Growth and Equity Effects of Agricultural Marketing Efficiency Gains in India
by
Maurice Landes and Mary E. Burfisher
Economic Research Report No. (ERR-89) 43 pp, December 2009
Agriculture is the largest source of employment in India, and food accounts for about half of consumer expenditures. Moving agricultural products from the farm to consumers more efficiently could result in large gains to producers, consumers, and India’s overall economy. This analysis uses a computable general equilibrium model with agricultural commodity detail and households disaggregated by rural, urban, and income class to study the potential impacts of reforms that achieve efficiency gains in agricultural marketing and reduce agricultural input subsidies and import tariffs. More efficient agricultural marketing generates economywide gains in output and wages, raises agricultural producer prices, reduces consumer food prices, and increases private consumption, particularly by low-income households. These gains could help to offset some of the medium-term adjustment costs for some commodity markets and households associated with reducing agricultural subsidies and tariffs.
Keywords: India, agriculture, policy reform, marketing efficiency, tariffs, subsidies, households, computable general equilibrium model
In this publication...
- Report summary,
270 kb
| HTML - Abstract, Contents,
643 kb
- Summary,
112 kb
- Introduction,
43 kb
- Agricultural Policy, Investment, and Marketing Efficiency in India,
125 kb
- Estimated Costs of Marketing Agricultural and Food Products,
108 kb
- Household Income and Expenditure Patterns,
418 kb
- Impacts of Potential Marketing Efficiency Gains,
174 kb
- Comparing the Impacts of Increased Marketing Efficiency With Agricultural Input Subsidy and Tariff Reform,
403 kb
- Conclusions,
42 kb
- References,
44 kb
- Appendices,
54 kb
- Entire report,
1,786 kb
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