Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Food Security Policy

Can maize price stabilization reduce malnutrition and save lives? The case of the Zambia Food Reserve Agency

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December 22, 2019 - Author: Daye Kwon, Robert J. Myers, and Nicole M. Mason

Daye Kwon, Robert J. Myers, and Nicole M. Mason, 2019. Can maize price stabilization reduce malnutrition and save lives? The case of the Zambia Food Reserve Agency, FSP Research Brief 107, East Lansing: Michigan State University.

Key Findings

• Economic research has found that FRA policies in Zambia have stabilized maize prices around higher average levels, benefiting large surplus maize producers, imposing costs on poor maize deficit households, and imposing substantial costs on the Zambian treasury.
• However, maize price fluctuations may have additional effects besides those taken into account in the traditional price stabilization welfare analysis framework—effects on malnutrition and on the survival probability of the poor. We currently know very little about these malnutrition and survival probability effects.
• We highlight the need to include these malnutrition and survival probability effects into the policy analysis framework and suggest some way to begin this task.

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Tags: agrifood system transformation, c1-c2, food security group, fsg policy brief, fsp policy brief, innovation lab for food security policy, input use and market development, nutrition, zambia

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Authors

Robert Myers
myersr@msu.edu

Nicole Mason-Wardell
masonn@msu.edu

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