Thesis Re-print: Does Selling Fruits or Vegetables - Department of ...

Does Selling Fruits or Vegetables Provide a Strategic Advantage to
Selling Maize for Small-Holders in Mozambique? A Double-Hurdle
Correlated Random Effects Approach to Evaluating Farmer Market
Decisions
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Strong growth in per capita income combined with the highest urban population
growth in the world is beginning to generate very rapid changes in African food systems.
Combined with high income elasticity for fresh produce among consumers in
Mozambique, demand for fresh fruits and vegetables (FFV) is expected to multiply
between four and six times between 2000 and 2030, providing local Mozambican farmers
a great opportunity, although this opportunity has not yet been realized by many. Other
studies have indicated that meeting this challenge will likely require major changes in the
structure of production, including a greater role for larger-scale commercial operations to
complement increasingly commercialized smallholder production.
Strengthening the ability of the local sector to meet rapidly rising fresh produce
demand must take into account the following differences and similarities across fruit,
vegetable and maize sellers, and can be done with the investments of both the public and
private sectors:
(1) In contrast to maize-selling households, spatial positioning is of vital
importance for successful FFV-selling households, both in terms of proximity to a town
or city of a certain size in hours of travel and in terms of agro-ecological conditions such
as producing in a dry and cool climate. Therefore, those most able to take advantage of
this opportunity will be those already positioned in such conducive environs.
iv