Optimal grain pricing and storage policy in controlled agricultural economies: application to Zimbabwe

Abstract

Increased emphasis on food security in developing countries has heightened attention to domestic pricing and grain stock policies. Analysts frequently have concluded that consumer and producer prices in controlled agricultural markets tend to be too low, although Jabara has argued this is not the case for producer prices in Kenya (Adoyade; Pollard and Graham). Governments of middle-income countries also have been blamed for holding excessively high food and cash crop stocks