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This paper calls for integrating price-setting power and related uneven exposure to price risks into the analysis of governance in global value chains (GVCs) as it adds to other power dimensions in producing unequal distributional outcomes. This is shown for the cocoa GVC, in which—unlike in today’s mostly liberalised market structures—the world’s top cocoa-producing countries, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, pursue price stabilisation measures. These measures address intra-seasonal producer price volatility, and recent collaboration has achieved a living-income differential on top of export prices, but such measures do not shield export and producer prices from inter-seasonal variations in world prices determined on commodity derivatives markets. Based on interviews with actors along the cocoa GVC, we argue that this is related to the price-setting power of ‘grinder-traders’ and the key role of financial hedging and trading on commodity derivatives markets in their business strategies. Financialisation processes have increased derivatives trading’s complexity and short-termism, accelerating consolidation among grinder-traders and making price stabilisation more challenging. Through their price stabilisation systems, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana have maintained some price-setting power in the cocoa GVC, but largely remain ‘global price-takers’, with prices determined on derivatives markets and transmitted along the cocoa GVC through grinder-traders.

Commercial transactions in the cocoa market are at prices based on the futures marker plus an origin differential. In July 2019, the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana announced a Living Income Differential (LID) of $400/ton to be paid as an additional component of the price. Analysis of realized prices for cocoa beans imported into the EU shows that, on average, the two producers obtained higher prices in the 2 years following the announcement, and that these increases exceeded both the increase in cocoa futures prices and the increase attributable to the tight physical market. The increases were shared by other origins and were passed through to higher producer prices. Origin differentials, which are determined in the broker market, subsequently declined to offset the LID. Although Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are jointly responsible for 75% of world exports, they lack the means to limit production and are therefore unable to affect commercial transactions prices for more than a short period.

This study aims to examine the impact of (i) climate change and international market price volatility on cotton production in Cameroon, (ii) climate change and international market price volatility on the prices of cotton farmers, (iii) the purchase price of cotton farmers on cotton production, (iv) cotton production on the purchase price of cotton farmers. The statistics used mainly come from the SODECOTON database, the World Bank Group Climate Change Knowledge Portal and Trading Economics. Econometric estimates made using a VAR model reveal that (i) the purchase price of seed cotton tends to significantly boost production, (ii) production does not significantly influence the purchase price of seed cotton, and (iii) the increase in the world price of cotton and significant variations in temperature are conducive to a revaluation of the purchase price of seed cotton. To improve cotton production, it would be advisable, in particular, to (i) make the purchase price of seed cotton more attractive to cotton growers and (ii) adopt effective adaptation or mitigation techniques against variations in rainfall.

Why have food crises been more frequent in recent years, compared to the last few decades? This book examines an array of different distortions that are causing food supply chain dysfunction in many countries, particularly for staple non-perishable foods such as grains and pulses. It outlines the underlying changes that are currently occurring, which will have an influence on the direction of future food supply chains, and provides some solutions to the current food security problem. Based on an analysis from total regulation in the 1950s-60s through to deregulation during the 1980-90s, as well as post-deregulation, it focuses on liberal trade and deregulation as a more successful solution to stabilising food supply chains and distribution of storable food commodities. The author highlights a common thread of either farmers using government for vested-interest intervention, or autocratic governments seeking market and supply-chain power. The book examines the role of government as expounded or perceived by government themselves after 50 years of food supply chain intervention. It discusses the role of 'trade' markets and cluster industries and how these can quickly disintegrate when price distortions occur. The author studies both food importing and exporting countries and concludes that commingled commoditization of food has lead to increasing hoarding, corruption, and dependence on food aid. He argues that a competitive food supply chain that has minimum intervention is more likely to provide future food security. In conclusion the book emphasises that adequate rewards and competition in the supply chain are the essences of sustainable food security.

The vast majority of the world's poorest households depend on farming for their livelihoods. During the 1960s and 1970s, most developing countries imposed pro-urban and anti-agricultural policies, while many high-income countries restricted agricultural imports and subsidized their farmers. Both sets of policies inhibited economic growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries. Although progress has been made over the past two decades to reduce those policy biases, many trade- and welfare-reducing price distortions remain between agriculture and other sectors and within the agricultural sector of both rich and poor countries. Comprehensive empirical studies of the disarray in world agricultural markets appeared approximately 20 years ago. Since then, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has provided estimates each year of market distortions in high-income countries, but there have been no comparable estimates for the world's developing countries. This volume is the third in a series (other volumes cover Asia, Europe's transition economies, and Latin America and the Caribbean) that not only fills that void for recent years but extends the estimates in a consistent and comparable way back in time—and provides analytical narratives for scores of countries that shed light on the evolving nature and extent of policy interventions over the past half-century. 'Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Africa' provides an overview of the evolution of distortions to agricultural incentives caused by price and trade policies in the Arab Republic of Egypt plus 20 countries that account for about of 90 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa's population, farm households, agricultural output, and overall GDP. Sectoral, trade, and exchange rate policies in the region have changed greatly since the 1950s, and there have been substantial reforms since the 1980s. Nonetheless, numerous price distortions in this region remain, others have been added in recent years, and there has also been some backsliding, such as in Zimbabwe. The new empirical indicators in these country studies provide a strong evidence-based foundation for assessing the successes and failures of the past and for evaluating policy options for the years ahead.

The relationship between food and development has always been controversial. Over the last thirty years, development in the north and south has failed to deliver people a decent diet. While some people have too little food and die as a consequence, some people have too much food and die from associated diseases. Furthermore, some methods of food production create social dislocation and deadly environments where biodiversity is eroded and pollution is rampant.  While guaranteeing enough food for the world's inhabitants continues to be a serious challenge, new issues about food have emerged. Food and Development is a lively and lucidly written text which provides a clear and accessible introduction to these complex and diverse food related problems.  It explores the continued prevalence of mass under nutrition in the developing world; acute food crises in some places associated with conflict; the emergence of over nutrition in the developing world and the vulnerability of the contemporary global food production system. The text identifies the major problems and analyzes factors at international, national and local scales to understand their continued prevalence. The book concludes by evaluating the potential of some oppositional forces to challenge the hegemony of the contemporary food system. This timely and original text will be invaluable to undergraduates interested in the challenges surrounding food and development. The text is richly filled with case studies from the Global North and South to illustrate the nature and extent of these urgent issues and their interrelated nature. Each chapter contains a range of features to assist undergraduate learning, including: learning objective, key concepts, summaries, discussion questions, further reading and websites, and follow up activities.

Contents; Foreword; About the Editor and Authors; Abbreviations; Introduction and Overview; Chapter 1 Consensus, Institutions, and Supply Response: The Political Economy of Agricultural Reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa; Tables; 1.1 Production before and after the Reforms; 1.2 Changes in the Producers' Share of Export Price Following Reforms; Figures; 1.1 Cotton Production and Producer Prices in Zambia; 1.2 Tobacco Production and Producer Prices in Tanzania; 1.3 Tea Production and Producer Prices in Kenya; 1.4 Tea Production and Producer Prices in Tanzania

Black, John D.: Introductory remarks. S. 333-334