The spatial integration of livestock markets in Niger

This article stresses that livestock makes an important contribution to the livelihood of Sahelian farmers and herders and is a source of self-insurance against income shocks. The article subsequently goes on to say that by allocating livestock efficiently over space, spatial market integration should foster a sustainable use of pasture resources.

The article concludes that:

• spatial market integrations favors the sharing of risk across regions by smoothing idiosyncratic price variations
• using monthly livestock price data from Niger, the authors show that livestock markets are poorly integrated
• prices are seldom co-integrated, short-term integration is largely absent and there is evidence of market segmentation
• large price differentials occasionally persist between adjacent areas for long periods of time
• these results confirm descriptive studies that have emphasized regional segmentation in West African livestock trade