IFS/STICERD/UCL Development Work in Progress Seminar
Enabling Sustainable Access to High Value Markets: An Experiment with Maize Cooperatives in Rwanda
Alan Spearot (University of California, Santa Cruz), joint with Shilpa Aggarwal (Indian School of Business), Susan Godlonton (Williams College), Ammar Kawash (World Food Program), Jonathan Robinson (University of California, Santa Cruz), Guanghong Xu (University of California, Santa Cruz)
Thursday 08 May 2025 14:00 - 15:00
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About this event
Poor access to output markets impedes agricultural profitability in developing countries. By reducing the monetary returns to modern inputs and practices, it may also inhibit investments in productivity and quality, perpetuating a bad equilibrium. Over 2022-2024, we partnered with the World Food Program to experimentally connect 175 maize-growing cooperatives in Rwanda with food processors. About half of the treatment group participated in the program, and the program dramatically increased sales into the formal output value chain without crowding out ``local' sales. These effects were driven largely by increased harvests due to a substantial increase in land under production and input usage, starting in the second season of the program. Total revenues increased significantly in both post-treatment seasons.
This seminar series is jointly organized by the IFS, STICERD, and UCL.
IFS/STICERD/UCL Development Economics Work In Progress seminars are held on Thursdays in term time at 14:00-15:00, at the IFS, unless specified otherwise.
Seminar organisers: Oriana Bandiera (STICERD, LSE), Imran Rasul (UCL), Britta Augsburg (IFS) and Jonathan Weigel (LSE).
For further information please contact Britta Augsburg: britta_a@ifs.org.uk.
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