Big cities, small towns, and poor farmers: Evidence from Ethiopia

Urbanization is happening fast in the developing world and especially so in sub-Saharan Africa where growth rates of cities are among the highest in the world. While cities and, in particular, secondary towns, where most of the urban population in sub-Saharan Africa resides, affect agricultural prac...

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Main Authors: Vandercasteelen, Joachim, Beyene, Seneshaw Temru, Minten, Bart, Swinnen, Johan
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146310
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author Vandercasteelen, Joachim
Beyene, Seneshaw Temru
Minten, Bart
Swinnen, Johan
author_browse Beyene, Seneshaw Temru
Minten, Bart
Swinnen, Johan
Vandercasteelen, Joachim
author_facet Vandercasteelen, Joachim
Beyene, Seneshaw Temru
Minten, Bart
Swinnen, Johan
author_sort Vandercasteelen, Joachim
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Urbanization is happening fast in the developing world and especially so in sub-Saharan Africa where growth rates of cities are among the highest in the world. While cities and, in particular, secondary towns, where most of the urban population in sub-Saharan Africa resides, affect agricultural practices in their rural hinterlands, this relationship is not well understood. To fill this gap, we develop a conceptual model to analyze how farmers’ proximity to cities of different sizes affects agricultural prices and intensification of farming. We then test these predictions using large-scale survey data from producers of teff, a major staple crop in Ethiopia, relying on unique data on transport costs and road networks and implementing an array of econometric models. We find that agricultural price behavior and intensification is determined by proximity to a city and the type of city.
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publishDate 2018
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spelling CGSpace1463102025-02-24T06:46:44Z Big cities, small towns, and poor farmers: Evidence from Ethiopia Vandercasteelen, Joachim Beyene, Seneshaw Temru Minten, Bart Swinnen, Johan intensive farming urbanization agricultural prices intensification econometric models towns production location Urbanization is happening fast in the developing world and especially so in sub-Saharan Africa where growth rates of cities are among the highest in the world. While cities and, in particular, secondary towns, where most of the urban population in sub-Saharan Africa resides, affect agricultural practices in their rural hinterlands, this relationship is not well understood. To fill this gap, we develop a conceptual model to analyze how farmers’ proximity to cities of different sizes affects agricultural prices and intensification of farming. We then test these predictions using large-scale survey data from producers of teff, a major staple crop in Ethiopia, relying on unique data on transport costs and road networks and implementing an array of econometric models. We find that agricultural price behavior and intensification is determined by proximity to a city and the type of city. 2018-03-29 2024-06-21T09:06:35Z 2024-06-21T09:06:35Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146310 en https://hdl.handle.net/10568/148259 Open Access Elsevier Vandercasteelen, Joachim; Beyene, Seneshaw Temru; Minten, Bart; and Swinnen, Johan. 2018. Big cities, small towns, and poor farmers: Evidence from Ethiopia. World Development 106(June 2018): 393-406. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.03.006
spellingShingle intensive farming
urbanization
agricultural prices
intensification
econometric models
towns
production location
Vandercasteelen, Joachim
Beyene, Seneshaw Temru
Minten, Bart
Swinnen, Johan
Big cities, small towns, and poor farmers: Evidence from Ethiopia
title Big cities, small towns, and poor farmers: Evidence from Ethiopia
title_full Big cities, small towns, and poor farmers: Evidence from Ethiopia
title_fullStr Big cities, small towns, and poor farmers: Evidence from Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Big cities, small towns, and poor farmers: Evidence from Ethiopia
title_short Big cities, small towns, and poor farmers: Evidence from Ethiopia
title_sort big cities small towns and poor farmers evidence from ethiopia
topic intensive farming
urbanization
agricultural prices
intensification
econometric models
towns
production location
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146310
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