ABSTRACT
The performance of local input and output distribution systems and, therefore, their adjustment to changes in the operating environment have strong implications for growth in the agricultural sector and for the welfare of those rural households that directly or indirectly depend on farming for their food security and livelihood. At a given level of technological development, rural households and their members face a set of techniques, of which they choose to apply a subset, depending on the economic, social, cultural, and agroecological environment prevailing in their communities. Of critical importance for the demand for applied techniques is the ability of output marketing systems to absorb marketable quantities and to efficiently transmit price signals across local markets. The extent to which that demand is met, is in turn determined by the supply and availability of the inputs that embody these techniques, that is, by the efficiency (in terms of timeliness and costs) of local input and services delivery systems.
