This study tests the long-run and short-run integration of maize markets in Malawi using the co-integration approach within the Vector Autoregressive modeling framework. The analysis is extended to Wald-F Granger Causality tests to see the direction of causality between maize markets. A total of six maize markets, two from each region, were analyzed. Three are urban markets, while two of the three rural markets are border markets. The study uses monthly maize retail prices for the period January 2000 to May 2008. Study findings show that nine out of the fifteen market pairs are integrated in the long-run, but the degree of short-run market integration is low, implying that the transmission of price information is slow. Transaction costs seem to have a significant impact on the integration of market pairs involving border markets. Furthermore, there is no market that qualifies to be a central maize market in this study. The study concludes with a discussion of policy action to improve maize market integration and food security in Malawi.
By Lovemore Nyongo, 2014
