize; marketing; trade; Mozambique; household (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr, nep-agr and nep-mkt
Date: 2006
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