Impact of Rural Roads Conditions on Transport Price of Agricultural Products
The Morogoro region in Tanzania is endowed with diverse sources of water, fertile land and good climate suitable for crop cultivation. Only 29% of the arable area, however, is productively used for agricultural purposes. Inadequate and poor rural transport is partly to blame for the underutilisation of the agricultural potential. While the relationship between road condition and transport costs is well documented, less is known about the relationship between transport prices, transport costs and the road condition. This paper illustrates the impact of the road condition and trip distance on the transport price and cost of agricultural products. Statistical relationships between transport price, trip distances and transport cost were established. The relationship can be used to assess the wider agricultural benefits following road investment. Transport costs were determined using conventional economic evaluation models. Transport price per ton-km decreases as the trip distance increase reflecting factors such as economies of distance. Transport price decreases with transport cost as well. However, the very high transport price over short distances can be attributed to the poor condition of rural roads, use of inappropriate modes of transport and low vehicle utilisation. Longer distance trips are expected following rural road improvement resulting in higher vehicle utilisation. Competition within the transport market is also expected to increase. These benefits impact on the transport price and will ultimately increase the productivity of the agricultural sector. These wider agricultural benefits are not captured by conventional economic evaluation tools that focus on the benefits for specific road section.
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Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AT030 Standing Committee on Agricultural Transportation. Alternate title: Impact of Rural Road Conditions on Transport Price of Agricultural Products.
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Fungo, Emmanuel
- Krygsman, Stephan
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
- Date: 2017
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 12p
- Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Agricultural products; Freight traffic; Freight transportation; Prices; Rural highways
- Uncontrolled Terms: Road condition
- Geographic Terms: Morogoro (Tanzania)
- Subject Areas: Economics; Freight Transportation; Highways; Planning and Forecasting;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01623338
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 17-03232
- Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Jan 24 2017 3:31PM