Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries of the world with more than one third of the population undernourished. More than 80% of the labor force and 40% of the economy is related to agriculture. As a land-locked country with large mountainous areas, poor infrastructure and exposure to high weather variability it experienced several droughts and severe famines. [more information]

ZEF’s research focuses on the impact of volatile prices on smallholder farmers: How does price risk and price volatility affect planting decisions, risk management strategies and the price expectation process of farmers? Do farmers respond to high (global or domestic) prices? Evaluation of existing data from the Ethiopian Rural Household Survey as well as own surveys in several villages will help to answer these questions.

Publications

• Wossen, T., T. Berger, M. G. Haile & C. Troost (2017). Impacts of climate variability and food price volatility on household income and food security of farm households in East and West Africa. Agricultural Systems, in press.

• Haile, M., M. Kalkuhl, B. Algieri & S. Gebreselassié (2016). Analysis of Price Shock Transmission: Case of the Wheat-Bread Market Value Chain in Ethiopia. FOODSECURE Working paper No. 50. The Hague, Netherlands.

• Haile, M. G., M. Kalkuhl & M. A. Usman (2015). Market information and smallholder farmer price expectations. African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 10(4), 297–311.

• Matz, J. A., M. Kalkuhl & G. A. Abegaz (2015). The short-term impact of price shocks on food security-Evidence from urban and rural Ethiopia. Food Security, 7(3), 657–679. doi.org/10.1007/s12571-015-0467-4