Assessing travel time and transportation costs in sub-Saharan Africa: A case study in Malawi

The government of Malawi is pursuing an export led agricultural growth strategy, and therefore improving transport quality between major urban areas, as well as between rural areas and ports of trade or market centers, is a key pri-ority (DTIS, 2014). For this reason, being able to assess travel dis...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Guo, Zhe, Hawkins, James
Formato: Brief
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146373
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author Guo, Zhe
Hawkins, James
author_browse Guo, Zhe
Hawkins, James
author_facet Guo, Zhe
Hawkins, James
author_sort Guo, Zhe
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The government of Malawi is pursuing an export led agricultural growth strategy, and therefore improving transport quality between major urban areas, as well as between rural areas and ports of trade or market centers, is a key pri-ority (DTIS, 2014). For this reason, being able to assess travel distances, times, and costs for major commerce routes is an important first step. Despite this, there exists a lack of basic data relating to the geographic and economic as-pects of road travel in many of these countries. The purpose of this technical brief is to describe the procedure taken for the estimation of transportation costs for use in the development of a spatially disaggregated, market level model of the Malawian agricultural sector, which is being done as part of BioSight’s ongoing work on the sustainable intensi-fication of agriculture in Africa, south of the Sahara. Modelling exercises such as these require estimation of the mar-keting margins of agricultural inputs and outputs traded across regions. The transport cost makes up a significant component of the marketing margin. High quality data on transport costs is therefore crucial for the parameterization and application of market models such as these. This technical brief describes a procedure for estimating transport distances, times, and costs between three major urban areas in south, central, and north Malawi. The difficulties around obtaining reliable spatial data and how to use these to develop and assess specific transport routes are dis-cussed.
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spelling CGSpace1463732025-11-06T04:32:26Z Assessing travel time and transportation costs in sub-Saharan Africa: A case study in Malawi Guo, Zhe Hawkins, James bioeconomics transport markets trade infrastructure The government of Malawi is pursuing an export led agricultural growth strategy, and therefore improving transport quality between major urban areas, as well as between rural areas and ports of trade or market centers, is a key pri-ority (DTIS, 2014). For this reason, being able to assess travel distances, times, and costs for major commerce routes is an important first step. Despite this, there exists a lack of basic data relating to the geographic and economic as-pects of road travel in many of these countries. The purpose of this technical brief is to describe the procedure taken for the estimation of transportation costs for use in the development of a spatially disaggregated, market level model of the Malawian agricultural sector, which is being done as part of BioSight’s ongoing work on the sustainable intensi-fication of agriculture in Africa, south of the Sahara. Modelling exercises such as these require estimation of the mar-keting margins of agricultural inputs and outputs traded across regions. The transport cost makes up a significant component of the marketing margin. High quality data on transport costs is therefore crucial for the parameterization and application of market models such as these. This technical brief describes a procedure for estimating transport distances, times, and costs between three major urban areas in south, central, and north Malawi. The difficulties around obtaining reliable spatial data and how to use these to develop and assess specific transport routes are dis-cussed. 2016-09-12 2024-06-21T09:06:49Z 2024-06-21T09:06:49Z Brief https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146373 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Guo, Zhe; Hawkins, James. 2016. Assessing travel time and transportation costs in sub-Saharan Africa: A case study in Malawi. BioSight Technical Brief. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146373
spellingShingle bioeconomics
transport
markets
trade
infrastructure
Guo, Zhe
Hawkins, James
Assessing travel time and transportation costs in sub-Saharan Africa: A case study in Malawi
title Assessing travel time and transportation costs in sub-Saharan Africa: A case study in Malawi
title_full Assessing travel time and transportation costs in sub-Saharan Africa: A case study in Malawi
title_fullStr Assessing travel time and transportation costs in sub-Saharan Africa: A case study in Malawi
title_full_unstemmed Assessing travel time and transportation costs in sub-Saharan Africa: A case study in Malawi
title_short Assessing travel time and transportation costs in sub-Saharan Africa: A case study in Malawi
title_sort assessing travel time and transportation costs in sub saharan africa a case study in malawi
topic bioeconomics
transport
markets
trade
infrastructure
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146373
work_keys_str_mv AT guozhe assessingtraveltimeandtransportationcostsinsubsaharanafricaacasestudyinmalawi
AT hawkinsjames assessingtraveltimeandtransportationcostsinsubsaharanafricaacasestudyinmalawi