Market structure and coherence of international cooperation: the case of the dairy sector in Malawi

Cesar Revoredo-Giha

No 131464, Working Papers from Scotland's Rural College (formerly Scottish Agricultural College), Land Economy & Environment Research Group

Abstract: A supply chain in disarray can be identified not only as a barrier to growth for the agricultural sector but also as one to achieving food security in a country because it may lead to either a deficiency in food production and/or too high prices. Using the dairy sector of Malawi as an example, the purpose of this paper is to discuss the coherence between market structure and the development strategy pursued by international donors via. Within Malawi the dairy sector may be characterised as a segmented market: with both formal and informal milk markets, with smallholder producers serving both markets. The formal market includes a reducing number of processing firms operating with idle capacity and selling dairy products to an affluent segment of the urban population, whilst the informal market comprises the sale of unprocessed milk products to the less affluent urban population and also rural areas. In this context, cooperative international action, conducted through agencies from a range of countries, is targeted at improving the efficiency of the formal supply chain and also the creation of local supply chains that sell processed products directly to poor consumers. The paper discusses reasons why these two cooperation strategies, given the structure of the sector, may potentially conflict with each other, the need to address the degree of market imperfection of the formal sector and the desirability of ex-ante coordination of plans amongst donors.

Keywords: Food Security and Poverty; International Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24
Date: 2012-08
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/131464/files/leergworkingpaper64.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Market Structure and Coherence of International Cooperation: The Case of the Dairy Sector in Malawi (2012)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:srlewp:131464

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.131464

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Scotland's Rural College (formerly Scottish Agricultural College), Land Economy & Environment Research Group Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().