Table Of ContentDeveloping Agricultural
Trade
New roles for government in poor countries
Michael Hubbard
with Marisol Smith, Frank Ellis, Gideon Onumah,
Andrew Shepherd, Peter Lewa and Renu Kohli
Developing Agricultural Trade
The Role of Government in Adjusting Economies
General Editor: Richard Batley, International Development Department,
School of Public Policy, University of Birmingham
Over the last two decades there has been a strong emphasis on reducing the role
of government and on reforming traditional public sector bureaucracies. The
new conventional view has become that, where possible, services should not be
provided directly by government but be contracted out or privatized. Where this
is not possible, the predominant view has been that the public sector itself
should change by setting up semi-autonomous agencies and by making public
management more performance- and customer-oriented.
This series investigates the application of such reforms in Africa, Asia and Latin
America. Underlying the enquiry is the question whether reforms which were
initially conceived in countries such as Britain and New Zealand are appropriate
in other contexts. How much sense do they make where levels of public
management capacity, market development, resources, political inclusiveness,
legal effectiveness, political and public economic stability are quite different?
To investigate these issues, the series covers four service sectors selected to be
representative of types of public sector activity – health care, urban water supply,
agricultural marketing services and business development services.
Titles include:
Michael Hubbard
DEVELOPING AGRICULTURAL TRADE
New Roles for Government in Poor Countries
Paul Jackson
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT IN ASIA AND AFRICA
The Role of Government Agencies
Anne Mills, Sara Bennett and Steven Russell
THE CHALLENGE OF HEALTH SECTOR REFORM
What Must Governments Do?
The Role of Government in Adjusting Economies
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(outside North America only)
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Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke,
Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Developing Agricultural
Trade
New roles for government in poor
countries
Michael Hubbard
International Development Department
University of Birmingham, UK
With
Marisol Smith, Frank Ellis, Gideon Onumah,
Andrew Shepherd, Peter Lewa and Renu Kohli
© Michael Hubbard 2003
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2003 978-0-333-73619-7
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
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with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2003 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
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Companies and representatives throughout the world
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave
Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
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ISBN 978-1-349-40861-0 ISBN 978-1-4039-9021-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781403990211
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully
managed and sustained forest sources.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hubbard, Michael.
Developing agricultural trade:new roles for government in poor
countries/Michael Hubbard.
p. cm.––(The role of government in adjusting economies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Produce trade––Government policy––Developing countries. 2. Agriculture
and state––Developing countries. I. Title. II. Series.
HD9018.D44 H83 2002
380.1(cid:2)41(cid:2)091724––dc21
2002028750
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03
Contents
List of Figures vi
List of Tables vii
Preface viii
List of Abbreviations x
Part I: Introduction
1 Government and Markets: Theory
and Concepts 3
2 Reforming the Role of Government
in Agricultural Markets 16
Part II: Country Studies of the Changing Role of
Government in Agricultural Trade
3 India Renu Kohli and Marisol Smith 33
4 Sri Lanka Marisol Smith and Frank Ellis 49
5 Ghana Andrew Shepherd and Gideon Onumah 65
6 Zimbabwe 77
7 Kenya Peter Lewa 92
Part III: Key Issues in Developing Agricultural Trade
8 Can Food Supplies be Entrusted to the Market? 103
9 Can Public Marketing Agencies be Reformed? 117
10 Can Public Services to Marketing be Contracted Out? 148
11 How can Quality be Assured? 170
12 What Public Role is There in Market Information? 189
Part IV: Conclusion
13 Developing Agricultural Trade: New Roles
for Government 201
Notes 212
References 226
Index 234
v
List of Figures
1.1 Capacity factors in the choice between centralised
and decentralised service management structures,
and between direct and indirect provision 10
1.2 Example of an implementation sequence in
cost recovery and commercialisation of public services 12
6.1 Swot analysis of agricultural services provision
in Zimbabwe 82
6.2 Overview of government’s performance
in agricultural policy and services in Zimbabwe 84
7.1 Chronology of events in maize marketing reform
in Kenya 97
9.1 Summary of key constraints on NCPB 139
13.1 Sequence of argument 205
vi
List of Tables
2.1 Cross-regional comparisons of grain marketing
interventions pre-liberalisation 21
2.2 Impact of liberalisation on role of government
in agricultural markets 28
3.1 Reforms: chronology of changes in marketing
arrangements 41
10.1 Overview of case studies of contracting out 168
11.1 Overview of case studies of organisational
arrangements for quality assurance 187
13.1 Overview of agricultural trade liberalisation
and reform of public services to agricultural
trade in case study countries 206
vii
Preface
Governments worldwide have intervened heavily in agricultural trade to
protect their food supplies, farmers and exports. Many are now seeking
to liberalise domestic and external trade and develop the contribution
of private trade to food security, price stabilisation and export growth.
This book is concerned with how governments are managing trade lib-
eralisation and reform of public services to agricultural trade. The focus
is on developing countries, with case studies from India, Sri Lanka,
Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Côte d’Ivoire. The conclusions highlight
the individuality of approaches, the conflicts involved and the varying
capability and will of governments to take on new roles.
The book originates in a collaborative, multi-sectoral research project on
the role of government in adjusting economies funded by the Economic
and Social Committee on Research (ESCOR) of the Department for
International Development (DFID).1 The study on the changing role of
government in agricultural trade involved collaboration of the
International Development Department, University of Birmingham and
the Overseas Development Group, University of East Anglia, with local
consultants in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.
The study was coordinated by Michael Hubbard of the University of
Birmingham, with Marisol Smith managing the contributions from the
University of East Anglia.
Extracts from papers produced by the study have been adapted
and updated to provide most of the case material included in this
book. The papers are the following, all published by the International
Development Department, School of Public Policy, University of
Birmingham:
Hubbard, M. and Smith, M. (1996) ‘Agricultural marketing sector
review’. Paper 6.
Shepherd, A. and Onumah, G. (1997) ‘Liberalised agricultural markets
in Ghana: the roles and capacity of government’. Paper 12.
Smith, M. and Ellis, F. (1997) ‘The role of the state in agricultural marketing
in Sri Lanka’. The Role of Government in Adjusting Economies. Paper 19.
Kohli, R. and Smith, M. (1998) ‘The role of the state and agricultural
marketing reform in India’. The Role of Government in Adjusting
Economies. Paper 29.
viii
Preface ix
Atse, D. (1999) ‘Reforming the cocoa sector in Côte d’Ivoire: the case of
the electronic trading system’. The Role of Government in Adjusting
Economies. Paper 34.
Chikandi, S. (1999) ‘ZFU’s pilot market information service: an analysis
of the service and early consumer reaction to it’, in M. Hubbard (ed.)
‘The impact of liberalisation on public services to agricultural
marketing: case studies of change options in Zimbabwe’. The Role
ofGovernment in Adjusting Economies. Paper 36.
Rusike, J. (1999) ‘Managing the public role in liberalised seed markets
in Zimbabwe’, in M. Hubbard (ed.), ‘The impact of liberalisation on
public services to agricultural marketing: case studies of change
options in Zimbabwe’. The Role of Government in Adjusting
Economies. Paper 36.
Sukume, C. (1999) ‘Quality assurance in liberalised meat markets’, in
M. Hubbard (ed.), ‘The impact of liberalisation on public services to
agricultural marketing: case studies of change options in Zimbabwe’.
The Role of Government in Adjusting Economies. Paper 36.
Hubbard, M. (1999) ‘Governing open agricultural markets in Zimbabwe:
state capacity and performance’. The Role of Government in
Adjusting Economies. Paper 37.
Acknowledgement is due to the many who facilitated fieldwork and
participated in the intellectual process of which this book is the result.
Particular mention must be made of the contribution of the advisory
panel for the study: Martin Hebblethwaite of the Natural Resources
Institute; John Marsh of the Centre for Agricultural Strategy, University
of Reading; and Barbara Harriss-White, University of Oxford. The
International Development Department, University of Birmingham,
provided a sabbatical for the preparation of this book.
Michael Hubbard
