Spatial Retail Price Integration of Maize Markets in Ogun State

Master's Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: A, , course: Agric Economics, language: English, abstract: This study examined the dynamism of price movement between markets and its implication on pricing efficiency in maize markets. Primary data were collected using interview guides. A total of 240 respondents were selected using stratified random sampling technique in 6 rural and 6 urban markets in Ogun State. Weekly retail prices of yellow and white maize for five years (January 1999-December 2003) were analysed using the Bivariate Cointegration test and the Granger causality test to detect the presence and level of price integration.

In Ogun State, domestic production of maize increased by 9 percent a year between 1990 ¿ 2001. Although the growth in maize production may be attributed to cultivating more crop area and/or the adoption of improved open pollinated and hybrid maize varieties which provide the major stimulus for increased yield on the average. Annual growth rate of maize yields was 9.08 percent during 1990 - 2001. Most of the growth came from yellow maize, which increased at 8.92 percent annually, compared with 3.57 percent for white maize. In comparison with other states in South-West however, the Ogun state average yield of 1.41 metric tons per hectare is the lowest.

i. How integrated are the maize markets in the study area?

ii. Are there evidences of lead-lag relationship among spatial maize markets in Ogun State?

iii. Are there evidences of communication of information to integrate spatial markets?

iv. How long does it take information to become common knowledge across spatially dispersed markets (temporal effect)?

v. Are the market systems competitive or not?