Price (FCFA/kg)
100 -- .


90


80


70


60 -


50
 1986 1987

Source: Ouedraogo and Ndoye (1988).

Figure 12. Seasonal movements in official maize producer prices and open
market maize producer prices, Senegal, 1985-87.


Europe or the Americas, partly
because of the type and quality of
grain available in global markets:
most of the maize traded interna-
tionally is yellow, but much of the
maize produced and consumed in
Africa is white. Worldwide, over 65
million tons of yellow maize are
traded annually, compared to less
than 3 million tons of white maize,
which frequently is unavailable in
global markets. Furthermore, most
of the maize traded internationally
is used for livestock feed, so it is not
handled to preserve the high
milling quality required in maize
destined for human consumption.
These factors induce most African
countries to import maize from
local sources or to import wheat or
rice.

For individual regions in Africa, the
significance of international trade
in maize depends on the local
importance of the crop. Trade is
much more significant in eastern
and southern Africa than in west-


ern and central Africa, where the
trade in cereal grains involves
mainly rice and wheat.7

Eastern and Southern Africa-
At the start of this century, trade in
agricultural commodities was
extremely limited in eastern and
southern Africa. However, the
commercial farming sector's need
for guaranteed market outlets
eventually led to the development
of export markets. Although non-
food crops such as cotton, oilseeds,
and tobacco received the most at-
tention, efforts were also made to
promote the marketing of food
grains. The government of South-
ern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe)
began encouraging maize exports
soon after the turn of the century;
by 1914, nearly two-thirds of the
maize crop was exported, mostly to
Europe for use as livestock feed
(Muir-Leresche 1985). The main
period of international maize
exports from eastern and southern
Africa ended in the 1930s, when


world maize prices fell sharply. The
decline in international export op-
portunities coincided with colonial
authorities' attempts to insulate the
region from the uncertainties of
global markets.

Eastern and southern African
countries continue to sell relatively
little maize in world markets, since
low global prices, combined with
high transport costs, have made
exporting unattractive. Trade in
maize is seen as a means of dispos-
ing of occasional surpluses, rather
than as a strategy for ensuring
reliable national supplies of the
main staple food. However, despite
the lack of participation in world
markets, some trade continues
within the region.

Western and Central Africa-
Maize trade is limited in western
and central Africa because domestic
production in most countries does
not fall far short of human needs.
However, trade in other cereals is
substantial, particularly imports of
wheat and rice, whose consumption
has long been encouraged by a
combination of price policy
distortions (e.g., overvalued
exchange rates, retail price con-
trols, food subsidies) and structural
phenomena (e.g., urbanization,
changing employment patterns)
(Delgado and Miller 1985). Seeking
to increase food self-sufficiency, a
number of countries in western and
central Africa recently introduced
policy reforms designed to promote
production of local cereal crops
while discouraging imports. In
Nigeria between 1978 and 1982,
import duties on cereals were
raised 50-100c, and quantitative



7 In interpreting official trade statistics, it
 is important to note that maize trade
 between neighboring countries is often
 not recorded, particularly in western and
 central Africa. Thus. official maize trade
 data probably understate actual trade
 flows.