Regional Markets

4 Opportunities for development
Although none of the projects interventions specifically aimed at development of ICT
or mobile phone infrastructure, the emergence of mobile telephones was occasionally
mentioned as contributing to a reduction of transaction costs (and an increase of atthe-gate
prices). In Kenya, for instance, most smallholders can use their mobile phones
to exchange information on prices and production volumes, or to make deals with local
traders – the number of trips that traders make to remotely located suppliers is reduced.
Besides, thanks to mobile telephony, several farmers can now coordinate and bulk their
produce, and can transfer money through M-Pesa.
We have seen that enhancements in the quality of physical infrastructure (roads, processing,
storage and mobile infrastructure development) lead to value chain development
and improve the position of smallholders. Clearly, also for regional market systems,
investment in physical infrastructure is a priority issue. Figure 4.6 shows the relative
extent to which the projects allocated priority and resources to infrastructure.
Figure 4.6: Focus on infrastructural development
NGOMA
FoSHoL
C:AVA
ZIM banana
RUDI
TAHA
Coffee TZ
FT
LOW
HIGH
Senegal
Cotton ZIM
Fig 4.6 depicts the relative extent of projects’ investments in infrastructure.
Producer and consumer prices
Due to the complexity of value chains, it is often difficult to assess whether the individual
actors and their behaviour directly contributed to increases in producer prices.
The question we seek to answer is whether the project’s potential impact on prices was
specifically connected to production for local markets. Market prices are volatile—with
or without the project’s actions—due to macroeconomic factors, proximity to markets,
or climate factors (to name just a few variables). However, sometimes a direct link can
be established between higher produce prices and farmers participating in production
for specific traders and wholesalers. Initially we hoped to gain insight into the impact
of the projects on both producer and consumer prices; however, due to lack of quantitative
data we cannot draw firm conclusions, least of all on consumer price development
(as this was often furthest from the level of intervention of the organisations discussed
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