IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea13/150522.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Effects of Storage Losses and Grain Management Practices on Storage: Evidence from Maize Production in Benin

Author

Listed:
  • Kadjo, Didier
  • Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob E.
  • Alexander, Corinne E.
  • Tahirou, Abdoulaye

Abstract

This study uses nationally representative data from 360 farm households in Benin to estimate how access to storage technologies and storage losses from insects affects a smallholder African farmer’s decision to hold grain from production, in an environment of high price variability. We find that access to storage chemicals increases the average amount stored by 196 kilograms with results approaching statistical significance. Farmers who use plastic bags store 293 kilograms less grain on average, likely because bags are used for transport to market in addition to storage. Results from our study also suggest that market-driven farmers rely on high price variability as shield against storage losses, whereas subsistence farmers jeopardize their food security in lean season because of aversion to stock losses. Expected post-harvest losses might therefore be more detrimental to storage decision for farmers with low physical and financial assets. These findings highlight the need to develop effective and accessible new or improved storage technology for small farmers in SSA (Sub-Saharan Africa).

Suggested Citation

  • Kadjo, Didier & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob E. & Alexander, Corinne E. & Tahirou, Abdoulaye, 2013. "Effects of Storage Losses and Grain Management Practices on Storage: Evidence from Maize Production in Benin," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150522, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea13:150522
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.150522
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/150522/files/Effects%20of%20Storage%20losses%20and%20Grain%20Management_Didier%20Kadjo_ID%20Number_60371.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.150522?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Albert Park, 2006. "Risk and Household Grain Management in Developing Countries," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(514), pages 1088-1115, October.
    2. Jenny C. Aker, 2010. "Information from Markets Near and Far: Mobile Phones and Agricultural Markets in Niger," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 46-59, July.
    3. Lee, Jeong-Joon & Sawada, Yasuyuki, 2010. "Precautionary saving under liquidity constraints: Evidence from rural Pakistan," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 77-86, January.
    4. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    5. Atanu Saha & Janice Stroud, 1994. "A Household Model of On-Farm Storage Under Price Risk," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 76(3), pages 522-534.
    6. Christopher B. Barrett & Paul A. Dorosh, 1996. "Farmers' Welfare and Changing Food Prices: Nonparametric Evidence from Rice in Madagascar," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 78(3), pages 656-669.
    7. Emma C. Stephens & Christopher B. Barrett, 2011. "Incomplete Credit Markets and Commodity Marketing Behaviour," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 1-24, February.
    8. Saha, Atanu, 1994. "A two-season agricultural household model of output and price uncertainty," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 245-269, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chegere, Martin Julius, 2018. "Post-harvest losses reduction by small-scale maize farmers: The role of handling practices," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 103-115.
    2. Wondimagegn Tesfaye & Gebrelibanos Gebremariam, 2020. "Consumption smoothing and price enhancement motives for grain storage: empirical perspectives from rural Ethiopia," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Channa, Hira & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Feleke, Shiferaw T. & Abdoulaye, Tahirou, 2018. "Estimating the impact of a credit and technology intervention on farmer maize transactions: Insights from a RCT in Tanzania," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274235, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    4. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn & Tirivayi, Nyasha, 2016. "The effect of improved storage innovations on food security and welfare in Ethiopia," MERIT Working Papers 2016-063, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    5. Tesfaye, Wondimagegn & Tirivayi, Nyasha, 2018. "The impacts of postharvest storage innovations on food security and welfare in Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 52-67.
    6. Omotilewa, Oluwatoba J. & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Ainembabazi, Herbert & Shively, Gerald, 2016. "Impacts of Improved Storage Technology among Smallholder Farm Households in Uganda," 2016 Fifth International Conference, September 23-26, 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 246454, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michler, Jeffrey D. & Balagtas, Joseph Valdes, 2013. "The Determinants of Rice Storage: Evidence from Rice Farmers in Bangladesh," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150267, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    2. Wondimagegn Tesfaye & Gebrelibanos Gebremariam, 2020. "Consumption smoothing and price enhancement motives for grain storage: empirical perspectives from rural Ethiopia," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 8(1), pages 1-19, December.
    3. Aggarwal, Shilpa & Francis, Eilin & Robinson, Jonathan, 2018. "Grain today, gain tomorrow: Evidence from a storage experiment with savings clubs in Kenya," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 1-15.
    4. Didier Kadjo & Jacob Ricker‐Gilbert & Tahirou Abdoulaye & Gerald Shively & Mohamed N. Baco, 2018. "Storage losses, liquidity constraints, and maize storage decisions in Benin," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(4), pages 435-454, July.
    5. Peng Peng & Zhigang Xu, 2022. "Price expectations, risk aversion, and choice of sales methods for large‐scale farmers under incomplete market conditions," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(4), pages 1012-1031, October.
    6. Marshall Burke & Lauren Falcao Bergquist & Edward Miguel, 2019. "Sell Low and Buy High: Arbitrage and Local Price Effects in Kenyan Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(2), pages 785-842.
    7. Dingqiang Sun & Huanguang Qiu & Junfei Bai & Haiyan Liu & Guanghua Lin & Scott Rozelle, 2013. "Liquidity Constraints and Postharvest Selling Behavior: Evidence from China's Maize Farmers," The Developing Economies, Institute of Developing Economies, vol. 51(3), pages 260-277, September.
    8. Dzanku, Fred M., 2015. "Household-specific food price differentials and high-value crop production in rural Ghana," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 73-82.
    9. Kadjo, Didier & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Alexander, Corinne, 2016. "Estimating Price Discounts for Low-Quality Maize in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Benin," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 115-128.
    10. Peterson-Wilhelm, Bailey & Schwab, Benjamin, 2023. "Analyzing Food Price Movements Using Crowdsourced Data," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335716, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    11. Franklin Simtowe & Hugo Groote, 2021. "Seasonal participation in maize markets in Zambia: Do agricultural input subsidies and gender matter?," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 13(1), pages 141-155, February.
    12. Omotilewa, Oluwatoba J. & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Ainembabazi, Herbert & Shively, Gerald, 2016. "Impacts of Improved Storage Technology among Smallholder Farm Households in Uganda," 2016 Fifth International Conference, September 23-26, 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 246454, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    13. Kadjo, Didier & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob & Alexander, Corinne, 2015. "Does quality affect maize prices in sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Benin," 2015 AAEA & WAEA Joint Annual Meeting, July 26-28, San Francisco, California 205503, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Kurt B. Waldman & Stacey Giroux & Jordan P. Blekking & Kathy Baylis & Tom P. Evans, 2020. "Smallholder food storage dynamics and resilience," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(1), pages 7-20, February.
    15. Simon Lange & Malte Reimers, 2014. "Livestock as an Imperfect Buffer Stock in Poorly Integrated Markets," Courant Research Centre: Poverty, Equity and Growth - Discussion Papers 162, Courant Research Centre PEG.
    16. Amolegbe, Khadijat B. & Upton, Joanna & Bageant, Elizabeth & Blom, Sylvia, 2021. "Food price volatility and household food security: Evidence from Nigeria," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    17. Gao,Nan & Ma,Yuanyuan & Xu,L. Colin, 2020. "Credit Constraints and Fraud Victimization : Evidence from a Representative Chinese Household Survey," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9460, The World Bank.
    18. Rezki, Jahen F., 2023. "Does the mobile phone affect social development? Evidence from Indonesian villages," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(3).
    19. Marco Manacorda & Andrea Tesei, 2020. "Liberation Technology: Mobile Phones and Political Mobilization in Africa," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(2), pages 533-567, March.
    20. Oliver Schulte & Trung Thanh Nguyen & Ulrike Grote, 2022. "The Effect of Renting in Cropland on Livelihood Choices and Agricultural Commercialization: A Case Study from Rural Vietnam," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(6), pages 2878-2898, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer/Household Economics; Farm Management; Research Methods/ Statistical Methods;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aaea13:150522. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.