Agriculture technology diffusion and price policy

This collection of papers are the proceedings from the EDRI/IFPRI 2020 network policy forum on “Agriculture Technology and Price Policy in Ethiopia”.Objectives of the policy forum were to achieve:a better understanding of the theoretical foundation of the relationship between prices and the dissemination of agricultural technology at different stagesawareness of the analytical tools to generate policy optionsappreciation of the alterative policy options at different stages in the diffusion of agricultural technologyidentification of the appropriate institutional framework and its dynamism with the tempo of technical progressan assessment of the relevance and policy implications for Ethiopia of experiences in countries or regions, which had undergone similar trajectoriesPapers presented:Technological change and price effects in agriculture: conceptual and comparative trends in agricultural production, technology dissemination, and price movements of outputs and inputsThe structure and functioning of the Post-PADETS grain marketing system in EthiopiaThe role of the Ethiopian grain trade enterprise in price policyMaize export possibility from Ethiopia to some potentially importing neighbouring countriesEmerging policy issues:how to sustain productivity increases, on the supply side, that are based on technology adoption that reduces per unit costs of productionon the demand side, five policy priorities are: (1) improving the performance of domestic markets for maize in order to reduce transaction costs of distribution; (2) developing exports to countries where comparative advantage lies; (3) linking maize production to agro-industrial demand; (4) displacing food aid in kind with local procurement of surplus maize; and (5) activating short-term intervention measures to stabilise prices at levels that encourage farmers to continue technology adoptionin order for policy to be effective, it needed to be informed by relevant research. This implies a closer relationship between policymaking and research than has existed to datepolicy must be forward-looking, anticipating policy issues early on rather than confronting “second generation” problems that occur as consequences of earlier policy. A striking example of this is the failure to anticipate or address the market-related consequences of maize technology adoption until the onset of the present maize price crisis