1.1.8 Accessibility to markets

This map shows an estimate of the time required to travel to the nearest market, assuming a constant speed for each type of surface, such as primary and secondary roads, rivers, and off-road travel. This accessibility model takes into account the best available means of transport, road type and quality, land cover for off-road travel, railways, river networks and navigability, and slope. The model is somewhat hypothetical, as it assumes a travel speed of the best available means of transport. But not everyone, particularly the poor, will have access to the best available means of transport.

The markets used to calculate accessibility, taken from data from the 1999 national market census, are shown on the map as purple circles whose sizes are proportional to the area of the market, as enumerated in the 1999 census.

This accessibility map clearly distinguishes areas with difficult access to markets from those with better accessibility. A comparison of this accessibility map with the map of poverty incidence (Map 1.1.7) shows interesting patterns: almost all areas with low market access also have high poverty rates.

The same pattern is shown by the three maps of poverty incidence (Map 1.1.7) population distribution (Map 1.1.6) and market access (this map): people are poor in sparsely populated areas with poor access to markets and people are better off in more densely populated areas with better access to markets.