@article{Chang:234292,
      recid = {234292},
      author = {Chang, Hui-Shung and Mira, Zenaida and Griffith, Garry},
      title = {The Market Development Project: A Case of Government  Failure?},
      address = {2012},
      number = {398-2016-24451},
      series = {Paper},
      pages = {12},
      year = {2012},
      abstract = {The Market Development Project (MDP) was initiated by the  Fresh Produce Development Company (FPDA) of Papua New  Guinea (PNG) in 2006. The project involved FPDA acting as a  wholesaler, buying fresh produce from farmers in the PNG  Highlands and delivering it to supermarkets in Port Moresby  and to a mining town, Tabubil, in the Western Province. In  2010 a review was undertaken to assess MDP.s performance  over the four years it had been in operation: what it had  achieved and what it had not; how cost effective it was;  whether and how it could have been done better; and whether  a government agency should be involved in a seemingly  private wholesaling business.
The MDP was set up to link  farmers to markets. It aimed to provide farmers with secure  markets and stable prices; generate market information  which the agency could use to develop policies and  strategies; provide a learning ground to educate farmers  and the staff to become commercial and market-oriented; and  encourage farmers to save money through the establishment  of bank accounts. The study showed that some of the  objectives have been achieved, for example, gaining  practical experience in marketing, building capacities of  famers and staff, establishing bank accounts and  encouraging savings for some farmers. However, these  achievements were not significant relative to the time and  substantial resources that had been invested in it. More  importantly, it failed to make significant inroads into  addressing known supply chain issues of poor transport,  poor post-harvest handling, and inconsistent supply. Our  findings suggest that more effort should have been given to  staff and farmers. training, gathering information on costs  of production and marketing and identifying and addressing  supply chain issues. In addition, a workable monitoring and  evaluation framework should have been put in place so that  problems and deficiencies in the design and operation of  MDP, most notably its pricing structure and quality control  measures, could be identified and rectified as soon as they  occurred. The case of MDP demonstrates clearly that  administered pricing (as is MDP pricing) is no substitute  for the free play of market forces and farmers. interests  can be better served by government acting as a facilitator,  rather than as an interventionist.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/234292},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.234292},
}