MAFAP releases an update on price incentives indicators in sub-Saharan Africa
The analysis of price incentives for the production of agricultural commodities measures how the policy and market environment affects prices for different agents (producers, traders and consumers) along the commodity value chain. A standard set of indicators is used to allow for comparison across countries comparison and over years.
As a general trend, producers’ protection measured by MAFAP’s indicators decreased between 2013 and 2014. Governments in Sub Saharan Africa are re-absorbing the distortions caused by the food price crises in the last decade and converging back to an average situation where public intervention has a limited impact on prices on average over all covered countries. However, nominal rates of protection at country-level are very heterogeneous, as a consequence of various ad-hoc trade restrictions, price policies, parastatal intervention, fluctuating budget execution rates and a volatile investment climate.
Among the MAFAP focus countries, Uganda has the highest average level of producer price incentives in 2014, close to 50 percent. Ghana, Ethiopia and Senegal are between 10 and 20 percent while Burundi, Burkina Faso and Rwanda have an average nominal rate of protection (NRP) between 0 and 10 percent. Producers in Tanzania and Kenya faced an average disincentive between 0 and 10 percent while in Mali and Malawi farmers receive prices 20-30 percent lower than their international benchmark. Finally, producer prices in Mozambique where almost 40 lower relative to a free-trade situation. The wide dispersion of nominal rates of protection across the covered countries indicates the significant differences in policies and market environments that farmers in these countries face.
MAFAP dataset provides useful insights on the main results by country and commodity. It is accessible for download through the website and can be browsed on the MAFAP dashboard
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