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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2020‒02‒24
43 papers chosen by |
| By: | Ecker, Olivier; Kennedy, Adam |
| Abstract: | The current agricultural strategy of the Federal Government of Nigeria—the Agricultural Promotion Policy 2016-2020—carries forward the revitalization of the agricultural sector as outlined in the preceding strategy—the Agricultural Transformation Agenda 2011-2016. The Agricultural Promotion Policy aims to increase agricultural production to meet the food needs of the country’s rapidly growing population and transform agriculture from subsistence to commercial and export-oriented production. The complementary Agricultural Sector Food Security and Nutrition Strategy 2016-2025 declares improved food security and nutrition as main goals of the intended agricultural transformation and identifies priority areas that should guide the activities of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and aligned stakeholders to achieve these objectives. Both strategy documents emphasize the importance of policy-relevant and rigorous agricultural and nutrition research to inform policy priority setting and support decision-making processes. This policy note summarizes findings from a recent study by International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) researchers that seeks to inform Nigerian policymakers and donors about the effects of agricultural transformation on food and nutrition security of farm households in Nigeria (Ecker et al 2018). |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; agriculture; agricultural extension; food security; nutrition; agricultural production; farmers; households; Agricultural Promotion Policy |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:resbrf:99&r=all |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Kennedy, Adam |
| Abstract: | Mechanization increases the power applied to agricultural operations and is one tool among many for improving farm productivity and increasing incomes for Nigeria’s farmers and processors. It alone cannot drive the transformation of agriculture (Pingali 2007). Farmers will mechanize to lower costs and ensure timeliness of operations, allowing a greater area of land to be cultivated. The demand for mechanization is therefore determined by the stage of agricultural transformation reflecting the use of complementary inputs (improved seeds, fertilizer), the intensity of farming, land holdings, and rural labor supply and thus wages. Countries across the developing world have mechanized at different rates corresponding to their level of agricultural transformation but also strongly influenced by government policies. Assessments of agricultural mechanization at the continental level have found that Nigeria has an agricultural sector characterized by both low productivity growth and low machinery growth relative to other African countries (2018, Malabo Montpellier Panel). This brief will examine some of the supply and demand side constraints that may be hindering the adoption of mechanization and outline strategies where government and donors can focus their efforts to better support farm productivity. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; mechanization; demand; markets; agriculture; farmers; agricultural mechanization; agricultural productivity; production costs; costs |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:resbrf:98&r=all |
| By: | Ghebru, Hosaena; Kennedy, Adam |
| Abstract: | Over the last decade, land tenure reform and enhanced tenure security have been given greater attention by African governments, including Nigeria, as policy tools to encourage agricultural growth and to alleviate poverty. Land tenure security can generate agricultural investment incentives and lead to increased agricultural productivity through three channels (Besely 1995). First, it promotes long term investment in land by reducing expropriation risk. Second, it encourages investment by lowering transaction costs and allowing more productive farmers to purchase or rent land from less productive farmers, making both parties better off. Third, it reduces asymmetric information about land ownership rights, allowing individuals to use their land as collateral for loans encouraging investment. Less than 3 percent of the land in Nigeria is formally registered leaving the vast majority of the population to deal with tenure insecurity and its attendant negative implications on land related investment and agricultural productivity. This brief will examine current land policy and administration in Nigeria, landholders demand for tenure security, and present recommendations to improve administration of land. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; land governance; reforms; demand; markets; land tenure; poverty; agricultural productivity; investment; economic activities; policies; farmers; tenure security; land policies; agricultural policies |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:resbrf:97&r=all |
| By: | Arandara,Rathnija; Gunasekera,Shanuki; Mookerjee,Agrotosh |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the practical experience of deploying index insurance in a tropical country whose agriculture is dependent on dual sources of water: rainfall and irrigation. The paper introduces an innovative hybrid index insurance product based on the authors'experience of piloting the concept. The hybrid product was created to address the higher basis risk of using a single rainfall trigger that ignores the hydrological conditions on the ground. The paper brings forth findings from a live pilot in selected locations -- with varied agro-climatic conditions?in Sri Lanka under the World Bank Group's Global Index Insurance Facility. The findings indicate that the new hybrid product performs better than the single trigger (rainfall-based) index insurance product, thereby reducing the basis risk faced by farmers. The paper also shares some of the practical limitations in deploying the product. |
| Keywords: | Hydrology,Natural Disasters,Food Security,Water and Food Supply,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Small Private Water Supply Providers,Water Supply and Sanitation Economics,Water and Human Health |
| Date: | 2019–11–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9055&r=all |
| By: | Jayne, T. S.; Muyanga, Milu; Wineman, Ayala; Ghebru, Hosaena; Stevens, Caleb |
| Abstract: | Sub-Saharan Africa is witnessing rapid changes in farm size distributions. “Medium-scale†farm landholdings of five to 100 hectares now account for a substantial and growing share of farmland in many African countries. 1 Since 2000, this category of African farmer has acquired more land and put much more new land under cultivation than large-scale foreign investors. In parallel to these developments, the region is witnessing changes in land tenure institutions that influence who is acquiring land (Ghebru and Girmachew, 2019a; 2019b). Parts of the region are experiencing a notable shift in the allocation of customary land from a rights-based approach that secures access to land for localborn members of the community to market-based approaches to land allocation based increasingly on willingness to pay. As population densities rise and land becomes scarce in many areas, tenure security is becoming increasingly important. Research evidence shows that security of tenure typically promotes long-term land investments and agricultural productivity, hence the need for African governments to focus on improving land tenure security to more effectively achieve their national agricultural policy objectives. |
| Keywords: | AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; agriculture; agricultural extension; rural areas; land; tenure; systems; farms; farm size; crop production |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:resbrf:2019synthesisreportii&r=all |
| By: | Cristina Vaquero-Piñeiro |
| Abstract: | Are territories capable of instilling their peculiarities on local production systems? Which are the territorial determinants that support this linkage? We answer to these questions theoretically and empirically. Firstly, this paper presents a conceptual voyage in the notion of territory by tapping into two different research branches: regional and agricultural economics. Thereafter, the integrated framework developed through the literature review is used to investigate the relevance of territory from an empirical point of view. We do that looking at Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) as proxies of local productions due to their intrinsic and official relation with their region-of-origin. The analysis focuses on Italy, is conducted at municipality level and exploits logit dynamic panel models. Findings confirm that embedded productions reflect the combination of socio-economic, historical, institutional, natural and cultural features. In some cases, an ex-ante level of development is a relevant precondition for establishing successful agri-food systems. |
| Keywords: | Integrated approach, local development, Geographical Indications, agri-food systems, Italy |
| JEL: | O13 O20 P25 Q18 C23 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtr:wpaper:0251&r=all |
| By: | Klapper,Leora; Singer,Dorothe; Ansar,Saniya; Hess,Jake Richard |
| Abstract: | The ability to manage financial risk is especially important for people earning their living through agriculture. Many farmers only get paid once or twice a year, and households need to stretch their earnings across the year by saving or borrowing money. Moreover, agricultural production faces a variety of risks related to both production and markets because of their exposure to weather and disease shocks. Households engaged in agriculture may thus especially benefit from financial inclusion?access to and use of formal financial services. This paper explores the topic of financial risk management in agriculture?how adults who rely on growing crops or raising livestock as their household's main source of income manage financial risk and use financial services. The paper summarizes new data based on a nationally representative survey of about 15,000 adults in 15 lower-middle- and low-income Sub-Saharan African economies collected as part of the World Bank's Global Findex database. The majority of these adults reported suffering a bad harvest or significant livestock loss in the past five years, and most bear the entire financial risk of such a loss. Most adults in agricultural households lack the financial tools -- such as insurance, accounts, savings, and credit -- that could help them manage financial risks. |
| Keywords: | Livestock and Animal Husbandry,Crops and Crop Management Systems,Climate Change and Agriculture,Food Security,Financial Sector Policy |
| Date: | 2019–12–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9078&r=all |
| By: | Adjin, K. Christophe; Henning, Christian H. C. A. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the empirical causal relationship between farmers organizations membership and food availability in Senegal. Using a unique country scale farm-level data of cereals farming households, and applying various econometrics estimations techniques that control for selection biases and spatial heterogeneity, the study found positive and significant association between organizations membership and farmers levels of cereals production. Findings are consistent across estimations methods. Being a member of an farmer organization increases cereals production by 19%. These results suggest once again the importance of farmers organizations in the fight against rural food insecurity. In addition, other factors such as the access to extension services, fertilizer subsidies and the rainfall appear to be significantly determining households food production. Furthermore, results also reveal the relevance of spatiality in the analysis of agricultural sector in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | farmers organizations,impact evaluation,spatial heterogeneity |
| JEL: | Q13 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cauapw:wp201907&r=all |
| By: | Jones,Maria Ruth; Kondylis,Florence; Loeser,John Ashton; Magruder,Jeremy |
| Abstract: | This paper examines constraints to adoption of new technologies in the context of hillside irrigation schemes in Rwanda. It leverages a plot-level spatial regression discontinuity design to produce 3 key results. First, irrigation enables dry season horticultural production, which boosts on-farm cash profits by 70 percent. Second, adoption is constrained: access to irrigation causes farmers to substitute labor and inputs away from their other plots. Eliminating this substitution would increase adoption by at least 21 percent. Third, this substitution is largest for smaller households and wealthier households. This result can be explained by labor market failures in a standard agricultural household model. |
| Keywords: | Hydrology,Labor Markets,Rural Labor Markets,Governance Diagnostic Capacity Building,Economic Forecasting,Macroeconomic Management,Climate Change and Agriculture,Crops and Crop Management Systems |
| Date: | 2019–12–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9092&r=all |
| By: | Collins-Sowah, Peron A.; Henning, Christian H. C. A. |
| Abstract: | The subject of risk in agricultural production is very pertinent and touches on various aspects such as investments, food security, income levels of farmers, and market stability. Unmanaged, risks can have profound impacts on the agricultural sector and at the same time severely hamper long-term economic growth and poverty reduction efforts. Furthermore, risk management by farm households are multifarious with each having different cost and benefit implications. Using empirical data from a nationally representative farm household survey in Senegal, we evaluated the effect of different risk management strategies employed by farm households on agriculture income and dispersions around incomes. We achieve this by employing a Multinomial Endogenous Switching Regression model and a Moment-Based Approach. We find mix results of the impact of risk management on agriculture incomes. The use of risk mitigation and transfer significantly reduces agriculture incomes while risk coping strategies significantly increases agriculture incomes. Risk mitigation strategies were observed to be associated with opportunity costs relating to income loss and likely inefficient resource allocations. On the contrary, the reduced agricultural incomes observed with the use of risk transfer might be related moral hazard problems such that insurance policy holders do not take care or expend less effort in their production activities. We also find that risk management strategies significantly reduce dispersions around agriculture incomes with risk transfer producing the largest effect. Furthermore, the effect of risk transfer strategies on dispersions around agriculture incomes is reduced when combine with other strategies. For the other risk management strategies, we find that when used in combinations, the dispersion reduction effect is greatly enhanced. |
| Keywords: | Risk management,strategies,dispersion,multinomial,mitigation,transfer,coping |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cauapw:wp201905&r=all |
| By: | G. Cornelis van Kooten |
| Keywords: | Agricultural policy in developing countries; price stabilization and commodity storage; applied welfare economics |
| JEL: | Q02 Q18 Q11 Q13 O13 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rep:wpaper:2018-01&r=all |
| By: | Montes de Oca Munguia, Oscar; Pannell, David J.; Llewellyn, Rick |
| Abstract: | Research on the determinants of adoption of agricultural innovations (technologies and practices) has failed to converge towards a consistent explanation for why farmers do or do not choose to adopt new technologies and practices. This absence of convergence matters because it indicates that agricultural extension and policy are influenced by a body of literature that is often not able to offer clear recommendations on the variables that can be used to design interventions. Our analysis shows that adopter and technology characteristics are important determinants of adoption, but researchers have been mainly focused on researching the adopter and the general farming context, with relatively little attention on understanding the influence on adoption of the characteristics of the technology itself. |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2020–01–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:302009&r=all |
| By: | Ajaz, Ali; Karimi, Poolad; Cai, Xueliang; De Fraiture, Charlotte; Akhter, Muhammad Saleem |
| Abstract: | Inconsistencies in the statistical datasets of irrigated areas at the national level could have considerable implications for policies developed for food and water security. Remote sensing can address this issue, however, dubieties of its reliability inhibit its protagonist role. Methods that integrate both remote sensing based and statistical datasets seem expedient, and they are more likely to be acknowledged by the policymakers. Therefore, it is important for scientists to know the basis and limitations of statistical datasets which originate at the country level. Data collection methodologies of irrigated areas were reviewed for seven Asian countries, namely China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, and Thailand. Factors causing the uncertainties in data, and the limitations of data collection methodologies were highlighted. Also, an irrigation density distribution analysis was conducted to understand the relation of spatial spread pattern of irrigated areas and uncertainty in their statistical records. It was found that irrigated areas statistics are mostly based on the information originating from water user associations and farmers, which is either self-reported or it is collected through interviews during surveys and censuses. The main causes of discrepancy were lack of resources to frequently enumerate the irrigated land, inconsistency in the data collection methodologies, unaccounted secondary crops, illegal and unregulated water use, and bureaucratic and political constraints. Irrigation density distribution analysis showed that the largely scattered irrigated areas might be prone to lack of comprehensive and frequent enumeration. Furthermore, dense irrigation regions might have potentially unrecorded irrigated areas where temporary or supplementary irrigation arrangements are made by the marginal farmers. |
| Date: | 2019–07–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:cmahg&r=all |
| By: | Dimitris Christopoulos; Margarita Genius (Department of Economics, University of Crete, Greece); Vangelis Tzouvelekas (Department of Economics, University of Crete, Greece) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a theoretical framework for modeling farm households' joint production and consumption decisions in the presence of technical inefficiency. Following Lopez (1984), a household model where farmers display different preferences between on-farm and off-farm labor is adopted while their production activity can be subject to technical inefficiency. The presence of technical inefficiency does not only lead to the inability of farmers to achieve maximal output but it will also affect the consumption allocation and the household's labor supply decisions through its effect on both income and on the shadow price of on-farm labor, leading to overall household inefficiency. |
| Keywords: | non-separable agricultural household model; household and farm efficiency; cereal farms; UK |
| JEL: | C41 O16 O33 Q25 |
| Date: | 2020–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crt:wpaper:2001&r=all |
| By: | Sudha Narayanan (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | Despite recognition of the role of free collection of foods in forwarding nutritional security, there is only limited systematic research on its importance and role. This paper provides the first estimates for India, of the extent to which households depend on free collection of foods and examines its association with dietary adequacy and quality. In 2011-12 around 5.8 of all Indian households collected foods free, with some households collecting more than ten distinct food types in a month. For these households, free collection comprised, on average, 4.5 of the total value of food consumption, going upto 15 for a tenth of them. Using a pooled cross-section from 2009-10 and 2011-12 of nationally representative household level consumption data that identifies the source of food, this paper uses an instrumental variable approach to estimate the association between free collection of foods and dietary adequacy and quality. The paper finds that the probabiity of having more than two meals increases when households access free foods and there is robust evidence of higher dietary diversity (77 to four-fold), driven by specific food groups such as vegetables, meats, fish and green leafy vegetables. The findings of this paper point to a need to mainstream discussions of sources of food other than farm, market and state, recognizing explicitly the role of free collection in improving dietary adequacy and quality. |
| Keywords: | food environment, free collection, common pool resources, food security, dietary quality, India |
| JEL: | Q18 Q2 L73 D12 |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2019-037&r=all |
| By: | Lemarié, Stéphane; Orozco, Valérie; Butault, Jean-Pierre; Musolesi, Antonio; Simioni, Michel; Schmitt, Bertrand |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the economic impact of agricultural research on productivity in France over the period 1959-2012. Adopting a dynamic time series model, we provide evidence that the impact of French agricultural research is in the range of values estimated for other countries, with the estimated long-run elasticity being 0.16, which corresponds to an internal rate of return of 22%. The estimated elasticity decreases at the beginning of the 1970s. Complementary analyses are developed to take into account the evolution of the priorities of public agricultural research (reorientation towards more fundamental objectives and focus on broader objective than productivity enhancement). |
| JEL: | Q16 Q18 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:124051&r=all |
| By: | G. Cornelis van Kooten |
| Keywords: | carbon accounting; climate mitigation and forestry; forest-dependent rural communities |
| JEL: | R11 Q23 Q01 C61 |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rep:wpaper:2018-02&r=all |
| By: | Boonmanunt, Suparee (Mahidol University); Meier, Stephan (Columbia University) |
| Abstract: | In-group bias can be detrimental for communities and economic development. We study the causal effect of financial constraints on in-group bias in prosocial behaviors – cooperation, norm enforcement, and sharing – among low-income rice farmers in rural Thailand, who cultivate and harvest rice once a year. We use a between-subjects design – randomly assigning participants to experiments either before harvest (more financially constrained) or after harvest. Farmers interacted with either in-group or out-group partners at village level. We find that in-group bias in cooperation and norm enforcement exist only after harvest, that is, when people are less financially constrained. |
| Keywords: | cooperation, financial constraints, in-group bias, lab-in-the-field experiment, norm enforcement |
| JEL: | C93 D64 D91 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12919&r=all |
| By: | Varun Kumar Das (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research); A. Ganesh-Kumar (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | The process of structural transformation in India presents some unique features not seen in the developed countries, viz., seasonal migration from rural to rural areas within the country for employment within the agricultural sector, and the phenomenon of in situ occupational diversification into off-farm activities by farm households in the country. This paper analyzes the determinants of such off-farm livelihood diversification by farm households. The paper argues this process is driven by various household and farm level push factors as well as structural pull factors that are beyond the farmer's control. To test this hypothesis, the paper estimates a multinomial probit model that distinguishes five categories of off-farm activities, viz., wage labor (farm sector), wage labor (non-farm sector), non-farm entrepreneurship, both wage labor (farm) and non-farm entrepreneurship, and both wage labor (non-farm) and non-farm entrepreneurship. Results show that apart from farm and household conditions, structural features such as the village neighborhood, infrastructure agro-climatic conditions, urbanization, and size of the state economy impact household decision on non-farm diversification. |
| Keywords: | Structural transformation, non-farm diversification, off-farm choice, wage labor, entrepreneurship, external conditions |
| JEL: | J24 O12 O18 Q12 Q13 R53 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2019-032&r=all |
| By: | Jacob Pastor-Paz (Victoria University of Wellington); Ilan Noy (Victoria University of Wellington); Isabelle Sin (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Abha Sood (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)); David Fleming-Munoz (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO)); Sally Owen (Victoria University of Wellington) |
| Abstract: | New Zealand’s public insurer, the Earthquake Commission (EQC), provides residential insurance for some weather-related damage. Climate change and the expected increase in intensity and frequency of extreme weather-related events are likely to translate into higher damages and thus an additional financial liability for the EQC. We project future insured damages from extreme precipitation events associated with future projected climatic change. We first estimate the empirical relationship between extreme precipitation events and the EQC’s weather-related insurance claims based on a complete dataset of all claims from 2000 to 2017. We then use this estimated relationship, together with climate projections based on future greenhouse gases concentration scenarios from six different dynamically downscaled Regional Climate Models, to predict the impact of future extreme precipitation events on EQC liabilities for different time horizons up to the year 2100. Our results show predicted adverse impacts that vary -increase or decrease over time and space. The percent change between projected and past damages—the climate change signal—ranges between an increase of 7% and 8% higher in the period 2020 to 2040, and between 9% and 25% higher in the period 2080 to 2100. We also provide detail caveats as to why these quantities might be mis-estimated. The projected increase in the public insurer’s liabilities could also be used to inform private insurers, regulators, and policymakers who are assessing the future performance of both the public and private insurers that cover weather-related risks in the face of climatic change. We combine firm-level innovation data with area-level Census data to examine the relationship between local workforce characteristics, especially the presence of immigrants and local skills, and the likelihood of innovation by firms. We examine a range of innovation outcomes, and test the relationship for selected subgroups of firms. We find a positive relationship between local workforce characteristics and average innovation outcomes in labour market areas, but this is accounted for by variation in firm characteristics such as firm size, industry, and research and development expenditure. Controlling for these influences, we find no systematic evidence of an independent link between local workforce characteristics and innovation. |
| Keywords: | Insurance, precipitation, climate change, extreme weather-events, loss projection |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2020–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:20_02&r=all |
| By: | Glauber, Joseph W.; Parent, Marie |
| Abstract: | Open trade is increasingly important as countries prepare to face the coming challenges in food demand and production. The rules-based system established under the World Trade Organization (WTO) has facilitated the growth of agricultural trade, creating global welfare gains. But today negotiated settlements on tougher issues, such as domestic support, have become more difficult to obtain. The authors offer a set of seven options for modest reforms that could build confidence for moving the agricultural trade agenda forward in these challenging times. |
| Keywords: | trade; agricultural trade; supply chain; export control; export subsidies; WTO; global agricultural trade; World Trade Organization (WTO) |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:polbrf:9780896296886&r=all |
| By: | Chouaib Jouf |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the price transmission along the food marketing chain in France. We focus on this transmission at the upstream and downstream levels during the so-called "price war" waged by the retailers in the French market. To this aim, we rely on an asymmetric cointegration approach: the Nonlinear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model. We find that although the asymmetric price transmission is effective along the French food marketing chain, it is more pronounced at the downstream level, illustrating that agri-food companies are the main losers of the recent war price in the food sector. |
| Keywords: | Food sector, Price transmission, Asymmetry, Nonlinear ARDL model |
| JEL: | C13 C22 Q11 Q13 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2020-1&r=all |
| By: | Bradford L. Barham; Jeremy D. Foltz; Ana Paula Melo |
| Abstract: | This article examines the involvement of agricultural and life science faculty at U.S. land grant universities in two types of university-industry relations: academic engagement (sponsored research, industry collaborations, and presentations), academic commercialization (patenting, licensing, and start-ups) and traditional academic scholarship. It exploits large-scale, random sample cross-section surveys of nearly 1,500 scientists at the original 52 Land Grant Universities in 2005 and 2015. We fill a knowledge gap regarding the prevalence, coincidence, intensity, importance and factors shaping faculty involvement in university-industry relations (UIR). After several decades of promotion and emphasis on UIR activities participation in them has plateaued and is stable at a fairly high level. Academic engagement is far more prevalent (at 76% of faculty) and important than is academic commercialization (at 19% of faculty). Academic engagement generates 15-20 times the research funds than academic commercialization does, but both continue to be dwarfed by public funding. We find evidence of synergies between UIR activities and academic scholarship. We also explore how individual, institutional, and university-level factors help explain faculty UIR participation. We find differences across academic disciplines and highlight the role that faculty attitudes toward science and commercial activity shape involvement in UIR. Significant differences also stem from university level effects and may be contingent on culture, history, location, and quality of science. |
| JEL: | I23 O31 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26688&r=all |
| By: | Joseph,George; Haque,Sabrina Sharmin; Moqueet,Nazia Sultana; Hoo,Yi Rong |
| Abstract: | Water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions are increasingly recognized as essential for improving nutritional outcomes in children. Emerging literature describes the negative effects of poor sanitation on child growth. However, limited evidence has shown a link between water quality and nutritional outcomes. Similar to poor sanitation, it is plausible that water contaminated with E. coli could affect the nutritional status of children through various possible biological pathways, such as repeated episodes of diarrhea, environmental enteropathy, parasites, or other mechanisms that inhibit nutrient uptake and absorption. This study explores the relationship between contaminated water and stunting prevalence among children younger than age five years, using unique cross-sectional data from the 2012?13 Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, which was one of the first nationally representative surveys to include water quality testing for E. coli. E. coli contamination in drinking water is measured at household and source points. Stunting is measured using height-for-age z-scores for children under five, where a child is considered stunted when he or she is two or more standard deviations below the median of the World Health Organization reference population. The results of multiple probit regression models indicate a 6 percent increase in the prevalence of stunting in children who are exposed to highly contaminated drinking water at household point compared with those exposed to low-to-medium contamination. When contamination is measured at the source level, the association is greater, with a 9 percent increase in the likelihood of stunting when exposed to a high level of contamination. |
| Keywords: | Hydrology,Reproductive Health,Early Child and Children',Early Child and Children's Health,Nutrition,Small Private Water Supply Providers,Engineering,Water and Human Health,Health and Sanitation,Environmental Engineering,Sanitary Environmental Engineering,Water Supply and Sanitation Economics,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Sanitation and Sewerage,Educational Sciences |
| Date: | 2019–11–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9054&r=all |
| By: | Kurdi, Sikandra; Breisinger, Clemens; Ibrahim, Hosam; Ghorpade, Yashodhan; Al-Ahmadi, Afrah |
| Abstract: | An impact evaluation of Yemen’s Cash for Nutrition program provides new evidence of the benefits of “cash plus†transfer programs to meet nutritional needs in conflict situations. Conflict has become a major driver of humanitarian crises globally, requiring responses that not only meet people’s immediate need for calories, but also ensure that aid recipients, especially children and pregnant women, receive adequate diet to avoid long-term impacts of malnutrition. The program in Yemen combined cash transfers with nutritional education using soft conditionality, with significant positive impacts on maternal and child dietary diversity, children’s height and weight measures, and the likelihood of children being diagnosed with moderate or severe acute malnutrition. |
| Keywords: | YEMEN; ARAB COUNTRIES; MIDDLE EAST; SOUTHWESTERN ASIA; ASIA; nutrition; nutrition policies; evaluation; impact assessment; conflicts; cash transfer programs; cash transfers |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:polbrf:9780896293601&r=all |
| By: | Varun Kumar Das (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research); A. Ganesh-Kumar (Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the effect commercialization (sale ratio, market transaction, co-operative sale), and diversification (crop, animal husbandry, and non-farm diversification) may have on farmers' income. In investigating so, this paper takes into account the structural factors which could also affect farmers' income. The results show that increasing diversification (crop and non-farm diversification), and increasing commercialization in terms of ratio of crop sold, number of transactions that farmers undertake in crop and animal husbandry markets, and selling of crops to mandis, co-operative and government agency, could improve farmers' income. These findings substantiates the policy suggestions made by Dalwai Committee Report 2018 with regard to commercialization and diversification as important policy instruments for raising of farmers' income. |
| Keywords: | Commercialization, market transaction, diversification, farmers' income |
| JEL: | L25 Q12 Q15 Q18 |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ind:igiwpp:2019-042&r=all |
| By: | Konan Alain N’Ghauran (Univ Lyon, UJM Saint-Etienne, CNRS, GATE L-SE UMR 5824, F-42023 Saint-Etienne, France); Corinne Autant-Bernard (Univ Lyon, UJM Saint-Etienne, CNRS, GATE L-SE UMR 5824, F-42023 Saint-Etienne, France) |
| Abstract: | Despite the growing body of literature evaluating cluster policies, it still remains difficult to establish conclusively their structural effects on regional innovation networks. Focusing on the French cluster policy during the period 2005-2010, this study aims at evaluating how cluster policies influence the structure of local innovation networks following network topologies that may be beneficial for regional innovation. Based on a panel data of four periods and 94 NUTS3 French regions, we estimate spatial Durbin models, allowing us to identify direct, indirect and total effects of cluster policies. The results suggest that cluster policies can result in both positive and negative total effects on the structure of local innovation networks depending on regions’ technological specialisation. Beyond the heterogeneous effects, the results also highlight that cluster policies may lead to a regional competition for the strengthening of innovation networks. This finding echoed previous research pointing out the possible "beggar-thy-neighbour" effects of cluster policies. |
| Keywords: | Cluster, Regional innovation, Innovation network, Policy evaluation |
| JEL: | L52 O33 R58 |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:2005&r=all |
| By: | Strupat,Christoph; Farfan Bertran,Maria Gabriela; Moritz,Laura; Negre Rossignoli,Mario; Vakis,Renos |
| Abstract: | Rising obesity rates are one of the most challenging public health issues in many emerging economies. The extent to which the nutritional composition of food consumed away from home is behind this rise, and the links with socioeconomic status, is not yet well understood. This paper explores this question by combining a representative restaurant survey that includes detailed information on the nutritional composition of the most widely consumed meals in Metropolitan Lima and a representative household survey with anthropometric measures of adult women. The findings indicate that the nutritional quality in restaurants located in the food environment of the households is significantly associated with higher rates of obesity and overweight. Up to 15 percent of the socioeconomic gradient in obesity is attributable to restaurant food quality, with sodium being the main driver. This highlights the importance of considering the food environment to inform public health policies, particularly for the poor. |
| Date: | 2019–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9066&r=all |
| By: | Artuc,Erhan; Porto,Guido; Rijkers,Bob |
| Abstract: | How do trade reforms impact households in different parts of the income distribution? This paper presents a new database, the Household Impacts of Tariffs data set, which contains harmonized household survey and tariff data for 54 low- and lower-middle income countries. The data cover highly disaggregated information on household budget and income shares for 53 agricultural products, wage labor income, nonfarm enterprise sales and transfers, as well as spending on manufacturing and services. Using a stylized model of the first-order impacts of import tariffs on household real income, this paper quantifies the welfare implications of agricultural trade protection. On average, unilateral elimination of agricultural tariffs would increase household incomes by 2.50 percentage points. Import tariffs have highly heterogeneous effects across countries and within countries across households, consumers, and income earners; the average standard deviation of the gains from trade within a country is 1.01 percentage points. |
| Keywords: | International Trade and Trade Rules,Labor&Employment Law,Food Security,Common Carriers Industry,Food&Beverage Industry,Business Cycles and Stabilization Policies,Plastics&Rubber Industry,Construction Industry,General Manufacturing,Pulp&Paper Industry,Textiles, Apparel&Leather Industry,Trade and Multilateral Issues |
| Date: | 2019–12–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9045&r=all |
| By: | CSISA |
| Abstract: | The application of fertilizers that do not meet the nutrient requirements (i.e. balanced nutrient application) of target crops is a widespread problem in India. Farmers overuse urea (N) and seldom apply secondary nutrients (Sulphur, Calcium, and Magnesium) and micro-nutrients (like Zinc, Iron, Copper, Boron, Molybdenum and Manganese) in their plots. This imbalanced application of nutrients affects both long-term health of the soil as well as farmers’ own net incomes from agriculture. How do we deploy scientific research, business innovations, and public policies and programs to help promote balanced use of fertilizers in Indian agriculture? |
| Keywords: | INDIA; SOUTH ASIA; ASIA; farm inputs; fertilizers; agricultural policies |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:polbrf:2019csisa-policybrief&r=all |
| By: | Sohnesen Thomas |
| Abstract: | Cognitive and non-cognitive tests are key factors in many aspects of economics, especially within labour market analysis.Non-cognitive tests and personality traits are increasingly used, as these are found to be as critical as cognitive abilities for labour market outcomes, while they might be more malleable through life. Intake of caffeine and sugar immediately prior testing is also known to impact cognitive test scores, while almost nothing is known about any similar impact on personality test scores.This work shows, as a first, a significant impact from coffee on the personality trait locus of control. The impact from coffee on locus of control is so large that it significantly alters the results of an analysis of locus of control’s importance for labour market behaviour. Consumption of food, soft drinks, or coffee is found to have no impact on verbal, numerical, and Raven’s Progressive Matrices tests.The study is based on a large sample of university students in Mozambique. |
| Keywords: | Measurement error,non-cognitive test,Personality traits,glucose,Labour market,caffeine,Cognitive ability,cognitive test |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2019-117&r=all |
| By: | Baez,Javier E.; Kshirsagar,Varun; Skoufias,Emmanuel |
| Abstract: | This paper combines remote-sensed data and individual child-, mother-, and household-level data from the Demographic and Health Surveys for five countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) to design a prototype drought-contingent targeting framework that may be used in scarce-data contexts. To accomplish this, the paper: (i) develops simple and easy-to-communicate measures of drought shocks; (ii) shows that droughts have a large impact on child stunting in these five countries -- comparable, in size, to the effects of mother's illiteracy and a fall to a lower wealth quintile; and (iii) shows that, in this context, decision trees and logistic regressions predict stunting as accurately (out-of-sample) as machine learning methods that are not interpretable. Taken together, the analysis lends support to the idea that a data-driven approach may contribute to the design of policies that mitigate the impact of climate change on the world's most vulnerable populations. |
| Date: | 2019–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9071&r=all |
| By: | Holden, Stein T. (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences); Tilahun, Mesfin (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Land is an essential asset for the livelihood and welfare of rural households in agriculture-based rural economies. This study utilizes land registry data from the First and Second Stage Land Registration (FSLR and SSLR) Reforms that took place in 1998 and 2016 in Tigray region of Ethiopia, the first region in Ethiopia to implement land registration and certification. Second Stage Land Registration and Certification (SSLR&C) provided households with parcel-based certificates with names of all holders. We assess the changes in farm sizes and gender distribution of land using mean and median sizes, Gini coefficients, and cumulative distribution graphs. The SSLR data facilitate detailed gender-disaggregated analysis after aggregating parcel data by gender to household level and categorizing households in male- and female-headed households. The data came from 11 municipalities in four districts, covering 78,700 parcels, a total area of about 30,000 ha, allocated to 31,150 households (SSLR). Average farm size declined from 1.15 to 0.90 ha and median farm size from 0.88 to 0.63 ha from 1998 to 2016. The Gini coefficient for land per capita increased from 0.42 in 1998 to 0.57 in 2016. The female landholding share for this land was as high as 48.8% in 2016. Compared to female-headed households, male-headed households had on average 27% and 35% more land per household in 1998 and 2016. The study demonstrates the relevance of land registry data for the monitoring of farm sizes and gender distribution of land and the findings are of relevance for the Sustainable Development Goal 1.4. |
| Keywords: | Land registry data; Farm size distribution; Gender-disaggregated landholding; Cumulative distribution functions; Gini coefficients; Ethiopia |
| JEL: | Q15 |
| Date: | 2020–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2020_002&r=all |
| By: | Yann Emmanuel Sonagnon Miassi (Çukurova University); Fabrice Kossivi Dossa (Université de Parakou); Bernadin Agani (Çukurova University) |
| Date: | 2018–10–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02423624&r=all |
| By: | Bjorn Van Campenhout; Bart Minten; Jo Swinnen |
| Abstract: | Driven by increased demand from both local and export markets and fa- cilitated by far-reaching liberalization and privatization policies, the dairy sub-sector in Uganda has undergone significant changes in the last decade. With a comparative advantage in milk production, the southwest of Uganda has started to attract considerable Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) in processing capacity, mainly targeting the export market. As a result, processing capacity increased five-fold and dairy became Uganda’s third most important export product, coming from negligible amounts a decade earlier. In this study, we use observational data collected at different nodes within the value chain to compare the structure of the chain and the roles and economic activities of different actors between export-led value chains and value chains that cater for the local market. Doing so allows us to identify the technological and institutional innovations that both result from the emergence of export-led dairy value chains and at the same time drive further upgrading. Our analysis underscores the importance of milk collection centers, which often take the form of farmer cooperatives, in providing many of the support services that enable other actors in the value chain to produce sufficient milk, and maintain milk sanitation levels necessary for an export sector to emerge. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ete:ceswps:649037&r=all |
| By: | Stads, Gert-Jan; Rahman, Md. Mustafizur; Nin-Pratt, Alejandro; Gao, Lang |
| Abstract: | Agricultural research investment and human resource capacity in Bangladesh have grown considerably in recent years, largely as a result of increased government and World Bank funding. Despite this growth, Bangladesh still only invested 0.38 percent of its AgGDP in agricultural research in 2016—well below the level needed to address multiple challenges, including rapid population growth and severe climate change impacts. Although research staff numbers and qualification levels have gradually improved over time, an aging pool of PhD-qualified researchers remains as an important challenge. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:asticb:bangladesh2019&r=all |
| By: | Kosec, Katrina; Ragasa, Catherine |
| Abstract: | The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has for decades contributed significantly on key topics for effective service delivery. Building on earlier work, this brief summarizes research led by the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) over the last seven years that focuses on agricultural and social protection services to inform policymakers and organizations of ways to improve delivery and access to these services within the changing rural landscape. |
| Keywords: | rural areas; services; private sector; public sector; information; service quality; social protection; public services; incentives; rural service delivery; transparency; citizen services |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:polbrf:9780896293731&r=all |
| By: | Wiebe, Keith D.; Sulser, Timothy; Pacheco, Pablo; De Pinto, Alessandro; Mason d'Croz, Daniel; Dermawan, Ahmad; Thomas, Timothy S.; Li, Man; Robinson, Sherman; Dunston, Shahnila |
| Abstract: | Palm oil production has increased rapidly over the past two decades in response to rising demand for its use in food, energy, and industrial applications. Expansion of oil palm plantations presents a dilemma, as they can displace forests and peatlands, leading to biodiversity losses and increased greenhouse gas emissions. Although projections show that expansion of oil palm area will slow with faster yield growth, important concerns remain that will require careful attention from policymakers. |
| Keywords: | palm oils; productivity; supply balance; deforestation; yields; environment; prices; technological changes; markets; palm oil production; palm oil yields; IMPACT model |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:polbrf:9780896296879&r=all |
| By: | G. Cornelis van Kooten |
| Keywords: | Supply management, market power, dairy trade |
| JEL: | Q13 Q17 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rep:wpaper:2018-03&r=all |
| By: | Daniel MejiÌ a (Department of Economics, Universidad de los Andes); Mounu Prem (School of Economics, Universidad del Rosario); Juan F. Vargas (School of Economics, Universidad del Rosario) |
| Abstract: | Well-intended policies often have negative unintended consequences if they fail to foresee the different ways in which individuals may respond to the new set of incentives. When widespread and persistent, these may lead to a net reduction of social welfare. Focusing on the case of anti-drug policies, in this paper we show that the recent unprecedented surge in the growing of illicit coca crops in Colombia was the result of a naive and untimely policy announcement during peace negotiations between the government and the FARC guerrillas. On May 2014, the parties’ peace delegations issued a press release announcing that coca-growing farmers would receive material incentives for voluntary crop substitution once a final agreement had been reached. To evaluate the anticipation effect of this announcement we exploit the cross sectional variation on both the cost advantage of growing coca (using an ecological measure of coca suitability) and the expected benefits of doing so (using a predicted measure of where the material benefits would have been targeted). Coca plantations levels remained high even after the implementation of the announced incentives’ scheme. We explain this persistence by documenting that the surge in coca growing is differentially higher in areas with presence illegal armed groups, that benefited financially from availability of a key input in the drug trade. |
| Keywords: | Coca growing, Drug war, Anticipation effects, Policy announcement, Colombia JEL Classification: K42, D78 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:318&r=all |
| By: | Jasmien De Winne (Cornell University, Ithaca, New York); Gert Peersman (Ghent University) |
| Abstract: | Studies that examine the impact of food prices on conflict usually assume that (all) changes in international food prices are exogenous shocks for individual countries or local areas. By isolating strictly exogenous shifts in global food commodity prices, we show that this assumption could seriously distort estimations of the impact on conflict in African regions. Specifically, we show that increases in food prices that are caused by harvest shocks outside Africa raise conflict significantly, whereas a “naive†regression of conflict on international food prices uncovers an inverse relationship. We also find that higher food prices lead to more conflict in regions with more agricultural production. Again, we document that failing to account for exogenous price changes exhibits a considerable bias in the impact. In addition, we show that the conventional approach to evaluate such effects; that is, estimations that include time fixed effects, ignores an important positive baseline effect that is common for all regions. |
| Keywords: | conflict, food prices, instrumental variables JEL Classification: C23, D74, F44, Q02, Q34 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:316&r=all |
| By: | Mahfouz, A.; Elbert, R.; Gleser, M.; Allen, D.; Arisha, A. |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:119220&r=all |
| By: | Dimitri Defrance (Espace-Dev, Université Montpellier, IRD, Université Guyane, Université Réunion, Université Antilles, Université Avignon); Esther Delesalle (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Flore Gubert (IRD, UMR LEDa-DIAL, PSL, Université Paris-Dauphine, CNRS, and PSE) |
| Abstract: | This paper combines population census data and climate data to estimate the volume of migrations induced by the drought events that have hit Mali since the late 1980s. The results show that the droughts that have unevenly affected the regions of Mali have had the effect of increasing migration from rural to urban areas. This is true for both men and women, regardless of the age group considered. Between 1998 and 2009, droughts translate into an additional net outflow of 7,134 male and 6,281 female rural migrants per year. The effect of drought episodes, however, differs according to localities and rural households' capacity to adapt to climatic constraints: it fades in localities characterized by more diversified crops and in those located in the Sudano-Sahelian and Sudano-Guinean zones that receive more rainfall on average. Climate shocks also had an impact on international mobility: over the 2004-2009 period, around 2,000 additional departures per year can be attributed to the dry episodes that hit Mali during the 2000s. We forecast that, under different climate scenarios and population growth projection, internal and international mobility induced by droughts events will substantially grow in the next decades. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Migration, Mali |
| JEL: | Q54 Q15 F22 O55 |
| Date: | 2020–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2020003&r=all |