Suchergebnisse

This paper contrasts the operation of seed cotton and wheat
marketing systems in Sindh. Analysis of marketing margins indicates that
the private sector cotton marketing chain appears to be working
efficiently, given the many adverse aspects of its socioeconomic
environment. There is evidence that higher domestic prices resulting
from alignment with world markets have been transmitted through the
marketing chain to producers, and that production has increased. In
contrast to cotton, the government continues to be heavily involved in
wheat procurement and storage, with private traders usually acting as
intermediaries between the Food Department and the grower. Despite
expensive involvement of the same private traders as in cotton, the
wheat market is characterised by bureaucratic failure and rent-seeking
behaviour, leading to stagnation of incentives and production. For
cotton, the primary recommendations are to sustain liberalisation of the
market and to support the developing beneficial model of private
competition through improvements in communications and transport
infrastructure. The practical means to improve the grading of cotton
lint and seed cotton should also be developed and promoted to provide
incentives for higher quality output. For wheat, the main
recommendations are to liberalise farmgate prices, reduce the state's
role in procurement, and privatise government godowns. Research is
needed on how this might best be achieved, with attention to the
conditions necessary for private financing of storage activities, and to
ways of minimising price and supply fluctuations. The impact of higher
flour prices on poor consumers also needs to be addressed