|
on Africa |
| By: | Smale, Melinda; Byerlee, Derek; Jayne, Thom |
| Abstract: | There have been numerous episodes of widespread adoption of improved seed and long-term achievements in the development of the maize seed industry in Sub-Saharan Africa. This summary takes a circumspect view of technical change in maize production. Adoption of improved seed has continued to rise gradually, now representing an estimated 44 percent of maize area in Eastern and Southern Africa (outside South Africa), and 60 percent of maize area in West and Central Africa. Use of fertilizer and restorative crop management practices remains relatively low and inefficient. An array of extension models has been tested and a combination of approaches will be needed to reach maize producers in heterogeneous agricultural environments. Yield growth overall has been 1 percent over the past half-century, although this figure masks the high variability in maize yields, as well as improvements in resistance to disease and abiotic pressures that would have caused yield decline in the absence of maize breeding progress. The authors argue that conducive policies are equally, if not more, important for maize productivity in the region than the development of new technology and techniques. Currently popular, voucher-based subsidies can"crowd out"the private sector and could be fiscally unsustainable. |
| Keywords: | Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Research,Food&Beverage Industry,Food Security,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5659&r=afr |
| By: | Hailu, Yohannes G.; Adelaja, Adesoji; Akaeze, Henry |
| Keywords: | Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:104179&r=afr |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Salau, Sheu |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance, Farm Management, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103608&r=afr |
| By: | Betz, Michael R. |
| Keywords: | Africa, agriculture, trees, tree planting, Uganda, land, land rights, sovereignty, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011–04–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103534&r=afr |
| By: | Kibonge, Aziza |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Productivity Analysis, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:104001&r=afr |
| By: | Mabiso, Athur; Weatherspoon, Dave |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103962&r=afr |
| By: | Mhlanga, Saneliso; Naseem, Anwar |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Marketing, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103795&r=afr |
| By: | Tondel, Fabien; Essam, Tim |
| Keywords: | Demand and Price Analysis, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103960&r=afr |
| By: | Theriault, Veronique |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the role of institutional environments on cotton farmer technical efficiency scores in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Mali using a stochastic frontier production approach. First, the key institutional changes that have occurred with the recent market-oriented reforms are discussed. Then, farm efficiency per country is measured using cross-sectional data collected by the Cotton Sector Reform Project of the Africa, Power, and Politics Programme in 2009. Results from a one-stage estimation procedure suggest that while no technical inefficiency exists in Benin, an average technical efficiency of 69% and 46% is found in Burkina Faso and Mali, respectively. Agricultural development policies focusing on reducing the inefficiency at the farm level in Mali and Burkina Faso should be adopted; whereas policies designed to shift outward the production frontier seem more appropriate in Benin. Interestingly, institutional environment factors explaining variations in efficiency scores differ across countries. In Mali, farms that are food secure and that cultivate more hectares of cereals are more technically efficient in producing cotton. In contrast, Burkinabe farmers who are dissatisfied with the management of their producer organizations are more technically efficient. To be successful, efforts to promote efficiency would have to work in concert with the local realities in each country. |
| Keywords: | Cotton, Technical Efficiency, Institutional Changes, Reforms, Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Production Economics, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103436&r=afr |
| By: | Muyanga, Milu; Jayne, T.S.; Burke, William J. |
| Abstract: | For the past half-century, African governments and development agencies have experimented with a series of alternative approaches for addressing rural poverty, each giving way to a new paradigm as the persistence of poverty created disillusionment with prevailing approaches. These broad strategies included âgrowth and trickle downâ in the 1960s; basic human needs and state-led integrated rural development in the 1970s; structural adjustment and economic liberalization in the 1980s and 1990s; and, since 2000, a heterodox mix of donor budget support to empower government ownership in the design of participatory poverty reduction strategies, and resurgent interest in agricultural development. However, rural poverty in most of Sub-Saharan Africa appears to be declining only marginally. Yet some smallholder farm households have successfully climbed out of poverty, thus providing an opportunity to learn about the economic pathways that might enable other rural smallholders to do so. Conversely, some households that were once non-poor have now descended into poverty. If researchers and policy makers knew more about the factors associated with these dynamics, it might be possible to replicate these factors more broadly through poverty reduction strategies. The recent availability of longitudinal survey data provides a new means to analyze the dynamics of household asset accumulation and decumulation. This paper identifies the factors associated with smallholder farm households having ascended out of poverty or descended into poverty. Using a nationwide balanced panel of 1,256 farm households in 22 districts in Kenya interviewed in 1997, 2000, 2004 and 2007, we find that a relatively small fraction of the sample experienced either an appreciable improvement or decline in their relative asset wealth over this 10-year period. Over 70 percent of the sampled farm households are in roughly the same wealth position as they were 10 years earlier, although more households experienced an increase in asset wealth than a decline, which is consistent with Government of Kenya findings of declining national poverty rates over the same general period. For the 25 percent of households that did experience an appreciable change in asset wealth between 1997 and 2007, we revisited 84 of these households in 2008 with more detailed retrospective âlife historyâ surveys to capture a wider range of factors influencing current household livelihoods. Households successfully accumulating assets and rising out of poverty (i) were more likely to have remained healthy and suffer no unexpected deaths during the decade prior to the start of the initial survey in 1997; (ii) were not adversely affected by mortality that did occur during the panel period; (iii) were consistently headed by a male; (iv) received relatively more land from their parents at the time the household was formed; and (v) parents who were relatively well-off and educated. Moreover, the ascenders were able to acquire more land, cultivate 70% more land, and increase their use of fertilizer over the 2000-07 period, consistent with the overall agricultural and economy-wide growth in Kenya that occurred during the 2004-2007 period. Among households reporting a significant decline in asset wealth, roughly half experienced unexpected shocks, such as premature death and chronic illness. These households reported spending 22% of their annual incomes and 47% of their assets on medicines and caregiving. Households with declining asset trajectories were also more likely to have turned from male to female headed due to male mortality, have two or more wives in the household, poorly educated household heads, fathers of household heads who were relatively uneducated, and relatively little land and other assets inherited from parents. Small inheritances among the âdescendersâ can be traced to a smaller amount of land per number of sons of the household headâs father. The descenders also tended to lose land and animal assets over the panel period (in some cases due to disease and need to pay for medical expenses) in sharp contrast to the ascenders. Perhaps surprisingly, the descenders were more likely to use fertilizer, had higher fertilizer application rates per acre cultivated, and were more likely to receive agricultural credit than the ascender households. Consistently better-off households were more likely to (i) have been male headed; (ii) have members with secondary and/or post-secondary educations; (iii) not be polygamous; (iv) received significantly more land and other assets at the time the household was formed. They were also less affected by mortality in the family. These consistently better-off households owned more land and applied more organic and inorganic fertilizer than either the ascenders or descenders. However, they were no more likely to receive agricultural credit or grow major cash crops than the descenders. These findings underscore the importance of staying healthy in householdsâ ability to produce agricultural surpluses, accumulate assets, and exit from poverty. Householdsâ agricultural performance and earnings over time is in many cases related to their lagged health status. The study also highlights the role of intergenerational wealth transfers. Poor households are able to transfer little to the next generation, which then makes it very difficult for them to climb out of poverty. Lastly, all three groups as well as the overall nationwide longitudinal sample of smallholder households reported a noteworthy increase in their usage of fertilizer over the 1997-2007 period of input market liberalization. The dramatic increase in fertilizer use during this period is correlated with an improvement in national maize yields and agricultural performance during the 2000-2007 period as well as a modest decline in rural poverty rates. |
| Keywords: | poverty, assets, shocks, intergenerational transfers, Kenya, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103377&r=afr |
| By: | Chiputwa, Brian; Kostandini, Genti; Escalante, Cesar |
| Keywords: | Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103745&r=afr |
| By: | Nakano, Yuko; Kajisa, Kei |
| Abstract: | Using an extensive household-level data set collected in Tanzania, this paper investigates the determinants of the technological adoption of rice cultivation and of paddy yield. We especially focus on the impact of credit and training on the adoption of modern technologies. Based on empirical results, we argue that modern inputs and improved practices of rice cultivation enhance the increase in paddy yield. We also argue that the impact of credit and training on the adoption of modern technologies can differ for different technologies. If the adoption of a specific technology does not require a large amount of cash, knowledge given by training is sufficient to enhance adoption. On the other hand, those who can access credit or self-finance can adopt technologies, which require cash on hand. |
| Keywords: | Technological Adoption, Green Revolution, Sub-Saharan Africa, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, O12, O13, Q16, Q18, |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103763&r=afr |
| By: | Jin, Songqing; Jayne, T.S. |
| Abstract: | This study uses panel data from 1,142 Kenya smallholder households over four survey periods to examine the determinants of participation in land rental markets and to quantify the impact of renting land on householdsâ crop income and total income. We find that land rental markets in Kenya enhance productivity and are equitable. The results are consistent across different estimation methods and model specifications. Dynamic panel models were used to assess the impact of rental participation on householdsâ crop income and total income. After controlling for the endogeneity of rental market participation and the persistent effects of lagged income, we find that the decision to rent land increased tenant householdsâ net crop (net total) income by 25.1 (6.6) percent. These percentage gains are inversely related to household landholding size. Hence, land rental markets in Kenya appear to play an important role in raising incomes and reducing poverty for land-constrained smallholder farmers. |
| Keywords: | Land rental market, Kenya, Income, Poverty, Dynamic model, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, Land Economics/Use, O12, Q13, Q12, Q15, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103907&r=afr |
| By: | Dalton, Timothy J.; Yesuf, Mahmud; Muhammad, Lutta |
| Abstract: | Recent projections on the impact of climate change argue that eastern and southern Africa will be two regions around the globe that will experience dramatic reductions in maize yields by midâcentury. Absent from these projections is any consideration for farmer adaptation of cropping practices or land reallocation. This research quantifies risk, loss and ambiguity aversion for a sample of smallholder Kenyan farmers using framed field experiments. This behavioral information, directly elicited, is used to condition the selection of maize varieties differentiated by drought tolerance, pest resistance, maturity, and seed price. Overall, the willingness to pay for drought tolerance and other attributes is highly heterogeneous as determined through a Latent Class modeling approach. Failing to account for farmer heterogeneity biases the potential welfare gains from this technology. Secondly, willingness to pay estimates identify segments of farmers that are seedâprice sensitive and this elastic demand may limit technology purchase and the eventual impact of this adaptation strategy without seed market intervention. |
| Keywords: | Crop Production/Industries, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103712&r=afr |
| By: | Sun, Yan; Mwangi, Esther; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth |
| Abstract: | Womenâs participation in decision making at the user-group level and in forest committees has been demonstrated to have a positive impact on forest sustainability. For example, womenâs participation enhances forest regeneration and reduces illegal harvesting through improved monitoring. Their presence in forest user groups increases the groupsâ capacity to manage and resolve conflict, which in turn increases the likelihood that resource users will comply with and respect harvesting and use rules. These insights have been especially useful in informing policy and project interventions designed to strength and amplify womenâs participation. This paper adopts a cross-national approach and employs quantitative techniques to analyze the relative performance of groups with different male-female composition (female-dominated, mixed-gender, and male dominated user groups) in forest management. The study was conducted in Bolivia, Mexico, Kenya and Uganda. Although all four of these countries have decentralized their forestry sectors during the past 15 years, their relevant institutions differ in their design. Also, the conditions leading to the governance reforms in these four countries are diverse. Whereas the East African countries have a long history of protectionist objectives, the Latin American countries have a long history of community forestry enterprises and of the struggle for more inclusive forestry practice and equitable distribution of benefits from forestry enterprises. Data were collected using the methodology of the International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) research program. Participatory focus groups among community members were used to explore institutions and local perceptions of forest conditions and their demographics, while key informant interviews (with forestry officials for example) were used to obtain official perceptions of forest condition, the nature of conservation measures adopted by user groups. Key informant interviews with local authorities were also conducted to establish the number and nature of activities conducted by community based organizations, private organizations and other government organizations with mandates and/or activities that have implications for local forest management. Data were collected for 39 forests in Bolivia, Mexico, Kenya and Uganda, during two separate visits to each forest between 1993 and 2008. The analysis is conducted at two levelsâthe forest and the user group, this allows us to incorporate the perceptions of forestry authorities as well as that of user groups themselves with regard to forest condition. In total, 290 user groups were divided into three categories based on the proportion of women in each group. These categories were: male dominated (women comprising one-third or less of the group), mixed (women comprising between one-third and two-thirds of the group) and female dominated (women comprising two-thirds or more of the group). These three categories accounted for 40%, 37% and 23% of the 290 user groups, respectively. The research presented in this paper advances our knowledge of how women may influence forest management. The research adopts a comparative approach, which is intended to identify synergies within regions and to create a learning environment that may lead to improved forest management. The study investigates different gender composition groupâs property rights to forest resources, harvesting preferences, participation in rule making, relative investments in forest management and the outcomes of these activities. Our empirical analysis offers three important findings. First, gender composition is important. Female-dominated groups tend to have more property rights to trees and bushes, and collect more fuel wood and less timber than do male-dominated or mixed groups. Mixed-gender groups participate more in forestry decision making and are more likely to exclude other groups from harvesting from the forest. Female-dominated groups invest less, sanction less and exclude less. The finding that female-dominated groups are less likely than other groups to participate in decision making or invest in forest improvements is not controversial. Time constraints, male bias in the delivery of extension services, and a lack of information can depress investments and participation. Moreover, a huge literature has shown that due to social and cultural norms that limit their roles to the private sphere, women often lack experience, confidence and skills to engage in the public sphere. Mixed groups on the other hand, perform consistently better in all forestry functions, including in exclusion. An earlier study has suggested that mixed groups exploit the complementary advantages of men and women and have better access to information and services from external agents. Second, the implementation of decentralization reforms strengthens user groupsâ property rights to forest products and has reduced actual user groupsâ actual harvest levels. Also, decentralization has encouraged user groups to participate in forest management activities, including participation in decision making and sanctioning. These gains sit well with the normative expectations of decentralization reforms. By expanding and/or strengthening property rights and management responsibilities, they were intended to create incentives for sustainable use and management. However, such incentives are even more effective when users have full rights to resource benefits as well. Third, there exists regional difference. User groups in the Latin America tend to invest more, than the ones in Africa. While the exact reasons driving this outcome is not immediately evident, we hypothesize that a longer history and experience of community involvement (the outcome of longstanding struggles in broad policy reforms) in forest management may have also influenced the magnitude of benefits accrued to community actors. |
| Keywords: | gender, forest management, forest user groups, Environmental Economics and Policy, Q01, Q23, J16, |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103456&r=afr |
| By: | Perakis, Sonja Melissa |
| Abstract: | Exogenous shocks resulting from the death of household members, changing agroclimatic conditions and financial loss can have both short-term as well as lingering effects on households. Many poor households in developing countries cope with these shocks through the out-migration of family members. Migration and remittances can serve to smooth consumption for households affected by adverse shocks as well as overcome liquidity constraints in order to finance long-term human and physical capital investments. The inflow of remittances from international (external) migration and their potential development impacts has captured the attention of researchers for some time. This is due in part to the sheer magnitude of these financial flows, which has dwarfed official development assistance in many cases (Maimbo and Ratha, 2005). While domestic (internal) seasonal migration is also an important livelihood strategy, the short and long-term impact of remittance flows from this channel has received less attention in recent research, particularly in Africa. Several recent studies have investigated the determinants and effects of migration and remittances (M&R) in Africa (Azam and Gubert, 2005; Gubert, 2002; Dillon et al., 2010). Harrower and Hoddinot (2005) use data from northern Mali to test both the responsiveness of self-reported household coping mechanisms (including migration) to idiosyncratic shocks as well as the full-insurance hypothesis put forth by Townsend (1995). In this context, full insurance implies that household-level consumption should be perfectly correlated with aggregate consumption in the village (or other co-insurance group) but uncorrelated with household-level fluctuations in income. These studies conclude that the decisions to migrate and remit are indeed responsive to household risk and shocks. Azam and Gubert (2005) use household-level data from Western Mali, with a long history international migration to Europe, to test for moral hazard on the part of households âleft behindâ. They find that the more households are insured by migrantsâ remittances, the less incentive those households have to work. This study uses six periods of panel survey data spanning a decade (1996-1998 and 2005- 2006) on approximately 250 households in the arid Zone Lacustre (ZL) of Northern Mali. Households in the ZL rely primarily on rain-fed cereal production for their livelihood. Our objective is to evaluate both the short-run and persistent effects of migration and remittancesâ which are hypothesized to contribute to both inter-temporal consumption smoothing and human and physical capital investment. This study expands upon the previous studies outlined above, but makes several important distinctions that help to improve our understanding of the impacts of M&R in Africa. First, M&R decisions are both ex-ante and ex-post mechanisms to cope with observable and unobservable household shocks and therefore endogenous within the context of Townsendâs (1995) full-insurance hypothesis test. We therefore pay close attention to the identification strategy of the parameters associated with these two key variables using an instrumental variable approach. Second, we recognize that households have different motivations for choosing seasonal versus long-term out-migration, and we estimate the different impacts of each. Third, there are several reasons why we might expect to find that M&R result in diminished consumption smoothing across time. For example, remittances may lead to increases in overall income (and expenditures) or changes in the basket of food and non-food items consumed through increased direct or indirect exposure to alternative consumption habits. Either of these are avenues through which households may shift away from their village co-insurance group. Thanks to the structure of our data, we are able to analyze on the one hand whether consumption-smoothing trends for several categories of goods (non-food, food, and cereals) are comparable both prior to and following migration. We are likewise interested in the potential explanations for diverging trends and go on to examine the effect of past migration on the levelof consumption for those same categories of goods. This study uses three approaches to evaluate the effects of remittances on households in Northern Mali. First, in order to establish whether or not remittances are indeed responsive to household shocks, we first use both a linear and non-linear estimators to evaluate the responsiveness of remittances to current and lagged exogenous shocks (e.g. crop and livestock losses, household morbidity and mortality). Second, following Jalan and Ravallion (1998) we test the full-insurance hypothesis within a first-differenced framework. However, several of our key variables are endogenous to such a model potentially resulting in biased parameter estimates. We therefore adopt and an instrumental variable approach to identify the parameters associated with those key variables, with current and lagged environmental shocks, household size, seasonal rainfall variation and migrant network intensity as instruments for income, household size and migration duration respectively (deBrauw and Giles, 2008; Dillon et al., 2010; Munshi, 2003; Yang and Choi, 2007). The third component of the analysis uses a similar IV approach to investigate on the one hand whether there are diverging trends in consumption smoothing b and consumption levels, more generally, before and after migration. Preliminary econometric results suggest that the probability of migrants remitting increases for female-headed households as well as for households experiencing health and income (crop) shocks. The level of remittances received is higher for female-headed households, for households experiencing the death of a family member and with livestock losses during the hungry season. Once we control for the endogeneity of the key variables in consumption smoothing equation, migrant-sending households are more able to self-insure than those without migrants. Households with long-term migrants are able to self-insure to the greatest degree. These findings are reversed when we ignore the potential endogeneity of income, household composition and migration patterns. This is likely because these variables are correlated with unobservable factors such as ability on the one hand and householdsâ ability to modify their size and composition by sending members away during periods of distress. We find that the patterns of consumption smoothing as well as the levels of consumption before and following migration vary considerable across goods. This provides some evidence that the role of village-level insurance mechanisms vary for a given household depending on whether they participate in seasonal or long-term out-migration or not. The role of internal migration in the process of economic development in West Africa has received limited attention. In parts of Mali (namely the Kayes region) international out-migration is not just an important livelihood strategy, but in many cases, it is the livelihood strategyâ thereby undermining the development of the local economy. This research demonstrates that remittances sent through internal migration (which constitutes the bulk of out-migration from the Zone Lacustre) are indeed responsive to exogenous household-level shocks. In addition, we find that M&R play a role in short-run smoothing consumption but that the persistent effects of these activities on both consumption smoothing and consumption levels are more important, particularly for households with low purchasing power. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103704&r=afr |
| By: | Cadot, Olivier; Iacovone, Leonardo; Pierola, Denisse; Rauch, Ferdinand |
| Abstract: | Using a novel dataset with transactions level exports data from four African countries (Malawi, Mali, Senegal and Tanzania), this paper uncovers evidence of a high degree of experimentation at the extensive margin associated with low survival rates, consistent with high and middle income country evidence. Consequently, the authors focus on the questions of what determines success and survival beyond the first year and find that survival probability rises with the number of firms exporting the same product to the same destination from the same country, pointing towards the existence of cross-firm synergies. Accordingly the evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that those synergies may be driven by information spillovers. More intuitively and consistently with multi-product firms models, the analysis also finds that firms more diversified in terms of products, but even more in terms of markets, are more likely to be successful and survive beyond the first year. |
| Keywords: | Markets and Market Access,Microfinance,Economic Theory&Research,Debt Markets,E-Business |
| Date: | 2011–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5657&r=afr |
| By: | Francesca Marchetta (CERDI - Centre d'études et de recherches sur le developpement international - CNRS : UMR6587 - Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I) |
| Abstract: | The households who live in the rural areas of Northern Ghana base their subsistence on natural resources, which are threatened by the progressive desertification and increased frequency of extreme weather events in the region. We draw on a field work and on extensive secondary data sources to analyze how the rural population successfully adapted its livelihood strategies to cope with the economic, institutional and environmental changes which occurred over the last two decades. The field work evidences significant differences across communities in the adaptation strategies, which depend closely on the available portfolio of assets. The analysis evidences serious concerns about the environmental consequences of some of the observed changes in livelihood strategies, strengthening the case for public policies aimed at promoting a sustainable development in the region. |
| Keywords: | Livelihood Strategies;agriculture;Non Farm Activities;Internal migration;sustainable development;Rural Areas |
| Date: | 2011–05–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00591137&r=afr |
| By: | Norton, Michael; Holthaus, Eric; Madajewicz, Malgosia; Osgood, Daniel; Peterson, Nicole; Gebremichael, Mengesha; Mullally, Conner; Teh, TseLing |
| Abstract: | There is much interest in weather index insurance as a povertyâmitigating tool, but concerns persist about potential demand for the product among the poorest of the poor. This paper relates the experiences in rural areas of Tigray region, Ethiopia through both commercial signâup data and a series of experimental games conducted to test demand for weather index insurance. Demand was observed to be considerable in both. |
| Keywords: | Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:104022&r=afr |
| By: | Ulimwengu, John; Badiane, Ousmane |
| Abstract: | The importance of health in promoting economic development has been forcefully stated by the World Health Organizationâs Commission on Macroeconomics and Health. In this paper, we look at the impact of own household health expenses on malaria incidence and ultimately on agricultural efficiency. We use a non-parametric method to estimate agricultural efficiency, therefore avoiding the issue of identification of the proper household agricultural production function. In addition the simar-wilson approach followed in this paper accounts for bias induced by serial correlation among farmers. A Tobit model with endogenous health production function is used to estimate the impact of malaria incidence on agricultural efficiency. Data come from the 2006 National Ugandan Household Survey. Estimation results suggest that marginal increase in the index of malaria incidence is expected to reduce agricultural efficiency by 0.07; in other words, ten percent increase in malaria incidence will decrease efficiency by 1.5 percent. We also found evidence of female farmers being more efficiency than male by 39.5 percent. Moreover, farmers who have been visited at least once by an extension agent appear more efficiency by 13.9 percent than those who were not. |
| Keywords: | Malaria, Efficiency, Tobit, Health, Agriculture, Expenses, Household, Production, Agricultural and Food Policy, Health Economics and Policy, Productivity Analysis, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103839&r=afr |
| By: | Manfred Wiebelt; Karl Pauw; John Mary Matovu; Evarist Twimukye; Todd Benson |
| Abstract: | With the recent discovery of crude oil reserves along the Albertine Rift, Uganda is set to establish itself as an oil producer in the coming decade. Total oil reserves are believed to be 2 billion barrels, with recoverable reserves estimated at 0.8-1.2 billion barrels. At peak production, likely to be reached by 2017, oil output will range from 120,000-210,000 barrels per day, with a production period spanning up to 30 years. Depending on the exact production levels, the extraction period, the future oil price, and revenue sharing agreements with oil producers, the Ugandan government is set to earn revenue equal to 10-15 percent of GDP at peak production. The discovery of crude oil therefore has the potential to provide significant stimulus to the Ugandan economy and address its development objectives. However, this is subject to careful management of oil revenues to avoid the potential pitfall of a sudden influx of foreign exchange. Dominating the concerns is the potential appreciation in the real exchange rate and subsequent loss of competitiveness in the non-resource tradable goods sectors such as agriculture or manufacturing (‘Dutch Disease’). These sectors are often major employers in developing countries and the engines of growth. Several mitigation measures can be employed by government to counter Dutch Disease, including measures that directly counter the real exchange rate appreciation or measures that offer direct support to traditional export sectors in the form of subsidies. With the aid of a recursive-dynamic computable general equilibrium model this study evaluates the economic implications of the future oil boom in Uganda. We also consider various options open to the Ugandan government for saving, spending, or investing forecasted oil revenues with aim of promoting economic development and reducing poverty, but also countering possible Dutch Disease effects. We find that generally urban sectors and households will be better able to capture rents generated by the oil revenues leading to growing rural-urban and regional inequality. Yet, despite these potential risks, Uganda’s oil economy presents an unparalleled opportunity for the agricultural sector and for poverty reduction in particular. On the one hand, domestic demand for food, such as cereals, root crops, pulses and matooke (cooking banana), but especially higher valued products, such as horticulture and livestock products, will increase as incomes rise. Moreover, higher urban income and urban consumer preferences will lead to increasing demand for processed foods and foods with greater domestic value-added, such as meat, fish, etc. Provided Uganda’s tradable food sectors can remain competitive, this provides an opportunity for both farming and the food processing manufacturing sector. On the other hand, there is the immediate danger to lose market shares in agricultural export markets, which might be extremely hard to regain after the oil boom. As shown in this paper, the outcomes for agriculture, rural-urban income differentials and poverty reduction depend very much on whether government revenues for public investment in the agricultural sector will increase and help alleviate chronic under-investment in public goods that is constraining agricultural growth in Uganda |
| Keywords: | Uganda, crude oil, Dutch Disease, agricultural competitiveness, general equilibrium modeling |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kie:kieliw:1696&r=afr |
| By: | Regassa Senbeta S. |
| Abstract: | Firms in many low income countries depend entirely on imported capital and intermediate inputs. As a result, in these countries economic activity is considerably in?uenced by the capacity of the economy to import these inputs which, in turn, depends on the availability and cost of foreign exchange. In this study we introduce foreign exchange availability as an additional constraint faced by ?rms into an otherwise standard small open economy New Keynesian DSGE model. The model is then calibrated for a typical Sub Saharan African economy and the behaviour of the model in response to both domestic and external shocks is compared with the standard model. The impulse response functions of the two models are the same qualitatively for most of the variables though the model with foreign exchange constraint generates more variability in most of the variables than the standard model. This behaviour of the model with foreign exchange constraint is consistent with the stylized facts of low income countries. Furthermore, for variables for which the two models have di¤erent impulse response functions, the model with foreing exchange constraint is both theoretically consistent and matches the stylized facts. |
| Date: | 2011–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ant:wpaper:2011004&r=afr |
| By: | Gracious, Diiro M.; Abdoul, Sam G.; David, Kraybill |
| Abstract: | The study analyzed the impact of adoption of improved groundnut varieties on farm inputs demand and productivity using instrumental variables approach. The data was collected from a simple random sample of 161 groundnut farmers in Eastern Uganda. Econometric results show significant increase in expenditure on improved seed and labor among adopters relative to the non-adopters. Adoption of improved varieties significantly increased groundnuts yield, by about 1688kg per hectare. Thus, more effort is needed to increase farmersâ access to improved varieties. The Government and partners should facilitate the development of local seed multiplication systems to reduce the cost of improved seed.. |
| Keywords: | Production Economics, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103848&r=afr |
| By: | Gunther Bensch; Jochen Kluve; Jörg Peters |
| Abstract: | Rural electrifi cation is believed to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) via various channels. In this paper, we investigate the impacts of electrification on the household’s lighting usage, home studying, energy expenditures and income. We use household data that we collected in rural Rwanda in villages with and without access to mini-grids. To account for self-selection processes in the connection decision we use households from the electrified villages to estimate the probability to connect for all households – including those in the non-electrified villages. Based on these propensity scores we identify counterfactual households to determine the impacts of electrification on the outcome indicators. We find some indication for positive effects on home studying and income, but particularly on lighting usage. We conclude by highlighting the potentially profound changes in social life of rural people induced by improved lighting and call for research on impacts beyond the MDGs. |
| Keywords: | Rural electrification; ex-ante impact assessment; poverty; matching |
| JEL: | O12 O13 O18 O22 |
| Date: | 2010–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0231&r=afr |
| By: | Badirwang, Keeletlhoko Faith; Nakakeeto, Gertrude; Rudi, Jeta; Taylor, Daniel B. |
| Abstract: | This study makes use of linear programming methodology to design a minimum cost diet for the Central Ugandan region. We used a set of constraints on recommended levels of daily nutrient intake, recommended proportions of groups of foods, as well as preferences and food availability in Central Uganda, to design a minimum cost healthy daily diet. Several models were consi-dered, each forcing at least one of the following frequently consumed staple foods: matooke, cas-sava, and rice. We found that the minimum costs of the optimal diets were lowest in the planting season of March and highest in the harvesting season of December. |
| Keywords: | Central Uganda, minimum cost diet, malnutrition, linear programming, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103603&r=afr |
| By: | Coulibaly, Jeanne; Sanders, John; Preckel, Paul; Baker, Timothy |
| Abstract: | During the last decade, cotton production and area have been declining as a result of depleting soil nutrients and low cotton prices in the cotton zone of Mali. This paper shows that the Malian governmentâs 2011 policy to increase the farm gate cotton price as a response to world cotton price increase enhances farm income but has less impact on cotton than on maize production. A complementary policy of introducing new sorghum technologies would have an equal impact on farmersâ incomes in the cotton zone of Mali. |
| Keywords: | Cotton prices, improved sorghum technology, discrete stochastic programming, Mali, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, International Development, Production Economics, Risk and Uncertainty, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103755&r=afr |
| By: | Msuya, E. E; Isinika, A. C. |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the performance of food production and productivity in Tanzania since 2000, in relation to post-SAP policies. This discussion assumes that individual households in Tanzania strive to achieve food security through own production as well as purchases from the market. Meanwhile, the government strives to meet national food self-sufficiency of main staples (maize,rice and cassava) from local production, implying that individual farmers must produce a surplus, which is then marketed efficiently so that everybody can access sufficient and good-quality food at all times at affordable prices. Any change in the policy environment changes the opportunity set and hence the choices individuals make, which in turn shapes the aggregate performance of economies over time (North, 1993). It is in this context that the analysis in this paper looks at the performance of food production and marketing, at the micro and macro levels, during the post-SAP period in Tanzania, as influenced by preceding and prevailing policies and institutions, in particular focusing on the magnitude and direction of change. The discussion is guided by several questions: is there any change happening in food production? What is driving that change? Can the change be sustained? What is the role of supporting institutions, markets and governance in directing this change? |
| Keywords: | Tanzania; Food security; market failure; policy review; sokoine university of agriculture |
| JEL: | O1 Q13 Q12 O12 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:30886&r=afr |
| By: | Prince, Lea; Vosti, Stephen A.; Ouattara, Oula; Ouedraogo, Jean Bosco; Brown, Kenneth; Ouedraogo, Cesaire; Wilson, Shelby; Rouamba, Noel; Hess, Sonja |
| Abstract: | It is widely acknowledged that the use of oral rehydra3on therapy (ORT) for the treatment of dehydra3on can prevent death in young children from watery diarrhea in all but the most severe cases. Since the early 1980s, the use of ORT has become standard prac3ce in the medical community throughout the developing world, which has likely played a significant role in the global reduc3on of deaths from diarrhea. However, the large number of deaths from diarrhea that s3ll exists today indicates that the use of ORT is not standard prac3ce in many households in poor countries. This paper seeks to understand the gap between the widespread knowledge of the high efficacy of ORT among policymakers and other stakeholders in healthcare, and the actual usage rates of ORT in rural households. Using an original dataset from rural Burkina Faso, we examine the mechanisms driving healthâseeking behaviors in the household as they relate to young children and diarrhea, with an emphasis on prac3ces concerning the use of ORT. |
| Keywords: | Health Economics and Policy, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:103854&r=afr |
| By: | Castilla, Carolina |
| Abstract: | I present a simple model of intra-household allocation between spouses to show that when the quantity of resources available to the household is not perfectly observed by both spouses, hiding of income can occur even when revelation of the additional resources increases bargaining power. From the model, a test to identify income hiding empirically is derived. For the empirical application, a household survey conducted in Southern Ghana is used. I exploit the variation in the degree of asymmetric information between spouses, measured as the difference between the husbandâs own reporting of farm sales and the wifeâs reporting of his farm sales, to test whether the allocation of resources is consistent with hiding. For identification, the wifeâs clan and the husbandâs bride-wealth payments upon marriage are used as instruments for asymmetric information. My findings indicate that allocations are suggestive of men hiding farm sales income in the form of gifts to extended family members, which are not closely monitored. It is unclear whether hiding has negative consequences in the long run because hiding occurs in the form of gifts, instead of expenditure in alcohol or tobacco. If the gifts represent a form of risk-sharing, then these gifts will return to the household in the future, and hiding is not necessarily inefficient. However, if these gifts are motivated by social pressure then hiding can result on poverty traps caused by kin system. The wifeâs response is also suggestive of hiding. As information asymmetries increase, she reduces her expenditure in non-essential items, such as prepared foods and oil, but increases personal spending. Expenditure in oil is one of the main sources of calories among poor households in the region. |
| Keywords: | incomplete information, income hiding, non-cooperative family bargaining, Consumer/Household Economics, International Development, D13, D82, J12, |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea11:104072&r=afr |