AGRICULTURAL PRICING POLICY IN NICARAGUA UNDER THE SANDINISTAS (1979-1990)

State intervention in agricultural markets, focusing on price policies, is analyzed for the case of Nicaragua under Sandinista rule (1979-1990). It is argued in the article that price policy had a negative impact on the peasant producers, while commercial farmers with higher capital intensity were favoured. The dual price system, when state distribution networks were under great strain, squeezed low income urban consumers, who became increasingly dependent on parallel markets. Contrary to the ''anti-market'' view of the leadership, private commercial accumulation was actually stimulated. Finally, export crops wee heavily taxed as part and parcel of a state-centred accumulation model. The unintended effects of market intervention are emphasized in order to show the problematic relationship between policies and outcomes, which would also apply to the blueprint ''laissez-faire'' option that has been followed by the UNO-government in the post-1990 period, causing a detrimental impact in the agricultural