Book Description

The impact of markets on agricultural development was analuzed by means of a case study on cassava in the Atlantic Coast region of Colombia. In the development process, the demand for agricultural products changes considerably. Traditional food products, such as roots and tubers, face a decreasing demand in the course of urbanization and income growth. Feed grains and animal products face a growing demand. The agricultural sector is often not able to adapt ot these demand changes and imports result. In case the structure of agriculture is dualistic, small farmers might be harmed and large farmers benefitted by these changes. This leads to unbalanced agricultural development. Market improvement strategies directed to small farm products might correct part of the unbalanced development. Cassava in the Atlantic Coast region is a small farm crop which faces severe market(ing) problems in the development process. Fresh cassava consumption, the traditional utilization, decreases because it has a high marketing margin, because it has to be bought on the day of consumption and because other products become more widely available. Two market improvement strategies for cassava are evaluated: improvement of the traditional fresh cassava market by means of improved storage; opening the market for dried cassava as an animal feed in order to replace sorghum. To study the impact of these strategies the role of cassava in the Atlantic Coast region is analyzed within a systems framework.