Dorosh, PaulWang, Hyoung-GunYou, LiangSchmidt, Emily2012-03-192012-03-192010-07-01https://hdl.handle.net/10986/3869This study examines the relationship between transport infrastructure and agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa using new data obtained from geographic information systems (GIS). First, the authors analyze the impact of road connectivity on crop production and choice of technology. Second, they explore the impact of investments that reduce road travel times. Finally, they show how this type of analysis can be used to compare cost-benefit ratios for alternative road investments in terms of agricultural output per dollar invested. The authors find that agricultural production is highly correlated with proximity (as measured by travel time) to urban markets. Likewise, adoption of high-productive/high-input technology is negatively correlated with travel time to urban centers. There is therefore substantial scope for increasing agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in more remote areas. Total crop production relative to potential production is 45 percent for areas within four hours travel time from a city of 100,000 people. In contrast, it is just 5 percent for areas more than eight hours away. Low population densities and long travel times to urban centers sharply constrain production. Reducing transport costs and travel times to these areas would expand the feasible market size for these regions. Compared to West Africa, East Africa has lower population density, smaller local markets, lower road connectivity, and lower average crop production per unit area. Unlike in East Africa, reducing travel time does not significantly increase the adoption of high-input/high-yield technology in West Africa. This may be because West Africa already has a relatively well-connected road network.CC BY 3.0 IGOACCESS TO MARKETSACCESS TO TECHNOLOGYACCESSIBILITYAGGLOMERATION ECONOMIESAGGREGATE SUPPLYAGRICULTURAL ECONOMICSAGRICULTURAL INPUTSAGRICULTURAL LANDAGRICULTURAL LAND-USEAGRICULTURAL OUTPUTAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIONAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITYAGRICULTURAL PRODUCTSAGRICULTURAL RESEARCHAGRICULTURAL SECTORAGRICULTURAL SYSTEMSAGRICULTUREARABLE LANDATTAINABLE YIELDSAVERAGE TRAVEL TIMEBARLEYBEANSBIOMASSCALORIC CONSUMPTIONCALORIES PER DAYCAPITA INCOMESCASH CROPSCASSAVACEREAL CROPSCEREALSCLIMATECOCOACOFFEECOFFEE PRODUCTIONCONNECTED ROAD NETWORKCONSUMER PRICESCOTTONCOTTON GROUNDNUTSCROPCROP AREACROP CATEGORIESCROP DEMANDCROP DISTRIBUTIONCROP LANDCROP OUTPUTCROP PRICESCROP PRODUCERSCROP PRODUCTIONCROP SUITABILITYCROP SUPPLYCROPPINGCROPPING SYSTEMSCROPSCROSSINGCULTIVATIONDEMAND CURVEDEMAND FOR FOODDOMESTIC FOODDOMESTIC FOOD PRODUCTIONDRY BEANSECOLOGICAL ZONESECONOMETRIC ANALYSISECONOMIC GEOGRAPHYECONOMIES OF SCALEELASTICITIESELASTICITIES OF DEMANDELASTICITYELASTICITY OF DEMANDELASTICITY OF SUPPLYELASTICITY OF TRAVELEQUATIONSEXOGENOUS VARIABLESEXPORT CROPSEXTERNALITIESFAOFARMFARM INCOMESFARMERSFARMINGFARMING SYSTEMFARMSFEEDER ROADSFERTILIZERFIBERSFODDERFOOD CONSUMPTIONFOOD CROPFOOD CROPSFOOD DEMANDFOOD IMPORTSFOOD POLICYFOOD PRODUCTIONFOOD SUPPLYGDPGLOBAL FOODGROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCTGROUNDNUTSHOUSEHOLD INCOMESHOUSINGIFPRIIMPACT OF TRANSPORTIMPACTS ON CROP PRODUCTIONINCOME GENERATIONINFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTSINTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTEINVESTMENT IN ROADSIRRIGATIONLABOR DEMANDLAND RESOURCESLAND SIZELAND USEMAIZEMAIZE PRODUCTIONMARGINAL BENEFITSMARGINAL COSTMARGINAL PRODUCTIVITYMILLETOIL CROPSOPTIMIZATIONPER CAPITA INCOMESPESTICIDEPOPULATION DENSITIESPOPULATION DENSITYPOSITIVE EXTERNALITIESPOTENTIAL YIELDSPRICE DISTORTIONSPRICE ELASTICITIESPRICE ELASTICITYPRICE ELASTICITY OF DEMANDPRICE ELASTICITY OF SUPPLYPRICE INCREASESPRODUCEPRODUCER INCENTIVESPRODUCTION FUNCTIONPRODUCTION GAINSPRODUCTION INCREASESPRODUCTION SYSTEMPRODUCTION SYSTEMSPRODUCTION TECHNOLOGYPULSESREDUCTION IN TRAVELREGIONAL PATTERNSREGIONAL PRODUCTIONREGRESSION ANALYSISREMOTE AREASREMOTE REGIONREMOTE REGIONSRICEROADROAD COSTSROAD IMPROVEMENTROAD INFORMATIONROAD INFRASTRUCTUREROAD QUALITYROAD TYPEROOT CROPSRURAL AREASRURAL ECONOMYRURAL HOUSEHOLDRURAL HOUSEHOLD INCOMERURAL INCOMERURAL INCOME GENERATIONRURAL MIGRATIONRURAL REMOTENESSRURAL ROADRURAL ROADSSORGHUMSOYBEANSPATIAL ALLOCATIONSPATIAL ANALYSISSPATIAL APPROACHSPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONSPATIAL VARIATIONSSTATISTICAL DATASUBSISTENCESUBSISTENCE CROPSUGARSUGAR BEETSSUGARCANESUPPLY CURVESWEET POTATOSYSTEMS ANALYSISTRANSPORTTRANSPORT COSTSTRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURETRANSPORT INVESTMENTSTRANSPORTATIONTRAVEL SPEEDTRAVEL SPEEDSTRAVEL TIMETRAVEL TIMESTYPES OF ROADSUNEPUNITED NATIONS ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMMEVEGETABLESWAGESWHEATYIELDSWorld Bank10.1596/1813-9450-5385