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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2022‒02‒14
thirty-one papers chosen by |
| By: | Johnson, Nancy L. |
| Abstract: | Rapid transformations are occurring in food systems around the world with significant economic, health, and environmental implications. As part of this change, the focus of agricultural production needs to transition from quantity of food production to quality of diets. This brief begins by summarizing evidence from nutrition-sensitive agriculture and explaining how resource tenure and governance issues relate to the production of nutrient-rich foods. The brief then explores the importance of resource tenure and governance issues for diets and health in the context of food system transformation: this section focuses on supporting healthy diets in traditional food systems, meeting the global demand for nutrient-rich foods, and managing and mitigating disease risks in intensifying agricultural landscapes. |
| Keywords: | WORLD, natural resources, tenure, governance, nutrition, health, agricultural research, development, food systems, sustainability, |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:pimfbs:1286379953&r= |
| By: | Sharofiddinov Husniddin (International Fund for saving the Aral Sean, Republic of Tajikistan); Moinul Islam (Research Institute for Future Design, Kochi University of Technology); Koji Kotani (School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Irrigation water unavailability has become one of the long term problems in Tajikistan. In the post-Soviet period, Tajikistan government started reforming agricultural land for the efficient management. The reallocation was initiated by administrative boundary changes to facilitate the growing number of farmers and ensure crop diversity. However, the modernization of the irrigation water infrastructure did not take place simultaneously. This study identifies agricultural land reform’s impact on the irrigation water demand and supply of Sugd province of Tajikistan. We conduct the panel regression analysis by utilizing the data from 1996 to 2020 of the 13 states in Sugd province. We identify the impact of the number of water users, irrigation area type and water payment system on the irrigation water demand. Our results show that to deal with the changing demand of water in Tajikistan, irrigation systems need to modernize for gravity and pump irrigated areas. The payment system for irrigation water also deserves attention for the compatibility with the increasing irrigation water demand of Tajikistan. We also identify that irrigation water supply is impacted by the number of increasing water users. The possible solution to deal with the water supply shortage in Tajikistan is to eradicate system loss, introduce irrigation water rationing, improve water supply networks and update the Soviet period water pumps. |
| Keywords: | Irrigation water, water users, pump irrigation, gravity irrigation, payment for water services |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2022-3&r= |
| By: | Philippe Faverdin (PEGASE - Physiologie, Environnement et Génétique pour l'Animal et les Systèmes d'Elevage [Rennes] - AGROCAMPUS OUEST - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Hervé Guyomard (INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Laurence Puillet (MoSAR - Modélisation Systémique Appliquée aux Ruminants - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Agneta Forslund (SMART-LERECO - Structures et Marché Agricoles, Ressources et Territoires - AGROCAMPUS OUEST - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | Cattle are the world's largest consumers of plant biomass. Digestion of this biomass by ruminants generates high methane emissions that affect global warming. In the last decades, the specialisation of cattle breeds and livestock systems towards either milk or meat has increased the milk production of dairy cows and the carcass weight of slaughtered cattle. At the animal level and farm level, improved animal performance decreases feed use and greenhouse gas emissions per kg of milk or carcass weight, mainly through a dilution of maintenance requirements per unit of product. However, increasing milk production per dairy cow reduces meat production from the dairy sector, as there are fewer dairy cows. More beef cows are then required if one wants to maintain the same meat production level at country scale. Meat produced from the dairy herd has a better feed efficiency (less feed required per kg of carcass weight) and emits less methane than the meat produced by the cow-calf systems, because the intake of lactating cows is largely for milk production and marginally for meat, whereas the intake of beef cows is entirely for meat. Consequently, the benefits of breed specialisation assessed at the animal level and farm level may not hold when milk and meat productions are considered together. Any change in the milk-to-meat production ratio at the country level affects the numbers of beef cows required to produce meat. At the world scale, a broad diversity in feed efficiencies of cattle products is observed. Where both productions of milk per dairy cow and meat per head of cattle are low, the relationship between milk and meat efficiencies is positive. Improved management practices (feed, reproduction, health) increase the feed efficiency of both products. Where milk and meat productivities are high, a trade-off between feed efficiencies of milk and meat can be observed in relation to the share of meat produced in either the dairy sector or the beef sector. As a result, in developing countries, increasing productivities of both dairy and beef cattle herds will increase milk and meat efficiencies, reduce land use and decrease methane emissions. In other regions of the world, increasing meat production from young animals produced by dairy cows is probably a better option to reduce feed use for an unchanged milk-to-meat production ratio. |
| Keywords: | Beef,Dairy,Feed conversion ratio,Methane,Upscaling |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03513868&r= |
| By: | McCarthy, Nancy |
| Abstract: | The impacts of climate change are already occurring across the globe, from droughts to floods, damagingly high temperatures, and sea-level rise. Many smallholder farmers were already vulnerable to weather extremes, and in the absence of effective adaptation measures, this vulnerability will only increase over time. While certain weather patterns associated with climate change are happening even now, future changes remain uncertain. Policy-relevant research needs to assess the benefits of flexible responses to future climate changes, while recognizing the costs of flexibility. |
| Keywords: | WORLD, tenure security, land tenure, governance, land governance, landscape, climate change, climate, research, natural resources, shock, |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:pimfbs:1286379975&r= |
| By: | Jolex, Aubrey; Benson, Todd |
| Abstract: | By directing increasing shares of their farm production to the market and, thereby, realizing greater incomes, farming households can accelerate local rural economic development. In this study, we examine household and spatial factors that may drive smallholder farming households in Malawi to produce and sell maize, groundnut, and soyabean. Two cross-sectional analyses are done using household level data from rounds of the Malawi Integrated Household Survey (IHS). First, using data for farming households from the fifth IHS (2019/20) in a series of weighted logistical models, we examine which of a set of household and spatial level factors are associated with a household producing each of the three crops. For maize and groundnut, we extend the analysis by similarly identifying the factors associated with whether a producing household sells any of their maize or groundnut, and if, they do, whether they sell more than half of their harvest. The second analysis consists of replicating the logistical models for production and sales using household data from the fourth IHS (2016/17) and comparing those results to the results obtained from the fifth IHS. This is done to identify whether any drivers of the production and sale of the three crops are changing over time. Overall, only a few factors are consistently associated with a farming household choosing to produce a particular crop or to sell part of their production of the crop. We also see limited changes between 2016/17 and 2019/20 in the drivers of the production and sale of these crops. However, the strength of the positive associations between landholding size and the commercial production of the three crops intensified between the two surveys. This suggests that as landholdings become smaller with continuing population growth, commercial production will increasingly be limited to those households with the largest landholdings. Government and other stakeholders in rural economic development can consider the evidence from these analyses in developing strategies to foster greater diversity in employment in rural economies across Malawi away from agriculture, while nonetheless promoting increased production by those smallholders in a position to participate profitably in the value chains for these crops. |
| Keywords: | MALAWI; SOUTHERN AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; agricultural production; maize; groundnuts; soybeans; farmers; households; agricultural development; rural economics; commercialization |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:masspp:38&r= |
| By: | Getahun, Tigabu; Fetene, Gebeyehu |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the determinants of smallholders’ participation in rural off-farm activities, which includes rural non-farm own business and wage employment, and its effect on food shortage, relative deprivation and dietary diversity. To address these objectives, we use a three-wave panel dataset of 7,110 smallholder farm households in Ethiopia. The estimation result suggests that the gender composition of households, age, education, natural shocks, participation in community meetings, exposure to media, access to credit, farmland, agricultural markets and rural infrastructure such as electricity are the key determinants of smallholders’ participation in rural off-farm activities. The estimation results also suggest that smallholders’ participation in rural wage employment aggravates relative deprivation, while participation in rural non-farm own business activities reduce relative deprivation and food shortage. On the other hand, our estimation results indicate that participation in both nonfarm own business activities and wage employment improve the dietary diversity of smallholder farmers. Hence, well-designed policy interventions aimed at enhancing smallholder farmers’ rural wage employment and non-farm own business participation could help to enhance dietary diversity and reduce food shortages and relative deprivation. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Public Economics |
| Date: | 2022–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:319328&r= |
| By: | Kato, Edward; Mekonnen, Dawit Kelemework; Tiruneh, Solomon; Ringler, Claudia |
| Abstract: | Land degradation is a pressing global challenge, with three billion people residing in degraded landscapes. The global cost of land degradation is estimated to be about $300 billion per year, with Africa south of the Sahara accounting for 26 percent of the total global costs due to land-use and land-cover changes. In Ethiopia, it is estimated that more than 85 percent of land is moderately to severely degraded due to changes in land use and cover, costing the country an estimated US$4.3 billion annually. In order to halt further degradation and support essential restoration through sustainable land management (SLM) and related investments, the Water and Land Resource Center (WLRC) and its consortium of development partners established six learning watersheds in Central and North-Western Ethiopia with the ultimate goal of improving water security and crop and livestock productivity. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA, EAST AFRICA, AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA, AFRICA, sustainability, sustainable land management, land management, gender, agricultural productivity, watersheds, |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprea:november2021&r= |
| By: | Fernando Aragon; Diego Restuccia; Juan Pablo Rud |
| Abstract: | We assess the extent and cost of misallocation in agriculture in less-developed countries comparing the analysis at the plot and farm levels. Using detailed data from Uganda, we show that the plot-level analysis leads to extremely large estimates of reallocation gains, even after adjusting for measurement error and unobserved heterogeneity. These results reflect two empirical limitations of the plot as unit of analysis: excess measurement error and near constant returns to scale production estimates. We find limited evidence of substantial measurement error at the farm level. |
| Keywords: | plot, farm, misallocation, measurement error, agriculture, distortions. |
| JEL: | O4 |
| Date: | 2022–02–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tor:tecipa:tecipa-718&r= |
| By: | Vos, Rob; Takeshima, Hiroyuki |
| Abstract: | Child labour in agriculture remains a global concern. Agriculture is the sector where most child labour is found. Employment of children mostly relates to farm household poverty in developing countries. This raises the question of the extent to which the modernisation of agriculture prevents the use of child labour while also leading to higher productivity. One of the central questions in this context is whether agricultural mechanisation helps limit children’s employment. Available studies have put forward opposing hypotheses, but rigorous empirical evidence is scant. The present study aims to fill some of this void by studying the evidence from comparable farm household survey data in seven developing countries, including three in Asia (India, Nepal, and Vietnam) and four in sub-Saharan Africa (Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania). Various key findings emerge. First, many children are found to engage in productive activities in studied countries. The prevalence is particularly high in African countries, such as in Ethiopia where more than one third of children aged 5-14 years engage in farm or off-farm work. Second, while the prevalence of child labour in agriculture (i.e., when productive engagement is detrimental to schooling and child growth) is much lower (at 10% or less in seven countries), they are still sizable in absolute terms; at least 6 million children in these countries partake in agricultural work at the expense of opportunities in adulthood. Third, agricultural mechanization, reflected in farm household’s use of machinery such as tractors, significantly reduces the likelihood of use of children’s labour and increases school attendance. Fourth, the measured impacts of mechanization are only modest, however, and likely indirect, that is, dependent on the extent to which mechanization helps improve household income and on local conditions (such as quality of rural infrastructure and accessibility of education and other social services). Overall, promotion of agricultural mechanization can help prevent use of child labour. To be truly impactful, however, related support measures should be embedded in broader strategies to enable agricultural productivity growth and improve livelihoods of poor rural households. |
| Keywords: | INDIA; SOUTH ASIA; ASIA; NEPAL; VIET NAM; VIETNAM; SOUTH EAST ASIA; ETHIOPIA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; GHANA; WEST AFRICA; NIGERIA; TANZANIA; employment; children; labour; agriculture; child labour; agricultural mechanization; developing countries; farms; households |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2080&r= |
| By: | Eric Edwards; Martin Fiszbein; Gary Libecap |
| Abstract: | The contributions of Harold Demsetz offer key insights on how property rights and transaction costs shape economic organization. This guides our comparison of agricultural organization in two comparable regions, the Argentine Pampas and the US Midwest. In the US, land was distributed in small parcels and actively traded. In the Pampas, land was distributed in large plots and trade was limited because land was a social and political asset as well as commercial. We analyze why this led to persistently larger farms, specialization in ranching, and peculiar tenancy contracts in Argentina, relative to the US. Our empirical analysis, based on county-level data for both regions, shows that geo-climatic factors cannot explain the observed differences in agricultural organization. We discuss implications for long-term economic development in Argentina. |
| JEL: | L23 N51 N56 Q15 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auu:hpaper:100&r= |
| By: | Ambler, Kate; Herskowitz, Sylvan; Maredia, Mywish K. |
| Abstract: | Livelihoods are changing rapidly in rural areas. Measuring and categorizing peoples’ labor activities in relation to the agricultural sector is important for understanding income earning opportunities and designing effective policy. Conventional data collection methods ask about individuals’ main work activities over the past year. Descriptions are recorded in the field, postcoded, and eventually categorized. This approach is costly to collect, fatiguing for respondents, and may create distortions. We show that a more direct approach, asking respondents to categorize their major work activities themselves, provides similar resulting data despite some caveats and lessons for best enumeration practices. We compare these main activities to a series of yes/no questions about participation in a set of specific work tasks. We find a 12% incidence of “missing†work, whereby individuals who reported participation in at least one but did not have any recorded major activities. Looking by sector of work, women and youth are disproportionately more likely to have agricultural contributions “missed,†while we find no corresponding bias in undercounting of non-agricultural work. Finally, we test the effect of randomly positioning the task-based questions before the listing of major activities but do not find significant effects on the number or type of activities reported. |
| Keywords: | GHANA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; labour; agriculture; surveys; measurement; survey design; women; youth employment; employment; youth; households; rural areas; off farm; on farm |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2050&r= |
| By: | William Brock; Anastasios Xepapadeas |
| Abstract: | Scientific evidence suggests that anthropogenic impacts on the environment such as land use changes and climate change promote the emergence of infectious diseases in humans. We develop a two-region epidemic-economic (epi-econ) model which unifies short-run disease containment policies with long-run policies which could control the drivers and the severity of infectious diseases. We structure our paper by linking a susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) model with an economic model which includes land use choices for agriculture and climate change. In the SIS model the contact number depends on short-run containment policies (e.g., lockdown, social distancing, vaccination), and the long-run policies affecting land use and the preservation of the natural world, and climate change. Utility in each region is determined by a composite consumption good produced by labor, land devoted to agriculture, and energy. Climate change and land use changes which reduce the natural world have an additional cost in terms of infectious disease since they might increase the contact number in the long run. We provide a deterministic solution as a benchmark and we compare it with outcomes derived under ambiguity associated with important parameters of the epi-econ model and ambiguity aversion. |
| Keywords: | infectious diseases, SIS model, natural world, climate change, containment policy, Nash equilibrium |
| JEL: | I18 Q54 D81 |
| Date: | 2022–01–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:2208&r= |
| By: | Barrow, Edmund |
| Abstract: | By 2050, 95 percent of Earth’s land will be degraded. Already, 24 billion tons of soil have been eroded by unsustainable agriculture (Larbodière et al. 2020). In 2020 alone, over 4 million hectares of primary forest were cleared, up 12 percent from 2019. Global trade, consumption, population growth, and urbanization are driving transformations that, in part, drive the destruction of nature. The 2020 Global Living Planet Index shows a 68 percent drop in populations of monitored species from 1970 to 2016. Such trends are a measure of declining ecosystem health (WWF 2020), and the World Economic Forum ranks biodiversity loss as a top-five risk to the global economy. Clearly, our environment must be high on political and policy agendas – yet too often environmental governance is weak and policy implementation is neglected. |
| Keywords: | WORLD, environmental management, governance, biodiversity, landscape conservation, climate-smart agriculture, tenure, |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:pimfbs:1286379994&r= |
| By: | Jhaveri, Nayna |
| Abstract: | Gender relations in households and communities play a formative role in how tenure rights — such as access to, use, and management of land and various natural resources — are practiced across multifunctional landscapes. Such rights can be based on statutory recognition or on customary tenure arrangements. Women’s tenure rights are generally weaker than men’s, both in terms of the range of rights they can assert and the degree of authority over those rights. In addition, women often hold a more informal and negotiated set of rights than men, be it for private or collective use of land and natural resources. These gender differences are the outcome of decision-making and governance at the household and community level. In any rural landscape in developing countries, a household’s livelihood portfolio will be affected by the gender dynamics at work across the landscape mosaic of different tenure niches. For example, women may easily access privately owned home gardens (one type of tenure niche) to harvest a range of vegetables, fruits, and medicinal plants, but not so easily access trees in collective forests for harvesting timber to sell in the market. |
| Keywords: | WORLD, gender, tenure security, land governance, governance, landscape, poverty reduction, |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:pimfbs:1286379993&r= |
| By: | Swallow, Brent M. |
| Abstract: | Collaborative international research on tenure dates back at least to the early 1960s when the Land Tenure Centre was established at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and conducted some studies in collaboration with CGIAR social scientists. CGIAR interest in tenure increased in the early 1990s when natural resource management was strengthened as a component of the CGIAR agenda and the Centers on forests, agroforestry, and water (CIFOR, ICRAF, and IWMI) entered the system. CAPRi began to operate as a systemwide research program on tenure and collective action in the mid-1990s, and became PIM Flagship 5 on governance of natural resources in 2011. From 2021, a renewed research agenda on tenure is essential for advancing the One CGIAR mission of “science and innovation that advance transformation of food, land and water systems in a climate crisis.†|
| Keywords: | WORLD, tenure security, land tenure, sustainable development, investment, research, |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:pimfbs:1286379954&r= |
| By: | Farnworth, Cathy Rozel; Lecoutere, Els; Galiè, Alessandra; Van Campenhout, Bjorn; Elias, Marlène; Ihalainen, Markus; Roeven, Lara; Bharati, Preeti; Valencia, Ana Maria Paez; Crossland, Mary; Vinceti, Barbara; Monterroso, Iliana |
| Abstract: | An increasing body of literature suggests that agriculture is “feminizing†in many low and middle-income countries. Definitions of feminisation of agriculture vary, as do interpretations of what drives the expansion of women’s roles in agriculture over time. Understanding whether, how, and why feminisation of agriculture is occurring, and finding ways to properly understand and document this process, requires effective research methodologies capable of producing nuanced data. This article builds on five research projects that set out to deepen narratives of feminisation of agriculture by empirically exploring the dynamics and impacts of diverse processes of feminisation—or masculinisation—of agriculture on gender relations in agriculture and food systems. To contribute to the development of effective research methodologies, the researchers working on these projects associate the insights they have derived in their empirical research with the methodologies they have used. They reflect on how their methodological innovations enabled them to obtain new, or more nuanced, insights into processes of feminisation of agriculture. A first insight is that the definition of ‘feminisation of agriculture’ is a decisive factor in determining the evidence we produce on the process. Second, the feminisation of agriculture should be understood as a nonlinear continuum. Research methodologies need to be capable of capturing dynamics, complexity, as well as multiple and diverse context—and time—specific drivers. Third, bias in data can arise from gender norms which mediate whether women are acknowledged by wider society as farmers in their own right. Such norms may result in significant underestimations of women’s roles in agriculture. This observation warrants a critical awareness that data used to measure or proxy aspects of feminisation of agriculture may reflect such biases. Finally, some research methodologies can be useful to identify and leverage entry points to support women’s agency and empowerment in processes of feminisation of agriculture. |
| Keywords: | feminization; gender; agriculture; research; empowerment; women; women's empowerment; methodology; feminisation of agriculture |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2077&r= |
| By: | Konda, Bruhan (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University); González‐Sauri, Mario (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University); Cowan, Robin (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University); Yashodha, Yashodha (International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), India); Chellattan Veettil, Prakashan (International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), India) |
| Abstract: | Most network studies in agriculture examine uni-dimensional connections between individuals to understand the effect of social networks on outcomes. However, in most real-world scenarios, network members' exchanges happen through multiple relationships and not accounting for such multi-dimensional interconnections may lead to biased estimate of social network effects. This study aims to unravel the consequences of not accounting such multidimensional networks by investigating the individual and joint effects of multiple connections (relationships) that exist among households on agricultural output. We use census data from three villages of Odisha, India that enables us to account for three types of relationships viz. information networks (knowledge sharing), credit networks (resource sharing) and friendship (social bonding) between households. We estimate the social network effect by combining both econometric (IV regression) and network (directed networks) techniques to address the problems of endogeneity. The joint effect of multiple networks is estimated using the multiplex network framework. We find that information flows are crucial to improve agricultural output when networks are accounted individually. However, the joint effect of all three networks using multiplex shows a significantly positive influence, indicating complementarity across relationships. In addition, we found evidence for the mediating role of interpersonal relationships (friendship network) in enhancing gains from the information flow. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture production, Social network, Multiplex networks, knowledge sharing, Resource sharing, Friendship |
| JEL: | C26 D83 O13 Q12 |
| Date: | 2021–07–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2021030&r= |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Smart, Jenny; Diao, Xinshen |
| Abstract: | Public expenditures (PE), their sizes, and allocations across sectors, are some of the important instruments for the public sector to contribute toward sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, knowledge gaps remain as to how PEs have actually contributed to key SDG outcomes in the past, including the eradication of poverty and hunger, and the improvement in food and nutrition security in sustainable manners (SDGs 1 and 2). This study aims to partly fill this knowledge gap using the Statistics on Public Expenditures for Economic Development (SPEED data) and various country-level panel data. We find that PEs in different sectors have been significantly associated with key indicators under SDGs 1 and 2. Specifically, greater PEs for agriculture and health sectors have had relatively positive effects on total factor productivity growth in agriculture, reduced consumer food price indices, reduced poverty, reduced stunting, underweight or overweight among children under 5. A greater PE for agriculture has also been weakly associated with enhanced biodiversity. These relationships are observed for a broad class of countries, but somewhat stronger for countries that had been classified as low- or lower-middle-income in 2000. Greater PEs for education and social protection, which have been generally higher than PEs for agriculture and health, have had more mixed effects on these outcomes. While continued analyses are required to better understand the complex linkages between PE and these outcomes, the current study offers useful preliminary insights. |
| Keywords: | WORLD; public expenditure; poverty; data; food security; nutrition security; Sustainable Development Goals; Goal 1 No poverty; Goal 2 Zero hunger; cross-country evidence; panel data; SPEED data |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2051&r= |
| By: | Rute Martins Caeiro |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the pathways of technology diffusion through social networks, following the experimental introduction of new technologies in Guinea-Bissau. In the context of an agricultural extension project, we document both the direct effects of this intervention and subsequent diffusion from trainees to the wider community. In order to test for social learning, we exploit a detailed census of households and social connections across different social dimensions. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture, Technology, Knowledge diffusion, Social networks, Technological innovations, Learning |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-7&r= |
| By: | Alderman, Harold; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Hidrobo, Melissa; Leight, Jessica; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum; Tambet, Heleene |
| Abstract: | The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a significant threat to public health throughout most of the world as the coronavirus continues to spread, mostly unchecked by limited availability of vaccines, and largescale surges in cases are fed by new variants of the virus. In Ethiopia, surges in COVID-19 cases after months of apparently low levels of infection have periodically required renewed restrictions locally to control the spread of the virus. Thus, it is necessary to review available date to understand the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on households in Ethiopia, and particularly on the poorest households, who are more vulnerable to protracted effects of the virus and associated restrictions on activity as a result of their limited resources. We present results of two rounds of a phone survey, conducted in June and August 2020, respectively, of around 1,200 rural households. All households in the sample are beneficiaries of the fourth phase of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP4) and also participate in the USAID-funded Strengthening PSNP4 Institutions and Resilience (SPIR) project, implemented by World Vision, CARE and ORDA in North Wollo and Wag Himra zones in Amhara, and primarily in East and West Hararghe zones in Oromia. The targeted phone survey respondents were adult males from sample households in IFPRI’s experimental impact evaluation of SPIR who provided a phone number during the 2019 midline survey. This is a subsample of the broader SPIR evaluation sample as 33% of households provided a phone number and thus were eligible for inclusion in the phone survey. Available evidence suggests that households who provided a phone number are characterized by higher socioeconomic status vis-Ã -vis other SPIR households in the study sample who did not provide a phone number. However, as all households in the phone survey are SPIR beneficiaries, they are still relatively poor in the broader context of rural Ethiopia. We report evidence from the two survey rounds on coronavirus awareness and protective measures taken; changes in livelihoods, including crop production and livestock raising; access to and utilization of markets; changes in food consumption and food security; experience with desert locusts and fall armyworms; and exposure to public programming. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA, EAST AFRICA, AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA, AFRICA, Coronavirus, coronavirus disease, Coronavirinae, COVID-19, pandemics, rural areas, social safety nets, social protection, surveys, households, livelihoods, livestock, farming systems, markets, food security, food consumption, wellbeing |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:spirlb:5&r= |
| By: | Smart, Jenny; Benin, Samuel; Marenya, Paswel; Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Smart, Francis |
| Abstract: | To help better understand the linkages between public investments and maize productivity within the broader cereals sector, this study estimates the effect of public spending in different sectors (e.g., agriculture, infrastructure, health, education, social protection, and defense) on the area harvested and yield of maize and other major cereals (wheat, rice, sorghum, and millet). The data used are compiled from multiple sources, resulting in a national-level panel dataset of 81 maize-producing countries from 1980 to 2015. We estimate a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR), consisting of eight equations (four for area shares and four for yields for each maize, wheat, rice, and millet/sorghum respectively), with country and year fixed effects and county-specific time trends. We find government expenditure (GE) on agriculture for example has a positive effect on area harvested for rice and sorghum/millet, a negative effect on area harvested for maize and wheat, and a positive effect on maize, wheat, and rice yields. GE on the social sector (education, health, and social protection) has mixed effects on area harvested for maize, wheat, and rice, but negative effects on their yields. GE on infrastructure (transport and communications) also has mixed effects on area harvested for rice and sorghum/millet, but positive effects on wheat and rice yields. GE on defense has negative effects on wheat and rice yields. CGIAR expenditures have mixed effects on area harvested for wheat (positive) and rice and sorghum/millet (negative), but no effect on yields. On the productivity effects, we find that it seems that GE on agriculture and infrastructure have been beneficial to the different cereals (except sorghum/millet), whereas GE on the social sector and defense have had the opposite effect. Although the role of agricultural research and development in raising cereal productivity and incomes and in reducing poverty is well established, deficiencies in governance, political institutions, and other factors have led to missed opportunities. Complementary investments, such as in rural infrastructure, are critical. |
| Keywords: | WORLD; maize; cereals; public investment; productivity; cross-country panel; Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR); Statistics of Public Expenditure for Economic Development (SPEED) |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2076&r= |
| By: | Hutkova, Karolina |
| Abstract: | Today India is among the major sugar producers and sugar-making has a long tradition, yet the adoption of modern sugar technologies was delayed. Which factors underpinned this? This article examines the attempts of European sugar entrepreneurs to adopt new sugar technologies in 1830s–1840s Bihar. Its findings correspond with recent literature on Indian economic development which emphasises the role of declining agricultural productivity in economic stagnation in the colonial period. This article supports the conclusions that low agricultural productivity was the outcome of inadequate investment on the part of the British Empire. It also highlights that in the case of commercial crops–such as sugar–investment into new technologies with potential for increasing productivity was hindered by British trade policies. As British imperial policies gave preference to the welfare of the British consumer, lacked consideration for colonial manufacturing, they did not create a beneficial environment for long-run investment projects. |
| Keywords: | Taylor & Francis deal |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2021–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:110453&r= |
| By: | Fernando M. Aragón (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Diego Restuccia (Institute for Fiscal Studies); Juan Pablo Rud (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Royal Holloway, University of London) |
| Abstract: | This paper shows that using yields may not be informative of the relationship between farm size and productivity in the context of small-scale farming. This occurs because, in addition to productivity, yields pick up size-dependent market distortions and decreasing returns to scale. As a result, a positive relationship between farm productivity and land size may turn negative when using yields. We illustrate the empirical relevance of this issue with microdata from Uganda and show similar findings for Peru, Tanzania, and Bangladesh. In addition, we show that the dispersion in both measures of productivity across farms of similar size is so large that it renders farm size an ine?ective indicator for policy targeting. Our findings stress the need to revisit the empirical evidence on the farm size-productivity relationship and its policy implications. |
| Date: | 2021–10–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:21/35&r= |
| By: | Derstappen, Rebecca; Christoph-Schulz, Inken; Banse, Martin |
| Abstract: | Livestock farming and especially pig husbandry are controversially discussed in European society. As a result, the demand for higher animal welfare standards is rising. However, higher animal welfare standards imply higher production costs for farmers and other partners along the processing chain. Therefore, farmers are concerned about their future perspective. Since Germany is a net exporter for pork, the question arises, whether German pork produced under higher animal welfare standards might have a chance on foreign markets? Thus, within this study, four case studies for Poland, Italy, Japan and South Korea were selected to assess the possible export potential for German pork produced under higher animal welfare standards. Two survey methods were used: First, a market analysis to generate market information and second, interviews with market experts in all four countries to receive additional insider information regarding the respective pork market. The expert interviews were evaluated based on a qualitative content analysis. According to the interviewees the issue of animal welfare plays a distinct role in each country covered. Particularly large disparities have been observed regarding the attitude towards animal welfare in European and in Asian countries. Besides the aspect of animal welfare further criteria seem to be relevant for consumers. Therefore, purchasing criteria such as quality (in particular meat quality including colour, water capacity, freshness), taste, price and the country of origin have to be considered. These criteria already indicate a possible outcome of our analysis that the export potential of German pork produced under higher animal welfare standards varies depending on the individual target market. Therefore, multiple aspects and market data need to be analysed in order to understand the mechanism and speciality of foreign markets. Nevertheless, further research steps need to be carried out in order to be able to make a clearer statement regarding the export potential of German pork produced under higher animal welfare standards. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2022–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwp:319352&r= |
| By: | Atkinson, Giles; Ovando, Paola |
| Abstract: | Accounting for ecosystems is increasingly central to natural capital accounting. What is missing from this, however, is an answer to questions about how natural capital is distributed. That is, who consumes ecosystem services and who owns or manages the underlying asset(s) that give rise to ecosystem services. In this paper, we examine the significance of the ownership of land on which ecosystem assets (or ecosystem types) is located in the context of natural capital accounting. We illustrate this in an empirical application to two ecosystem services and a range of ecosystem types and land ownership in Scotland, a context in which land reform debates are longstanding. Our results indicate the relative importance of private land in ecosystem service supply, rather than land held by the public sector. We find relative concentration of ownership for land providing comparatively high amounts of carbon sequestration. For air pollution removal, however, the role of smaller to medium sized, mostly privately owned, land holdings closer to urban settlements becomes more prominent. The contributions in this paper, we argue, represent important first steps in anticipating distributional impacts of natural capital (and related) policy in natural capital accounts as well as connecting these frameworks to broader concerns about wealth disparities across and within countries. |
| Keywords: | distribution; ecosystem services; equity; natural capital accounting; landownership; Springer deal |
| JEL: | Q56 Q57 |
| Date: | 2021–12–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:112171&r= |
| By: | Toby Melissa C. Monsod (School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman); Sara Jane Ahmed (School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman); Golda P. Hilario (School of Economics, University of the Philippines Diliman) |
| Abstract: | In its first Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement, the Philippines committed to a GHG emissions reduction/avoidance of 75 percent for the period 2020 to 2030, referenced against a projected business-as-usual cumulative emission for the same period. However, the numbers do not add up, critical sectors such as forestry, which is central to the country’s climate change response, are excluded, and government is unconditionally committed to just 4 percent of that target. This begs the question of how the NDC squares with the country’s high level policy clarity and urgency on climate action, including the requirement to infuse all development plans and policies with it. A resetting of the NDC may therefore be warranted so that both national imperatives for climate risk resilience and climate smart development and global mitigation requirements are better served: an NDC that is based on first principles, with programs and measures anchored on adaptation/resilience and driven by their impact sustainable development rather than by GHG emissions reductions per se. This is not the standard ‘decarbonization’ path but a path that recognizes that highly vulnerable countries with relatively small carbon footprints per capita like the Philippines are likely to do more for global efforts to reduce the extent of climate change and cope with its impacts if they build robust community ownership for climate action and leverage opportunities based on their own comparative advantages; one comparative advantage of the Philippines is the biodiversity of its marine and coastal resources. This approach also recognizes that climate change impacts will be dire even if global warming is successfully limited to 1.5 degrees. Thus adaptation and resilience are imperatives for all countries and national contributions that are organized to support these efforts will be vital. |
| Keywords: | Climate change; Climate policy; Development Policy; Emissions; Philippines; ASEAN |
| JEL: | Q54 Q58 O53 O21 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phs:dpaper:202105&r= |
| By: | Rachel Griffith (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University of Manchester); Wenchao (Michelle) Jin (Institute for Fiscal Studies and Institute for Fiscal Studies); Valérie Lechene (Institute for Fiscal Studies and University College London) |
| Abstract: | The share of home-cooked food in the diet of UK households declined from the 1980s. This was contemporaneous with a decline in the market price of ingredients for home cooking relative to ready-to-eat foods. We consider a simple model of food consumption and time use which captures the key driving forces behind these apparently con?icting trends. We show that observed behaviour can be rationalised by the fact that the shadow price of home-cooked food, which accounts for the fact that cooking takes time, has risen relative to the price of ready-to-eat food, due to the increase in the market value of time of secondary earners. We discuss the implications for policies that aim to encourage healthier diets. |
| Date: | 2021–06–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ifs:ifsewp:21/14&r= |
| By: | Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Doss, Cheryl R.; Flintan, Fiona; Knight, Rachael; Larson, Anne M.; Monterroso, Iliana |
| Abstract: | Within discussions of land and resource rights, there is growing attention to women’s rights, mostly in terms of household and individual rights to private property. This leaves unanswered questions about whether and how women’s land rights can be secured under collective tenure, upon which billions of people worldwide depend. There is an important gap in conceptual tools, empirical understanding, and policy recommendations on women’s land rights within collective tenure. To address this gap and lay the foundations for a sound body of empirical studies and appropriate policies, we develop a conceptual framework to improve understanding of women’s land rights under collective tenure. We begin by discussing what secure tenure for women on collective lands would entail. We then present the conceptual framework for what factors would affect women’s tenure security, building on a framework for land tenure security that focuses on individual and household tenure. We give attention to particularities of rangelands, forests, and other types of lands as well as commonalities across types of collective lands. A key theme that emerges is that for women to have secure tenure under collective tenure, two dimensions must be in place. First, the collective (group) itself must have tenure security. Second, the women must have secure rights within this collective. The latter requires us to consider the governance structures, how men and women access and control land, and the extent to which women have voice and power within the collective. More consistent analyses of collective tenure systems using the framework presented in this paper can help to identify which action resources are important for groups to secure rights to collective lands, and for women to advocate for their rights within the group. |
| Keywords: | WORLD; gender; women; land rights; tenure security; common property; forests; rangelands; collective ownership; land ownership |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2074&r= |
| By: | Hughes, Karl; Priyadarshini, Pratiti; Sharma, Himani; Lissah, Sanoop; Chorran, Tenzin; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Dogra, Atul; Cook, Nathan; Andersson, Krister |
| Abstract: | India has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of a larger quasi-experimental impact assessment, we assess the pandemic’s effects on coping behavior in 80 villages spread across four districts and three states (n=772). Half of these villages were targeted by a largescale common land restoration program spearheaded by an NGO, the Foundation for Ecological Security (FES). The other half are yet to be targeted but are statistically similar vis-Ã -vis FES’s village targeting criteria. Analyzing the results of a phone survey conducting eight to ten months into the pandemic and its associated lockdowns, we find that the livelihood activities of households in both sets of villages were adversely impacted by COVID-19. Consequently, most households had to resort to various coping strategies, e.g., distressed asset sales and reduced farm input expenditure. From the same mobile survey data, we further construct a Livelihoods Coping Strategies Index (LCSI) and find that households in villages targeted by FES’s common land restoration initiative score 11.3% lower on this index on average. While modest, this statistically significant effect estimate (p |
| Keywords: | INDIA; SOUTH ASIA; ASIA; resilience; restoration; Coronavirus; coronavirus disease; Coronavirinae; COVID-19; institutions; impact assessment; models; coping strategies; quasi-experimental; Andhra Pradesh; Karnataka; Rajasthan |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2056&r= |
| By: | Marivoet, Wim; Maruyama, Eduardo; Sy, Abdourahmane |
| Abstract: | Ce document cherche à intégrer deux typologies spatiales existantes pour mieux comprendre les principaux obstacles et contraintes à la sécurité alimentaire et aux moyens de subsistance viables des agriculteurs au Sénégal. L’objectif principal de cette étude est précisément d'identifier et de localiser les différents goulots d'étranglement qui empêchent une pleine réalisation du potentiel agricole de chaque zone tout en améliorant les résultats nutritionnels finaux de la population. |
| Keywords: | SENEGAL, WEST AFRICA, AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA, AFRICA, food security, poverty, livelihoods, nutrition, agricultural production, spatial typologies, |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:farmpn:3&r= |
| By: | Luca Panzone (School of Natural and Environmental Science, Newcastle University; The Alan Turing Institute); Natasha Auch (The Alan Turing Institute); Daniel Zizzo (School of Economics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia) |
| Abstract: | We use an incentive-compatible experimental online supermarket to test the role of commitment and badges in reducing the carbon footprint of grocery shopping. In the experiment, some participants had the opportunity to voluntarily commit to a low carbon footprint basket before their online grocery shopping; while the commitment was forced upon other participants. We also study the impact of an online badge as a soft reward for the achievement of a low carbon footprint basket. Participants from the general population shopped over two weeks, with the experimental stimuli only in week 2; and received their shopping baskets and any unspent budget. Results indicate that requesting a commitment prior to entering the store leads to a reduction in carbon footprint of 8-9%. The online badge led to non-significant reductions in carbon footprint. Commitment mechanisms, either forced or voluntary, appear effective in motivating an environmental goal and search for low-carbon options, particularly in those accepting the commitment. |
| Keywords: | sustainable consumption, commitment, field experiment, carbon footprint, food consumption. |
| JEL: | C54 C93 D12 D91 Q18 Q56 |
| Date: | 2022–01–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:652&r= |