Measuring Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Mozambique

Abstract

First paragraph of Chapter: In recent decades, Mozambique has undergone enormous political and economic transformations. Once a colony of Portugal, the country moved to a phase of socialism after gaining independence in 1975, and then from 1986 the government initiated a program of economic reform aimed at establishing a market economy. Mozambique suffered from more than a decade of armed conflict, however, which together with other socioeconomic changes caused production to continue declining during much of the period to the end of civil war in 1992. Since then, a combination of peace, political stability, economic reform, and large aid flows has helped the country move from being the poorest nation in the world to achieving the highest growth rates in the region. Poverty rates have been significantly reduced and agricultural incomes have increased.