MIFIRA FrameworkLecture 8

Market mapping

Chris Barrett and Erin LentzFebruary 2012

Marketshed Mapping• A plotted map (e.g., a simple road map)

can identify surplus areas, infrastructural constraints, and weak market functioning.

• Identify:– Seasonal effects– Major marketing hubs; import / export centers– Estimates of wholesalers and retailers

•Incorporate as information becomes available:

– Trade routes– Storage depots– Infrastructural damage or weakness

2

Why does seasonality matter?:FEWs Seasonal Calendar for

Maize in Tanzania

3Source: FEWS-NET 2008.

Seasonality of prices:FEWS Average Maize Prices in

Maputo, Mozambique

4

Source: FEWS-NET 2008.

Guiding topics for a seasonal calendar

5

• Major weather patterns• Production cycles of the major

consumption crops, and the major cash crop or livestock growth cycle, if relevant

• Lean periods / hungry seasons • Major regular shocks • Seasonal market activity• Procurement or distribution activity• Regular ceremonies or holidays• Others as appropriate

FEWS Seasonal Calendar for Maize in Mozambique

6Source: FEWS-NET 2008.

Generate a market map

7

• Identify appropriate map (could be hand-drawn)

• Assess whether seasonality affects markets, consumer access, trader access, local prices and availability

• Discuss with key informants about market hubs, ancillary markets, local storage facilities, trade routes, any infrastructural damage, etc.

• For prospective LRP markets, consider trade routes, supply estimates, etc.

Map of maize production and trade flows

8Source: Awuor (2007), Review of Trade and Markets Relevant to Food Security in the Greater Horn of Africa

Market Maps in Real Time

9

• Market Maps can be simple• Layer onto existing maps• Focus on issues of local importance

Seasonal flow reversal

10

• Prices in rural areas may be more variable than prices in urban areas– Traders from urban areas purchase

harvests and evacuate them to urban areas for storage

– During lean seasons, traders then move these products back to the outlying production areas, incurring transactions costs in both directions