Tracking Grain Flows in Tanzania : Six Questions for Jessica Rudder
By April You
Jessica Rudder is a 2nd year Agricultural & Resource Economics PhD student at UC Davis . This past summer , with support from Development Impact Lab ’ s DIL Explore Grant and under the guidance of Professor Brian Dillon at the University of Washington , she traveled to Tanzania to conduct initial research on developing a tracking device for grain storage bags . This will allow farmers to measure and analyze grain movements between markets . The Tanzanian economy is heavily based on agriculture , and grains , such as maize , are some of the country ’ s largest food crops .
We recently chatted with Jessica about her experience in Tanzania and its implications for the field of economics .
PhD Student Jessica Rudder sewing shut a 100kg bag of maize at Kibaigwa Market , the largest maize market in Tanzania . The bag is ready to be shipped to a government storage facility . ( Photo Credit : Jessica Rudder )
1 . What is the Remote Tracking of Grains project and what compelled you to work on it ? One of our goals with the Remote Tracking of Grains project was that we wanted to try out a more technical approach to monitoring economic data . To achieve that , we are exploring how we can attach GPS devices to maize grain bags in order to get a spatial mapping of how a bag flows throughout Tanzania . There is also a qualitative side to the research as well because we wanted a fuller picture of how the maize was traded . This laid the foundation for our research and as a result , we began speaking with many actors along the maize supply chain , such as farmers , small scale traders , wholesalers , government agencies , and transporters .
2 . In your DIL Explore grant proposal you mentioned that the main questions you ’ re asking are : How quickly does grain flow between markets in response to arbitrage opportunities ? Which rural areas are the major net food suppliers to urban areas ? And , how far does the average kilogram of grain travel ? Why is it important these questions are answered ? There is an observed phenomenon where farmers sell maize grains during the harvest period ( around June / July ). During this period , the supply is most abundant and as a result , prices are at its lowest point in the year . A farmer could harvest and sell their maize grains immediately at that price , or they can store it for one to six months to see how the maize grain price changes since maize prices historically rise between 20 % and 60 % every year . By January of the following year , the price will have increased . Within that six month window , from June to January , farmers can decide when they want to sell , or if they want to store the grain for even longer . Prices are highest after that six month period , but it is also when farmers are in between seasons ( or the lean season ). During this lean season , there is not much grain movement in the market .
So , there is a theory that maize goes back into the community . During June and July , when there is a lot of maize , and people need to get rid of the excess , the farmers become net sellers ( since they sell more of something than they buy ) of the maize grains , as they sell it to the market . The prices that they sell at is low . But then , six months later , after the market has shrunk , they are net importers ( when farmers buy more from other farmers than they sell ) again . ( The prices they buy at is high .) You see this dynamic of sell-low and buy-high , which is considered a potential market failure ( because the allocation of goods and services are not efficient ) as farmers are given the worst prices in both cases . So it ’ s important to have these questions answered and pin down what those dynamics look like because in part , these dynamics are based on theory . There is some existing data , but we want to further expand upon that to determine whether households are net importers or net exporters of their grain . And through GPS tracking , we want to see objectively if we are able to track maize itself . Does it follow the flow that we anticipate ?
3 . The Principal Investigator ( PI ) for this project is a professor from the University of Washington . Through your experience with this project , how has the crosscampus collaboration enhanced your PhD research ? Was no one working on this topic at UC Davis ? UC Davis is a place where there is a conglomeration of thinking around agriculture in general . While there is no UC Davis faculty on this project in this moment , as I move through my PhD program , I think more people will come onto this field .
Before I started my PhD at UC Davis , I was a graduate student in a Master ’ s in public policy ( MPP ) program at the University of Washington . Professor Brian Dillon and I collaborated on another research project of his in Tanzania over the previous two summers . This preexisting collaboration and our network of Tanzanian researchers
PAGE 10