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Volume 39, Number 4, December 2000 >
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://purl.umn.edu/54232
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| Title: | Providing marketing information to smallholders in Zimbabwe: What can the state usefully do? |
| Authors: | Poulton, Colin
Mukwereza, L.
Chanonwa, W.
Loader, R.
Mariga, K.
Masanganise, P.
Sanyatwe, D.
Piesse, Jenifer |
| Issue Date: | 2000-12 |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, significant international assistance has been provided to assist the
establishment of market information systems (MISs) in a range of developing countries,
including many in Africa. However, experience with state-run MISs, looking to provide
current price information to market participants, has not been encouraging. Volatile
horticultural markets provide particular challenges for such MISs. Therefore, it is suggested
that it might be more appropriate to provide other types of marketing information to inform
the production and marketing decisions of smallholder producers. This paper reports on
recent efforts by the national extension agency, Agritex, to provide such information to
smallholder horticultural producers in two districts of north-eastern Zimbabwe. Drawing on
an initial evaluation of this pilot programme, the paper suggests that: 1) in the Zimbabwe
case, the extension service may provide a viable vehicle for dissemination of marketing
information to smallholder (horticultural) producers; 2) information on new crops and
market opportunities is valued more highly by farmers than information on current market
prices; 3) such information should complement, not supplant, traditional production
extension advice. The paper concludes by considering some of the issues pertaining to the
continuation and expansion of the pilot programme. |
| URI: | http://purl.umn.edu/54232 |
| Institution/Association: | Agrekon>Volume 39, Issue 4, December 2000 |
| Total Pages: | 12 |
| From Page: | 718 |
| To Page: | 729 |
| Collections: | Volume 39, Number 4, December 2000
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| 26 _40_ Poulton Dec 2000.pdf | | 102Kb | PDF | View/Open |
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