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Abstract
The government of Malawi in 2004 initiated an ICT-based Malawi Agricultural Commodity
Exchange (MACE), a market information service project, to improve access by farmers to
market information. MACE was intended to improve the efficiency of agricultural markets as
part of the strategy to improve food security. This study uses quantitative methods to examine
whether MACE has contributed to efficiency of rice markets in Malawi. It especially tests if
MACE has contributed to spatial integration of rice markets. As hypothesized, the study finds
that the tendency of rice prices to move together in spatially separated markets has significantly
increased since the implementation of MACE. It concludes that ICT-based market information
services improve the efficiency with which agricultural markets perform. The study discusses
implications of this finding for policy.