The International Association of Agricultural Information Specialists (IAALD)
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 102 Document Number: D10916
Notes:
6 pages., IAALD XIIIth World Congress, via IAALD website., This paper presents our experience in building a rural and agriculture development communication
network in Egypt to improve the communication among extension, research, private and public
sectors and institutions involved in rural and agricultural development for the benefit of farmers
and agrarian businesses at rural and village level. The paper describes the main components of the
network: the web based information system, the rural communication network, and the mass
media. The lesson learned and future plans are also introduced.
16 pages., Via online journal., This paper assesses the effect of transportation and communication networks on farmers’ choice of market channels for paddy and wheat, and subsequently on the prices they receive from these channels. It is found that smallholder farmers sell more to informal channels i.e. local traders and input dealers, and typically receive lower prices from them compared to the government-set minimum support prices (MSP). The prices realized from the sales in regulated markets are also less than the MSP despite these being claimed to be more transparent in price discovery. Econometric results show that farmers’ access to transportation and information enables them to obtain better price terms from informal as well as formal channels. The effect of information is relatively stronger, implying that farmers’ access to transportation itself is not sufficient but is effective when combined with provision of market information. Further, our proposition is that despite a positive impact of the improved market access on price realization from informal traders, farmer-trader relations are unlikely to undergo a meaningful change because of the tied transactions involving inputs, credit and outputs.
