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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2017‒08‒27
thirty-six papers chosen by |
| By: | Wouterse, Fleur Stephanie |
| Abstract: | Located at the heart of West Africa, Niger is a landlocked country with three-quarters of its territory covered by the Sahara Desert. Niger’s climate is mostly arid, and it is one of the least developed countries in the world. The vast majority of its population lives in rural areas, and the country is strongly dependent on agriculture. Agriculture is predominantly rainfed and yields rely on one rainy season. Although productivity in Niger has shown a positive trend, agriculture has been strongly affected in recent decades by several crises partly or entirely due to extreme weather events. Farmers pursue a number of strategies in the face of climatic (and nonclimatic) stressors including soil and water conservation methods such as barriers, terracing, and planting pits, and their adaptive capacity is deemed critical for estimating the economic impact of climate change. An understanding of climate change adaptation processes at the farm household level is therefore crucial to the development of well-designed and targeted mitigation policies. In this study, we use new data from Niger and regression analysis to study climate change adaptation through the digging of zaї pits and food production and the role of human capital measures therein. We find that adaptation is influenced by the perception that the frequency of droughts has increased and by the availability of financial resources and household labor. Adaptation is also influenced by educational attainment—both formal and Koranic school education. Adaptation of zaї pits is found to play an important role in food productivity. Our counterfactual analysis reveals that even though all households would benefit from adaptation, the effect is found to be significantly larger for households that actually did adapt relative to those that did not, indicating that the prospects of closing the productivity gap through encouraging adaptation in less well-endowed households are limited. |
| Keywords: | smallholders, empowerment, regression analysis, land management, soil water conservation methods, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1643&r=agr |
| By: | Fanzo, Jessica; McLaren, Rebecca; Davis, Claire; Choufani, Jowel |
| Abstract: | The paper uses a food systems approach to analyze the bidirectional relationships between climate change and food and nutrition along the entire food value chain. It then identifies adaptation and mitigation interventions for each step of the food value chain to move toward a more climate-smart, nutrition-sensitive food system. The study focuses on poor rural farmers, a population especially vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change on nutrition, although we recognize that there are other vulnerable populations, including urban poor and rural populations working outside of agriculture. Although this report does not explicitly exclude overweight and obesity, it focuses primarily on undernutrition because this nutritional status is currently more prevalent than overnutrition among our target population. |
| Keywords: | nutrition, climate change, food security, diets, food systems, adaptation, mitigation, food value chain, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1645&r=agr |
| By: | Gelli, Aulo; Headey, Derek D.; Ngure, Francis; Becquey, Elodie; Ganaba, Rasmané; Huybregts, Lieven; Pedehombga, Abdoulaye; Sanou, Armande; Traore, Abdoulaye; Zongo, Florence; Zongrone, Amanda |
| Abstract: | The Soutenir l’Exploitation Familiale pour Lancer l’Élevage des Volailles et Valoriser l’Économie Rurale (SELEVER) study is designed to evaluate the impact of an integrated agriculture-nutrition intervention package (including poultry value chain development; women’s empowerment activities; and a behavior change communications strategy to promote improved diets and feeding, care, and hygiene practices) on the diets, health, and nutritional status of women and children in Burkina Faso. The aim of the formative research was to assess the need for an intensive water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and poultry-related hygiene component that could be rolled out alongside the SELEVER intervention in the context of the cluster randomized controlled trial. This paper is based on an observational mixed-methods study that included a literature review, pathways analysis, and primary and secondary data analysis. A theory-based framework was developed to map the different pathways linking WASH, animal husbandry practices, and child nutrition and development outcomes. This framework was used to critically review the literature on each of the pathways involved. Hygiene-related programmatic materials from the SELEVER intervention were also reviewed. Secondary data were analyzed on livestock rearing, WASH practices, and exposure to human and livestock feces. Primary research included data collection from three selected villages where SELEVER activities were being piloted, including direct observations of 20 caregiver-child pairs, in-depth interviews, and focus groups. The literature review suggested that WASH interventions have substantial potential for improving child nutrition, though the evidence on their effectiveness is far from definitive. The secondary data analysis confirmed that exposure to poultry and poultry feces is extremely widespread in Burkina Faso. Fully 80 percent of rural households owned poultry, and most poultry could roam freely throughout the compound. Visible animal feces were reported in 84 percent of compounds in both the CHANGE and PROMIS surveys. Moreover, WASH practices and general hygiene were very low: toilet ownership was extremely low (22 percent nationally), water supply was a major constraint, and handwashing with soap was very rare (in the CHANGE survey, only 2 percent of households reported having soap for handwashing). The primary data confirmed the poor state of WASH, extreme exposure to poultry and poultry feces, and poor knowledge of the risks associated with children’s exposure to animal feces. The hygiene-related content of the SELEVER intervention focuses primarily on the promotion of practical measures to improve WASH-related practices at the household level, including food preparation, water and sanitation, and waste management, with some messaging on the risks of exposure to animal feces. Emerging evidence suggests that exposure to animal feces is an important health risk for young children. However, the question of how to best mitigate this risk programmatically is still unclear. In rural Burkina Faso, the general WASH environment appears severely constrained, and free-scavenging poultry production systems are ubiquitous. These findings suggest the opportunity to develop a community-oriented behavioral change intervention that emphasizes, rather than isolates, the importance of reducing children’s exposure to poultry feces. In the context of SELEVER, this intervention would aim to increase production and consumption of poultry products while concomitantly reducing children’s exposure to poultry feces. Scaling up an intensive WASH package alongside the standard SELEVER intervention in the context of the randomized trial would provide rigorous, policy-relevant evidence in this emerging field. |
| Keywords: | nutrition, hygiene, poultry, livestock, diet, health, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1665&r=agr |
| By: | Spielman, David J.; Smale, Melinda |
| Abstract: | The genetic improvement of food staple crops cultivated by small-scale farmers is a well-established route to increasing agricultural productivity and improving rural livelihoods. But in developing countries where seed markets are commercially active or advancing in that direction, undue emphasis in both policy and research is often placed on the adoption of improved cultivars rather than varietal turnover, or the replacement of an already improved variety with a more recently released improved variety. Strong and consistent rates of varietal turnover contribute to sustaining yield gains over time, protecting those gains from both biotic and abiotic stresses, increasing the sustainability of intensive cropping systems, and improving the quality of the commodity itself for storage, processing, and consumption. This paper explores the importance of varietal turnover in advanced and transitional seed systems for food staples in South Asia and Africa south of the Sahara. We first review the measurement of varietal turnover over spatial and temporal dimensions before examining evidence on policies designed to accelerate varietal turnover rates. We then suggest a sequence of regulatory reforms and public investments designed to accelerate varietal turnover while drawing attention to the economic trade-offs, unintended consequences, and operational challenges of such reforms and investments. |
| Keywords: | farm inputs, varieties, seed, cereals, subsidies, farm inputs, agricultural policies, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1666&r=agr |
| By: | Berga, Helen; Ringler, Claudia; Bryan, Elizabeth; El Didi, Hagar; Elnasikh, Sara |
| Abstract: | The Nile is the lifeblood of northeastern Africa, and its roles for and interdependency with the national economies it traverses and binds together grow as it moves from source to sea. With rapid economic development—population growth, irrigation development, rural electrification, and overall economic growth—pressures on the Nile’s water resources are growing to unprecedented levels. These drivers of change have already contributed to stark changes in the hydropolitical regime, and new forms of cooperation and cross-sectoral collaboration are needed, particularly in the Eastern Nile Basin countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, and South Sudan. As direct sharing of water resources is hampered by unilateral developments, the need has increased for broader, cross-sectoral collaboration around the water, energy, and food sectors. This study is conducted to assess and understand the challenges of and opportunities for cooperation across the water-energy-food nexus nationally in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Sudan, as well as regionally across the Eastern Nile. To gather data, the paper uses an e-survey supplemented with key informant interviews geared toward national-level water, energy, and agriculture stakeholders, chiefly government staff and researchers. Findings from the survey tools suggest that most respondents strongly agree that collaboration across the water, energy, and agriculture sectors is essential to improve resource management in the region. At the same time, there is ample scope for improvement in collaboration across the water, energy, and food sectors nationally. Ministries of water, energy, and food were identified as the key nexus actors at national levels; these would also need to be engaged in regional cross-sectoral collaboration. Respondents also identified a wide range of desirable cross-sectoral actions and investments—both national and regional—chiefly, joint planning and operation of multipurpose infrastructure; investment in enhanced irrigation efficiency; joint rehabilitation of upstream catchments to reduce sedimentation and degradation; and investment in alternative renewable energy projects, such as wind and solar energy. |
| Keywords: | stakeholders, energy, water, food, Nile river, resilience, surveys, cooperation, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1655&r=agr |
| By: | Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Doss, Cheryl R.; Theis, Sophie |
| Abstract: | Land is an important asset for rural households, and having secure land rights is important for poverty reduction. Despite the large body of literature on the relationship between land tenure security, livelihoods, and poverty, most of this literature is based on household-level data and does not consider possible intrahousehold inequalities in land ownership. We know very little about the relationship between women’s land rights and poverty, not only because data on women’s land rights (WLR) are rare, but also because of the implicit assumption that women belong to households that pool resources completely. Thus, it is the land rights of households, not women, that matter for poverty reduction. However, growing evidence that households do not pool resources completely and that women have fewer assets than men warrants attention to the potential role of WLR in poverty reduction. This paper reviews the literature on WLR and poverty reduction. It adapts the Gender, Agriculture and Assets Project (GAAP) conceptual framework to identify pathways by which WLR could reduce poverty and increase wellbeing of women and their households in rural areas. It uses a systematic review search methodology to identify papers for inclusion, but adopts a more synthetic approach to assess the level of agreement and the amount of evidence within this literature. The paper examines the evidence from qualitative as well as quantitative studies on each of these pathways. Owing to the scarcity of experimental studies, the review of empirical work is based mostly on observational studies. We find some evidence on these relationships, but many of the key pathways have not been empirically analyzed. The evidence is strong for relationships between WLR and bargaining power and decision making on consumption, human capital investment, and intergenerational transfers. There is a high level of agreement, but weaker evidence on the relationship between WLR and natural resource management, government services and institutions, empowerment and domestic violence, resilience and HIV risk, and consumption and food security. There is less agreement and insufficient evidence on the associations between WLR and other livelihoods, and a higher level of agreement, but still limited evidence on associations between WLR and credit, technology adoption, and agricultural productivity. Notably, we find no papers that directly investigate the link between WLR and poverty. Many gaps in the evidence arise from a failure to account for the complexity of land rights regimes, the measurement of land rights at the household level, the lack of attention paid to gender roles, and the lack of studies from countries outside Africa. Many studies are limited by small sample sizes, the lack of credible counterfactuals, lack of attention to endogeneity and selection bias, and possible response bias on questions of domestic violence and empowerment. There are very few rigorous evaluations of reforms that strengthened WLR. The paper concludes that gaps in the evidence should not deter the careful design and implementation of programs and policies to strengthen WLR, given the ongoing land tenure reforms in many countries. Different modalities and mechanisms for strengthening WLR could be tested, with appropriate counterfactuals. Program designers and evaluators can strategically identify pathways and outcomes where evidence gaps exist, and deliberately design studies to close those gaps. |
| Keywords: | property rights, assets, poverty, gender, land rights, households, women, land tenure, livelihoods, land ownership, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1663&r=agr |
| By: | Holden, Stein T, (Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences) |
| Abstract: | This chapter provides an overview of what we know about farm size distributions, the emerging land markets, the role of tenure systems, tenure reforms and land policies in shaping the distribution of increasingly scarce land resources. The primary focus is on Africa while making some comparisons with Asia. Climate risk and change have serious implications for household vulnerability and food security. While there is a need to absorb further population growth in rural areas, a rapid rise in rural-urban migration is inevitable. Careful land use planning and tenure reforms are needed to smooth the transition towards more intensive land use. |
| Keywords: | Small farms; food security; land tenure; land markets; land governance |
| JEL: | Q15 |
| Date: | 2017–08–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2017_009&r=agr |
| By: | Gebru, Menasbo (Mekelle University); 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: | The paper utilizes household panel data to investigate whether the land rental market can facilitate improved access to land for land-poor tenant households over time and thereby facilitate expansion of their farming activity. The paper utilizes data 8-17 years after land certification to assess the long-term effect of land certification on the allocative efficiency in the land rental market in areas where land certification stimulated land renting in the early years after certification. The paper uses three rounds of balanced panel data collected from 320 smallholder farmers in 2006, 2010 & 2015 from rural Tigrai, northern Ethiopia. Random effects dynamic probit and Tobit models were used to assess factors that may explain access, participation, and intensity of participation on the tenant side of the tenancy market. Tenants’ access to land was found to be severely constrained. Previous access and participation had strong positive effect on access and participation and intensity of participation in later periods. Non-convex transaction costs and entry barriers, therefore, appear as severe constraints towards the land rental market facilitating smallholder commercialization through tenancy access to land. More active land rental market coordination interventions are needed to boost the land rental market as a vehicle for facilitation of smallholder commercialization. |
| Keywords: | Land rental market; tenants’ land access; dynamic probit; dynamic tobit; Tigrai; Ethiopia |
| JEL: | Q15 |
| Date: | 2017–08–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nlsclt:2017_010&r=agr |
| By: | Pathmanathan, Hamsha; Babu, Suresh Chandra; Pal, Chandrashri |
| Abstract: | Prolonged civil wars can have long-lasting adverse effects on food systems, leading to poverty and food insecurity. Overcoming food insecurity and land inequality is particularly difficult because of the highly politicized nature of conflict. This paper builds on the existing literature on food sovereignty to ensure sustainable livelihoods and community ownership of a resilient food system. We identify components of community food security to be strengthened in a post war reconstruction context. We study the impacts of the civil war on food and land administration systems, farmer struggles and current transitional justice process in relation to community food security in the Northern and Eastern Provinces in Sri Lanka and identify the technological, institutional, organizational, and infrastructural setbacks caused by conflict. It explores how such setbacks could be rectified and a resilient food system could be built in the postwar scenario. |
| Keywords: | resilience, food systems, organizational capacity, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1644&r=agr |
| By: | Loren Brandt (University of Toronto); Jessica Leight (Williams College); Diego Restuccia (University of Toronto); Tasso Adamopoulos (York University) |
| Abstract: | We use household-level panel data from China and a quantitative framework to document the extent and consequences of factor misallocation in agriculture. We find that there are substantial frictions in both the land and capital markets linked to land institutions in rural China that disproportionately constrain the more productive farmers. These frictions reduce aggregate agricultural productivity in China by affecting two key margins: (1) the allocation of resources across farmers (misallocation) and (2) the allocation of workers across sectors, in particular the type of farmers who operate in agriculture (selection). We show that selection can substantially amplify the static misallocation effect of distortionary policies by affecting occupational choices that worsen the distribution of productive units in agriculture. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:red:sed017:404&r=agr |
| By: | Ecker, Olivier; Van Asselt, Joanna |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, Ghana has experienced high economic growth and transformation, which contributed to the nation achieving the Millennium Development Goal targets on reducing extreme poverty and hunger. Against this background and in view of achieving the food and nutrition security targets of the Sustainable Development Goals, Ghana started a process of reviewing its food security and nutrition strategies and policies, including the overarching Zero Hunger Strategy. This discussion paper aims to contribute to this process by providing an update on the state of Ghana’s food and nutrition security. In addition to providing an overview of long-term historical trends at the national level, this analysis provides an overview of regional patterns of food and nutrition insecurity and recent changes across Ghana’s 10 administrative regions. Finally, the analysis identifies regional “hot spots†of food and nutrition insecurity. This paper confirms that Ghana has achieved substantial improvements in food and nutrition security overall, especially over the past decade. Nationwide, progress has been made in improving households’ economic access to food by reducing poverty and extreme poverty and in reducing chronic and acute child undernutrition. However, progress in reducing micronutrient malnutrition—particularly anemia and especially among young children—has been more modest. Across Ghana, large rural-urban gaps and regional differences—mainly between the north and the south—remain for most dimensions of food and nutrition security. In addition, Ghana is increasingly facing new nutrition-related public health problems that result from overnutrition and diets too rich in calories. Overweight and obesity among adults are rising rapidly in both urban and rural areas, leading to an increase in the risk of noncommunicable diseases. The rising double burden of malnutrition—that is, the coexistence of overnutrition and undernutrition, including micronutrient deficiencies—constitutes a challenge to public health and social protection policy. These new nutritional realities may make some existing food and nutrition security policies obsolete or even detrimental to nutrition security. |
| Keywords: | nutrition policies, food security, nutrition, economic development, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1650&r=agr |
| By: | Das, Mousumi; Sharma, Ajay; Babu, Suresh Chandra |
| Abstract: | Food security and nutrition policy interventions generally rely on selective measures. Yet recent literature emphasizes the importance of identifying different pathways from agriculture to nutrition for better nutritional outcomes. Using a disaggregated dashboard approach with agriculture, food consumption, and demographic and health survey data, this study examines the progress of Indian states toward the Sustainable Development Goals. There is evidence of both disconnects and linkages among food security indicators along the agriculture-nutrition pathways. Through a broadened and comprehensive approach under one coordinating body with a good set of improved interventions and governance, Indian states can attain food and nutrition security by 2030. Such evidence based policy making is need of the hour to observe impact on the ground, rather than framing policies based on ideologies. At a time when the focus is more and more on impact, the shift to why we do research and what it contributes to solving the problem is increasingly important. |
| Keywords: | agricultural development, commercial farming, agroindustrial sector, poverty, indicators, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1649&r=agr |
| By: | Babu, Suresh Chandra; Shishodia, Mahika |
| Abstract: | Agribusiness has a major role to play in the transformation of the agricultural sector in Africa. With the demand for high-value food products increasing around the world, the production and export of these goods represents an opportunity to achieve increases in income and employment. To capture the benefits of this trend and capitalize on this opportunity for long-term agricultural growth, agribusiness in Africa must become more competitive. In addition to improving competitiveness, increasing agricultural productivity and food security are also major challenges in African agricultural development. In this paper, we compare the agribusiness competitiveness of African countries and develop typologies connected with their food security and agricultural productivity status. The typologies reveal various stylized facts on the competitiveness of agribusiness to help nations prioritize issues for agricultural development and growth. We develop the measures of agribusiness competitiveness and apply them to African countries. Additionally, we present policy implications and lessons for increasing the competitiveness of agribusiness in African countries. |
| Keywords: | agroindustrial sector, measurement, typology, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1648&r=agr |
| By: | Kumar, Anjani; Thapa, Ganesh B.; Joshi, Pramod Kumar |
| Abstract: | The paper measures dietary diversity among different income groups in Nepal and identifies the drivers of this diversity as a first step toward addressing the widespread prevalence of nutrient deficiency. The level of diversity in household diets is an indirect measure of dietary quality and the extent to which the nutritional needs of households are being met. However, there is limited understanding of the trends, patterns, and determinants of dietary diversity in Nepal. This study is an attempt to enrich the literature on this issue. Drawing on unit-level data from three rounds (1995, 2004, and 2011) of the Nepal Living Standards Survey (NLSS), we use multilevel modeling, quantile regression, and the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition method to decipher the trends, determinants, and drivers of dietary diversity in Nepal. Our study finds that changes in household sociodemographic and agricultural characteristics are very important in explaining the improvement in dietary quality. Changes in household characteristics account for at least 37 percent of the observed improvement, and agriculture-related changes explain at least 16 percent of the observed improvement. Variables positively associated with dietary quality are remittances, social cash transfers, parents’ education, crop diversity, access to markets and paved roads, and ownership of a television and telephone, among others. Our findings are highly robust across the different model specifications. Our study concludes by calling for a multisectoral approach to tackle nutrition issues in Nepal. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1670&r=agr |
| By: | Fofana, Ismaël; Tankari, Mahamadou Roufahi; Traore, Fousseini |
| Abstract: | A monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system is of critical importance for evidence- and outcome-based planning and implementation in agriculture. The availability of and access to timely and reliable data to inform the M&E system is an undeniable asset. Our analysis highlights the use of survey data to generate relevant information and knowledge on the agricultural sector. The Poverty Monitoring Survey carried out in Senegal in 2011 is used to build the economic accounts for agriculture, which identify a value added of 581 billion CFA francs generated by Senegal’s farm households, representing 60 percent of the sector’s value added in 2011. The average farm household generated 646,500 CFA francs from farming in that same year. The information from the economic accounts for agriculture offers valuable inputs for decision-support tools such as the geographical information platforms (e-atlas) and social accounting matrixes used in strategic analyses and agricultural policy planning. |
| Keywords: | monitoring techniques, evaluation, surveys, poverty, households, income, agricultural economic accounts, monitoring and evaluation system, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1641&r=agr |
| By: | Kharas, Homi Jamshed; McArthur, John W.; von Braun, Joachim |
| Abstract: | Progress toward food and nutrition security (FNS) needs to be sharply accelerated in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal for ending hunger and malnutrition, especially in rural areas. The G20 should target interventions and investment opportunities to maximize impact on people and transformation of rural areas. Currently, few G20 countries map investments, technical assistance, capacity building and policy support in a data-driven way. Such tracking of needs, policies, and resources could include G20 countries' domestic efforts alongside countries they support with development assistance. The G20 could develop such a methodology to identify countries and interventions where additional resources could have a lasting impact. They could then systematically track and streamline FNS actions taken across international organizations and initiatives to efforts to help ensure the SDG is achieved. |
| Keywords: | food security,rural hunger,data revolution,agriculture,G20 |
| JEL: | F01 F02 F35 F53 Q18 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201751&r=agr |
| By: | Christopher Dixon-O’Mara; L. (Lisa B.) Ryan |
| Abstract: | The objective of this research is to empirically examine the drivers and barriers to energy efficiency measures in an important energy-using sector, namely the food retail sector, and support more effective energy efficiency policies for this sector. Although food retailers consume a significant amount of energy due to the refrigeration, air conditioning and specialised lighting needs of stores, there has been little research in this sector on the barriers and drivers for implementing energy efficiency measures. A survey of small food retailers was carried out to understand the barriers and drivers to greater uptake of energy efficiency measures and to examine the acceptability of different energy efficiency policy options for food retailers. In addition, external stakeholders were consulted in order to validate and contextualise the results of the survey. We find there is a complementary relationship between energy efficiency barriers and drivers for food retailers that is remarkably coherent. We identify policies, such as subsidies and support for ESCOs, that both exploit the complementarities between barriers and drivers and are acceptable to food retailers also. This methodology should help identify and design more effective policies to deliver energy efficiency improvements in the food retail sector. |
| Keywords: | Energy efficiency policy; Food retail sector; Policy acceptance; Energy economics; Energy efficiency barriers and drivers |
| JEL: | Q40 Q41 Q48 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201716&r=agr |
| By: | Pavlos Karanikolas (Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), Greece, Dept. Agr. Economics and Rural Development); Dimitrios Theocharidis (Greek Payment Authority of Common Agricultural Policy Aid Schemes); Thedoros Tsiligiridis (Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), Greece, Dept. Agr. Economics and Rural Development, Professor); Konstantinos Tsiboukas (Agricultural University of Athens (AUA), Greece, Dept. Agr. Economics and Rural Development, Professor) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the contribution of small farms (SFs) to food security by using the concept of food system resilience. The study concerns both the whole agri-food system and the subsystem of citrus fruits in the NUTS3 region of Ileia, in Southwestern Greece. Within a dynamic and diversified food system, most of SFs are characterized by a high degree of market integration along with a low degree of food self-sufficiency. A series of reinforcing and balancing feedback loops make the system more vulnerable, undermining its adaptive and transformative capacities. On the contrary, a series of other processes, including specific farming practices which integrate successfully traditional and scientific knowledge, strengthen the system. The ongoing crisis of the Greek economy affects heavily the operation of the regional food system and its outcomes, while it relatively weakens the reinforcement function of some feedback loops, mitigating their adverse consequences. Possible food insecurity problems exist in farms/households which fall below the poverty line, while SFs have to overcome the risk of extreme fragmentation. The findings of this study question the capacity of the regional food system to deliver in a sustainable way its outcomes, as well as to respond effectively to the current challenges. |
| Keywords: | Food and nutrition security; food system resilience; small farms; Greece |
| JEL: | Q12 Q56 I32 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aua:wpaper:2017-1&r=agr |
| By: | Sugiawan, Yogi; Islam, Moinul; Managi, Shunsuke |
| Abstract: | This study explores the state of global marine fisheries and empirically analyzes its relationship to economic factors. We apply the pooled mean group estimator method to examine 70 fishing countries for the period of 1961-2010. We use both catch and the estimated size of stock as proxies for marine ecosystems. Our results confirm that economic growth initially leads to the deterioration of marine ecosystems. However, for a per capita income level of approximately 3,827 USD for the catch model and of 6,066 USD for the biomass model, we found beneficial impacts of economic growth on the sustainability of marine fisheries. Over the next two decades, we expect to see a decline in catch and indications of stock recovery. |
| Keywords: | environmental Kuznets curve; global marine fisheries; pooled mean group |
| JEL: | O44 Q22 Q56 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80841&r=agr |
| By: | Kramer, Berber; Kunst, David |
| Abstract: | Motivated by evidence of mental accounting, this paper tests whether the choice of when to be paid depends on the income type. A lab-in-the-field experiment in Kenya asked dairy cooperative members to allocate both their regular milk payments and an irregular windfall between two dates. We find that participants allocated milk payments to the later of the two dates but allocated the windfall to the earlier date. Most participants self-reported deferring their milk payments in order to save for lump-sum expenses. Those planning to use milk payments for smaller, more frequent purchases were less likely to defer payments. Farmers hence appeared to earmark regular milk payments, but not the irregular windfall, for bulky expenditures. This behavior potentially explains why discount rates elicited using experimenter money are often higher than those inferred from observed choices over regular income. Given that compliance with informal contracts depends on whether the timing of payments aligns with recipient preferences, these findings also have implications for contract design in rural value chains. |
| Keywords: | markets, dairy, income, microeconomics, marketing, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1646&r=agr |
| By: | Koester, Ulrich |
| Abstract: | The EU has signed new agreements with Ukraine, Moldavia, and Ukraine, the so-called Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA). This policy brief only focuses on Georgia to exemplify the mythology and some important specifics of the participating countries that differ somewhat, but are important for assessing the impact. The agreement with Georgia became effective in September 2016; therefore, accurate estimation of the quantified effects was delayed for some time. This policy brief focusses on the free trade agreement on agricultural products. Georgia benefits from trade preferences for import to the EU and the EU likewise from exports to Georgia. It is foreseen that tariffs will be abolished completely in the future, but at present it is only Georgia which has abolished tariffs for imports from the EU. The EU has only reduced the World Trade Organization (WTO) bounded rates and, in addition, it still applies the socalled entry price system and even quotas for imports of garlic. Effects on trade might be important because the EU still highly protects agricultural imports and thus the standard of living for the 50 percent of Georgians living mainly from farming may improve. The findings are that Georgia may gain in total, if traders live in Georgia. The gain results from both redirection of Georgian exports from other destinations and additional exports of Georgian products. These additional exports to the EU may be replaced by additional imports from low price suppliers on the world market. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iamopb:32e&r=agr |
| By: | Munro, Laura |
| Abstract: | Recognition of take-up and transaction cost challenges in individual microinsurance has led to a surge of interest in group microinsurance. Yet few studies have considered the effect of group insurance on the investment decisions of the insured. In the case of weather index insurance, this is an important omission. Analogous to group microcredit, group weather insurance may exacerbate two key challenges depending on the information environment: moral hazard and group pressure. Experimental results from a framed field experiment in Gujarat, India, confirm that group pressure leads to an 8 percent reduction in risk taking in contexts with perfect information and group insurance (relative to individual insurance). The effects of moral hazard are more limited, however. As higher risk taking is associated with higher average agricultural productivity—and thus, development—these findings put a premium on greater attention to group selection, the information environment, and the regulation of payout distribution. |
| Keywords: | finance, insurance, group insurance, weather index insurance, group pressure, investment decisions, farmer decision making, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1642&r=agr |
| By: | Edimilson Costa Lucas; Wesley Mendes Da Silva; Gustavo Silva Araujo |
| Abstract: | Natural extreme events have been occurring more frequently with growing impacts in well-being, mainly in emerging economies. Therefore, the need for more accurate information for managing such impacts has grown. In response to this issue, financial literature has been focusing on the assessment of economic impacts that arise from extreme weather changes. However, these efforts have imparted little attention to the economic impact analysis at the corporate level. To reduce this gap, this article analyzes the impact of extreme rainfall events on the food industry in an emerging economy that is a prominent player in this sector, Brazil. For this purpose, we use the ARGARCH-GPD hybrid methodology to identify whether extreme rainfalls affect stock prices of food companies. The results indicate that these events have a strong impact on the stock returns: In more than half of the days immediately after extreme rain events that occurred between 2.28.2005 and 12.30.2014, returns were significantly low, causing average daily losses of 1.97%. These results point to the need for more accurate financial management to hedge against weather risk |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcb:wpaper:462&r=agr |
| By: | Ambler, Kate; de Brauw, Alan; Godlonton, Susan |
| Abstract: | This study analyzes impacts of large, one-time cash transfers and farm management plans among farmers in Senegal. Farmers were randomized into groups receiving advisory visits, the visits and an individualized farm plan, or the visits, the plan, and a cash transfer. After one year, crop production and livestock ownership were higher in the transfer group relative to the group that only received visits. Livestock gains persisted after two years. Results suggest that the plans increased crop production in year one, but there is no other evidence that the plans were effective when not accompanied by a transfer. |
| Keywords: | agriculture, livestock, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1659&r=agr |
| By: | Raymond B. Frempong; David Stadelmann |
| Abstract: | Female education and its potential to empower women in the development process have engaged the interest of policy makers and academics over the years. By employing individual level data from Ghana and Uganda, we analyze whether female education has a direct bargaining effect on six household welfare indicators: child labor and school enrollment; food expenditure and nutrition intake; female labor force participation and fertility rates. The empirical results indicate that both, the level of the wife and her husband's education, are significant determinants of household welfare. However, the wife’s education has no larger effect than that of her husband's, and the relative bargaining position of the wife, at most, has negligible effects on the welfare indicators studied. Further robustness analysis largely confirms our findings. We conclude that, whilst female education has the potential to enhance household welfare, the effect does not necessarily work though enhanced bargaining power. |
| Keywords: | Women Empowerment; Intra-household Bargaining; Household Welfare; Ghana; Uganda |
| JEL: | I2 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2017-08&r=agr |
| By: | Garth Heutel |
| Abstract: | Investments in energy efficiency entail uncertainty, and when faced with uncertainty consumers have been shown to behave according to prospect theory: preferences are reference-dependent and exhibit loss aversion, and probabilities are subjectively weighted. Using data from a choice experiment eliciting prospect theory parameters, I provide evidence that loss-averse people are less likely to invest in energy efficiency. Then, I consider policy design under prospect theory when there are also externalities from energy use. A higher degree of loss aversion implies a higher subsidy to energy efficiency. Numerical simulations suggest that the impact of prospect theory on policy may be substantial. |
| JEL: | D81 H23 Q41 Q58 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23692&r=agr |
| By: | Arteaga, Julio Cesar; Flores, Daniel; Luna, Edgar |
| Abstract: | We use a time series approach and industry data to estimate the effect on consumption of an excise tax on soft drinks imposed recently in Mexico. The tax caused a price increase of 12.8% and reduced per-capita consumption about 3.8%. This effect is small in comparison to the effects suggested by most studies that have estimated price elasticities using an almost-ideal-demand-system and household survey data. |
| Keywords: | Soft drinks, Tax, Time series |
| JEL: | H25 I12 |
| Date: | 2017–08–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80831&r=agr |
| By: | Halkos, George; Matsiori, Steriani |
| Abstract: | The present study tries to improve our understanding of why some people value coastal zone using attitudinal and preference factors in a Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) study. Specifically, it aims at public preferences for improving the quality (protection) of Pagasitikos coastal area in Greece and explores the influence of environmental attitude on preference to people’s willingness to pay (WTP) coastal zone conservation. It also presents the results of a discrete CVM survey which investigates households’ WTP for a set of wetland attributes. The proposed approach uses applied methodological methods like Principal Components and Cluster Analyses together with logistic regression. Various demographic variables (as education and income) together with people’s preferences for coastal zone show a strong impact on WTP and the specific amounts stated. At a second stage people who accept the CVM scenario results and grouped into two segments, with different attitude against coastal zone management and ecological view. |
| Keywords: | Environnemental attitudes; NEP scale; CVM; WTP; coastal zone people perception. |
| JEL: | C10 C52 Q20 Q50 Q51 Q57 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80911&r=agr |
| By: | Casaburi, Lorenzo (Stanford University); Macchiavello, Rocco (Warwick University) |
| Abstract: | Failures in saving markets can spill over into other markets: When producers are saving constrained, trustworthy buyers can offer infrequent delayed payments—a saving tool—and purchase at a lower price, thus departing from standard trade credit logic. This paper develops a model of this interlinkage and tests it in the context of the Kenyan dairy industry. Multiple data sources, experiments, and a calibration exercise support the microfoundations and predictions of the model concerning: i) producers’ demand for infrequent payments; ii) heterogeneity across buyers in the ability to supply low frequency payments; iii) a segmented market equilibrium where buyers compete by providing either liquidity or saving services to producers; iv) low supply response to price increases. We provide additional evidence from other settings, including labor markets, and discuss policy implications concerning contract enforcement, financial access, and market structure. |
| Keywords: | Saving Constraints; Imperfect Contract Enforcement; Interlinked Transactions; Competition; Trust; Agricultural Markets. JEL Classification: O12, L22, O16, Q13. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:322&r=agr |
| By: | Phoebe Koundouri; Catarina Roseta-Palma; Nikolaos Englezos |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:1704&r=agr |
| By: | Peter A. Groothuis; Tanga A. Mohr; John C. Whitehead; Kristan A. Cockerill; William P. Anderson, Jr.; Chuanhui Gu |
| Abstract: | We integrated physical science data with a social science survey to better understand people’s preferences for stormwater runoff abatement measures. Data from a long-term monitoring project on Boone Creek in North Carolina revealed that two key concerns from stormwater runoff are thermal pollution and high salinity. We used this data to develop text and images to include in a survey to assess public attitudes about and willingness to pay for stormwater runoff abatement measures in the Appalachian region. The survey provided information about various methods to reduce stormwater runoff including containment systems and permeable pavement. To assess the impact of scientific information on individual preference for stormwater runoff abatement, we randomly assigned different levels of scientific information to survey respondents. Our results show that having more detailed scientific information has two effects. The direct effect is to reduce willingness to pay for runoff abatement programs. Indirectly, the detailed information increases self-reported claims of understanding the information provided and those who claim to understand the information are more likely to be willing to pay for abatement measures. Key Words: stormwater management, stream water quality, scientific communication, stated preferences, willingness to pay |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:apl:wpaper:17-05&r=agr |
| By: | Malapit, Hazel J.; Pinkstaff, Crossley; Sproule, Kathryn; Kovarik, Chiara; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela |
| Abstract: | The fifth Sustainable Development Goal—to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls†—reflects a growing consensus that these are key objectives of development policy in their own right, while also contributing to improved productivity and increased efficiency, especially in agriculture and food production. To deliver on this commitment to women’s empowerment in development calls for appropriate measures that can be used to diagnose the scope and major sources of disempowerment and to measure progress. The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a survey-based tool codeveloped by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) (Alkire et al. 2013). The index was originally designed as a monitoring and evaluation tool for the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative to directly capture women’s empowerment and inclusion levels in the agricultural sector. Since its launch in February 2012, the WEAI has been implemented in the 19 Feed the Future focus countries. As with any new metric, pilot testing in a few selected countries with limited sample sizes is insufficient to demonstrate how the WEAI would perform when rolled out on a wider scale. Concerns expressed by users of the WEAI led to the creation of an abbreviated version—the A-WEAI. This paper begins by presenting a brief overview of the WEAI and its construction. It then proceeds to discuss (1) the background and motivation behind the creation of the A-WEAI; (2) the steps taken to develop the AWEAI— namely, cognitive testing and piloting of different modules, particularly those that were difficult to administer in the field; (3) analysis of the pilot data from Bangladesh and Uganda; (4) domain-specific comparisons of the different pilot versions; and (5) robustness checks and empowerment diagnostics from the A-WEAI as compared with the original WEAI. The paper concludes by summarizing the modifications to the original WEAI and discussing possibilities for further development of empowerment metrics based on the WEAI. |
| Keywords: | agricultural development, gender equity, |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1647&r=agr |
| By: | Macchiavello, Rocco (London School of Economics); Miquel-Florensa, Josepa (Toulouse School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper compares integrated firms, long-term relationships and markets, and how they adapt to shocks in the Costa Rican coffee chain. The industry is characterised by significant uncertainty. Supply failures responses to unanticipated increases in reference prices reveal that integration and relationships reduce opportunism. Trade volumes responses to weather-induced increases in supply reveal that relationships provide demand assurance, although less than integration does. This benefit of integration is offset by costs when trading outside of the integrated chain. The evidence supports models in which firms boundaries alter temptations to renege on relational contracts and, consequently, the allocation of resources. |
| Keywords: | Vertical Integration, Relational Contracts, Adaptation, Demand Uncertainty, Supply Chain. JEL Classification: D23, L14, L22, O12, Q13 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:321&r=agr |
| By: | Boscow Okumu; Edwin Muchapondwa |
| Abstract: | Participation of local communities in management and utilization of forest resources through collective action has become widely accepted as a possible solution to failure of centralized top down approaches to forest conservation. Developing countries have thus resorted to devolution of forest management through initiatives such as Participatory Forest Management (PFM) and Joint Forest Management (JFM). In Kenya, under such initiatives, communities have been able to self-organize into community forest associations (CFAs). However, despite these efforts and increased number of CFAs, the results in terms of ecological outcomes have been mixed with some CFAs failing and others thriving. Little is known about the factors influencing success of these initiatives. Using household level data from 518 households and community level data from 22 CFAs from the Mau forest conservancy, the study employed logistic regression, OLS and Heteroscedasticity based instrumental variable techniques to analyze factors influencing household participation levels in CFA activities and further identified the determinants of successful collective management of forest resources as well as the link between participation level and success of collective action. The results show that success of collective action is associated with level of household participation in CFA activities, distance to the forest resource, institutional quality, group size, salience of the resource and education level of the CFA chairperson among others. We also found that collective action is more successful when CFAs are formed through users’ self-motivation with frequent interaction with government institutions and when the forest cover is low. Factors influencing household level of participation are also identified. The study findings points to the need for: a robust diagnostic approach in devolution of forest management to local communities considering diverse socio-economic and ecological settings; government intervention in revival and re-institutionalizing existing and infant CFAs in an effort to promote PFM within the Mau forest and other parts of the country; and intense effort towards design of a mix of incentive schemes to encourage active and equal household participation in CFA activities. |
| Keywords: | PFM, Collective action, Participation, CFAs |
| JEL: | D02 Q23 Q28 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:698&r=agr |
| By: | Kevin J. Boyle (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University); Christopher F. Parmeter (University of Miami) |
| Abstract: | Benefits transfer is the projection of benefits from one place and time to another to estimate the benefits of a proposed project or policy; this includes the adaptation of an original study to a new policy application at the same location. The appeal of a benefits transfer is that it can be cost effective, both monetarily and in time. Using previous studies, analysts can select existing results to construct a transferred value for the desired amenity influenced by the policy change. Benefits transfer practices are generally applicable to valuing ecosystem services as well as specific types of ecosystem services. An ideal benefits transfer will scale value estimates to both the ecosystem services and to the preferences of those who hold values; benefits transfers for many applications only do the latter. |
| Keywords: | Benefit Transfer, Ecosystem Services, Function and Value Transfers, Study Site(s), Policy Site, Convergent Validity, Meta-Analysis. Publication Status: Forthcoming |
| JEL: | Q50 Q51 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2017–07–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mia:wpaper:2017-07&r=agr |
| By: | Bontems, Philippe |
| Abstract: | This paper examines theoretically whether by combining both output based refunding and abatement expenditures based refunding it is possible to limit the negative consequences that a pollution tax imply for a polluting industry. We actually show that this is indeed the case by using such a three-part policy where emissions are subject to a fee and where output and abatement expenditures are subsidized. In particular, when the industry is homogenous, it is possible to replicate the standard emission tax outcome by inducing a polluting firm to choose the production and emission levels obtained under any emission tax, without departing from budget balance. By construction, any polluter earns strictly more than under the standard tax alone without rebate, making this proposal highly acceptable to the industry. When firms are heterogenous, the refunding policy needed to replicate the standard emission tax outcome is personalized in the sense that at least the output subsidy should be type dependent. Another result is that this three-part policy is strictly prefered only from the industry's point of view to a standard environmental tax. We also explore the implications of uniform three-part refunding policies for a heterogenous industry. |
| Keywords: | refunded emission taxes; regulation design; pollution. |
| JEL: | H23 Q52 Q58 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:31916&r=agr |