Road infrastructure improvement for efficient utilisation of the agricultural potential : a case study of Morogoro, Tanzania

[摘要] ENGLISH SUMMARY : The Morogoro region in Tanzania is endowed with diverse sources of water, fertile land and a good climate, suitable for crop cultivation. Only 29 percent of the arable area, however, is used for agricultural purposes. Inadequate and poor rural transport is partly to blame for the underutilisation of the agricultural potential. Rural transport provides assurance for the supply of the agricultural inputs and facilitates for the delivery of the farm outputs to the markets. Improved rural road infrastructure and transport services stimulate the increase in agricultural production through lowering of the transport price of farm inputs and outputs. Little is known, however, about the extent of agricultural production improvement following the road improvement. The conventional road economic evaluation tools such as Highway Development and Management (HDM-4) and Roads Economic Decision (RED) do not address this issue. These tools concentrate on the direct road user cost savings. Due to the low volume of traffic on rural roads, these savings are not substantial. However, rural road improvement and improved accessibility may result in a substantial impact on price and production of agricultural products. This research illustrates the impact of the road condition and trip distance on the transport price and transport cost of agricultural products. The research also establishes the relationship between transport price and agricultural production. Using the data collected from transport operators and road agencies, statistical relationships between transport price, trip distance and transport cost were established. The results show that transport price per ton-km decreases as the trip distance increases, reflecting factors such as economies of distance. However, the very high transport price over short distances can be attributed to the poor condition of rural roads and low vehicle utilisation. Transport price decreases with transport cost, indicating a competitive transport market. Longer distance trips are expected following rural road improvement, resulting in higher vehicle utilisation. Competition within the transport market is also expected to increase. Furthermore, the Tanzania National Panel Survey (NPS) data of 2012/13 was used to establish the relationship between transport price, access to the market and crop yield. Reduction of the transport price shows a positive impact on crop yield with an elasticity of -0.291. It was also found that farmers who have access to the bigger markets are associated with higher crop yield. When comparing agricultural benefits and road user cost savings for the low volume rural road, the results show that agricultural benefits were roughly three times higher than the road user cost savings. Finally, the research developed a low volume rural road economic appraisal framework which takes into account agricultural benefits, the effect of the trip distance as well as the effect of transport price.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University