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on Agricultural Economics |
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Issue of 2022‒02‒28
fifty papers chosen by |
| By: | Ragasa, Catherine; Mzungu, Diston; Kalagho, Kenan; Kazembe, Cynthia |
| Abstract: | Low-cost and sustainable agricultural management practices are being promoted in many countries but continue to face low adoption among farmers. We tracked the awareness and adoption among farmers of a number of practices―soil cover, minimum tillage, crop rotation, intercropping, crop diversification, crop residue incorporation, pit planting, water harvesting, and organic fertilizer―in two rounds of a nationally representative rural household survey in Malawi. Survey data and focus group discussions are used to understand the factors explaining the variations in farmers’ awareness and adoption of these practices. Results show a strong positive effect of extension services receipt on farmers’ awareness of these practices but no effect on farmers’ adoption of most of the practices being promoted, except for crop residue incorporation and organic fertilizer use. Receipt of input subsidy does not influence the adoption of these practices. Both survey data and focus group discussions highlight the need for intensive and iterative engagement between service providers and farmers to fully communicate, learn, and adapt to these management practices. |
| Keywords: | MALAWI; SOUTHERN AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; technology; agricultural extension; sustainable land management; rural areas; surveys; households; models; farmers; crop rotation; diversification; minimum tillage; intercropping; water harvesting; organic fertilizers; extension services; agricultural management practices; empirical model; technology adoption; soil coverage; crop residue incorporation; pit planting |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2068&r= |
| By: | Yazdan-Bakhsh, Sara; Feil, Jan-Henning |
| Abstract: | Small-scale farmers play a vital role in providing food for a growing urbanized population and improving food security in Southern Africa. The smallholder farms are highly heterogeneous in terms of types of farming, levels of productivity and commercialization. These heterogeneous groups of smallholder faming systems require different forms of government interventions, depending on the objective and characteristics of each group. The aim of this paper is to analyze the typologies of small-scale farmers in South Africa based on a wide range of objective variables regarding their personal, farm and context characteristics, which support an effective, target-group-specific design and communication of policies. For this, a cluster analysis is conducted on the basis of a comprehensive survey among 212 small-scale farmers in the Limpopo region in 2019. An unsupervised machine learning approach with Partitioning Around Medoids (PAM) for the subsequent clustering is used. According to the results, the small-scale farmers can be grouped into four clusters. The largest cluster with 37.7% of the farmers represents the group of subsistence oriented farmers, while the smallest cluster with 14% of respondents indicates the emerging (commercial-oriented) farmers. The other two clusters are the semi-subsistence livestock farmers as well as the and crop oriented farmers that predominantly producing for own consumption and selling their surplus at their farm. According to the results, implications for target-group-specific policies are exemplary derived with regards to the topics of extension services, the adaptation of irrigation technologies and credit access. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development |
| Date: | 2021–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi21:317092&r= |
| By: | Delgado, Luciana; Nakasone, Eduardo; Torero, Maximo |
| Abstract: | Globally, policy initiatives have addressed food insecurity and the increasing pressure on available land that has followed from growing populations and changing diets. These policies, however, have been aimed mainly at increasing agricultural yields and productivity and are often cost- and time-intensive. They have not focused on reducing food losses, nor considered food loss reduction as a tool that can help meet growing food demand. Any interventions in food value chains will have three impacts: (1) improvements in food security and nutrition through increasing food availability (which addresses Sustainable Development Goal [SDG] 2: Zero hunger); (2) improvements in productivity and economic growth, as farmers will be able sell more produce in the markets (SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth); and (3) emissions reductions (SDG 13: Climate action) and improved efficiency in natural resource use, especially use of water and land (SDG 14: Life below water; SDG 15: Life on land). |
| Keywords: | GUATEMALA; LATIN AMERICA; CENTRAL AMERICA; NORTH AMERICA; HONDURAS; food security; farmers; seeds; incentives; intervention; food losses; markets |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:prnote:1293759975&r= |
| By: | Ceballos, Francisco; Kramer, Berber |
| Abstract: | Smallholder farmers in developing countries generally lack access to affordable agricultural insurance, in part because of high loss verification costs and asymmetric information in indemnity insurance and basis risk in index-based insurance. Advances in remote sensing and other digital technologies can help overcome these challenges by allowing for low-cost, remote loss verification, and settling claims based on observed visible damage in a farmer’s fields. By effectively proxying for indemnity insurance, however, such a product may be subject to moral hazard and adverse selection. We test these hypotheses leveraging the rollout of picture-based crop insurance among smallholder farmers in northwestern India. We find no evidence of moral hazard or adverse selection, and that the use of technologies increases willingness to pay. We conclude that digital technologies are a valuable tool to provide low cost, sustainable crop insurance remotely, at lower levels of basis risk than index products. |
| Keywords: | INDIA; SOUTH ASIA; ASIA; risk; insurance; crop insurance; mobile equipment; technology; crops; farmers; smallholders; agricultural insurance; field experimentation; moral hazard; adverse selection; asymmetric information; Picture-Based Crop Insurance |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2088&r= |
| By: | Jellason, Nugun P.; Robinson, Elizabeth J.Z.; Chapman, Abbie S.A.; Neina, Dora; Devenish, Adam J.M.; Po, June Y.T.; Adolph, Barbara |
| Abstract: | Understanding the dynamics of agricultural expansion, their drivers, and interactions is critical for biodiversity conservation, ecosystem‐services provision, and the future sustainability of agricultural development in Sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). However, there is limited understanding of the drivers of agricultural expansion. A systematic review of the drivers of agricultural expansion was conducted from 1970 to 2020 using Web of Science, Elsevier Scopus and Google Scholar. Two researchers reviewed the papers separately based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Fifteen papers were included in the final systematic review. The paper proposed expansion pathways in a conceptual framework and identified proximate and underlying drivers. Population dynamics and gov-ernment policies were found to be key underlying drivers of agricultural expansion. The proximate drivers include economic opportunities such as agriculture mechanisation and cash crops produc-tion, and more troubling trends such as soil fertility decline and climate change and variability. This paper further explores the constraints that have been found to slow down agricultural expansion, including strong land institutions and good governance. |
| Keywords: | agricultural expansion; conservation; constraints; drivers; Sub‐Saharan Africa; APC funding |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2021–03–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:113547&r= |
| By: | Abate, Gashaw Tadesse; de Brauw, Alan; Minot, Nicholas; Vos, Rob; Warner, James M.; Wassie, Solomon B.; Yang, Shijie |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a quantitative impact assessment of the community-based integrated natural resources management project (CBINReMP) in the Lake Tana region in Ethiopia during 2011-2019. By promoting greater community participation, the CBINReMP provided support to watershed communities for the restoration of degraded soils and water sources, rehabilitation of forests, as well as in obtaining access to secure land titles and practices for climate change adaptation. The project further provided support towards diversification of incomes in off-farm activities and incentives for women’s empowerment and youth employment. This way the project aimed to support rural livelihoods through improvements in household incomes, dietary diversity, agricultural productivity, and resilience to climatic shocks, among other livelihood objectives. To assess the project’s impacts, the study had to deal with numerous methodological complications owing to as the project’s nature and design. The lack of a proper baseline survey, incomplete information about targeted watershed communities and often lack of clear distinction lines between the project’s interventions and support provided to communities through other mechanisms made it hard to identify the true impact of the CBINReMP. Four additional challenges had to be faced: possible selection biases because of non-random placement (targeting) of the project; self-selection of beneficiaries into receiving the project; possible spatial spill-over effects of project benefits to non-treatment communities, and the project’s phased rollout. A propensity-score matching procedure was adopted to assess the CBINReMP’s impacts by comparing treatment (beneficiary) and control groups outcomes related to the livelihood indicators listed above. This paper discusses how the mentioned complications were addressed to provide a sound assessments of the project’s true impacts. While certain limitations remain, the key finding that can be drawn with confidence is that the CBINReMP had only very limited, quantitatively verifiable impact on rural livelihoods. It seems to have contributed to higher household incomes and some greater dietary diversity, but only where the project managed greater community participation. However, even for those beneficiaries, livelihood conditions had not become significantly more productive, diversified, resilient, or sustainable than those of the comparison group. The paper ends with recommendations on how to avoid methodological obstacles through better design of the M&E framework for multi-intervention, community-based projects. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; evaluation; impact assessment; development projects; natural resources management; monitoring and evaluation; watershed management; CBINReMP; Lake Tana Watersheds (LTWs) |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2069&r= |
| By: | Balana, Bedru; Oyeyemi, Motunrayo; Ogunniyi, Adebayo; Fasoranti, Adetunji; Edeh, Hyacinth; Andam, Kwaw S. |
| Abstract: | The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on households’ income, jobs, and food security have continued despite perceptible reductions in transmission and lifting of restrictive policy measures in several countries. To assess these effects on Nigerian households, we collected household data in the initial three months after the outbreak of the pandemic (July 2020). To track the changes since the first survey, we conducted a follow-up phone survey with the same households a year later (July 2021). We undertook a comparative analysis between the two surveys focusing on key variables such as income loss, job loss, food security, and dietary diversity. The study also investigated how changes in income, wealth/endowments, social capital, safety net programs, and recurrent conflicts affected the severity of food insecurity amid the pandemic. We found that both income and jobs have rebounded significantly (by 50 percentage points) compared to the baseline results. In terms of food insecurity, households with “severely food insecure†situations dropped from 73 percent in the first survey to 65 percent in the follow-up survey. We also found a 5-percentage point improvement in the household dietary diversity scale in the follow-up survey. However, households reported an increase of more than 70 percent in conflicts or insecurity threats amid the pandemic. This affected farm investment decisions in 44 percent of smallholder farmers surveyed. While income loss significantly worsened households’ food insecurity; livestock ownership and social capital cushioned households from falling into a more severe food insecurity situation. However, safety net programs provided by the government and NGOs did not significantly protect households from falling into severe food insecurity amid the pandemic. We suggest four policy propositions: prioritize investment in job creation to curb income loss; enable households to build their wealth base (e.g., land tenure security or livestock) to enhance resilience to shocks; revisit targeting approaches of safety net programs to enhance effectiveness of such programs; and finally, devise and implement conflict resolutions to induce investment and enhance productivity. |
| Keywords: | NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; Coronavirus; coronavirus disease; Coronavirinae; COVID-19; food security; livelihoods; households; dietary diversity; income; surveys; income loss; phone survey |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2059&r= |
| By: | Tran, Nhuong; Chan, Chin Yee; Aung, Yee Mon; Bailey, Conner; Akester, Michael; Le Quyen, Cao; Tu, Trinh Quang; Van Cuong, Hoang; Sulser, Timothy B; Wiebe, Keith |
| Abstract: | The Vietnamese fisheries sector, including both marine fisheries and aquaculture, has made spectacular progress in recent years, becoming one of the top seafood producing and exporting countries in the world. Looking forward, development goals of this sector must address challenges associated with climate change, including changing distribution of commercially important marine species such as tuna and disruptions to land-based aquaculture production systems. This study investigates the likely impacts of climate change on Vietnam’s fisheries sector by exploring plausible future scenarios for four key commodities representing capture fisheries (tuna), freshwater aquaculture (pangasius catfish and tilapia), and brackish water aquaculture (shrimp). The extent of impact varies, but climate change represents a potentially significant threat to sustainable production in each production system. Producers, policy makers, and other stakeholders need to plan for and adapt to climate change to ensure the sustainable development of Vietnam’s fisheries sector. This study uses a foresight scenario analysis using a qualitative scenario approach as the starting point for additional modeling of climate change impacts. |
| Date: | 2022–01–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:72har&r= |
| By: | Lambrecht, Isabel; Mahrt, Kristi; Cho, Ame |
| Abstract: | Women’s and youth’s roles in agriculture vary across contexts and over time. Limited quantitative information is available on this topic from Southeast Asia in general, and particularly from Myanmar. We use nationally representative data to document women’s and youth’s involvement in agriculture in rural Myanmar. First, we show that women and youth contribute substantially to agriculture. Women in farm households perform 39 percent of household farm labour days, and 43 percent of agricultural wage workers are women. Twenty-seven percent of adults performing household agricultural work are youth and 22 percent of agricultural wage workers are youth. Yet, women’s farm wages are 29 percent lower than men’s farm wages. Youth’s farm wages are 17 percent lower than farm wages of non-youth for men, but we don’t find similar wage differences for women. Second, we find a significant gender gap in land rights, but the share of women who have land rights is still sizable. Nineteen percent of adult men are documented landowners compared to seven percent of adult women. Few youth have land rights, but the likelihood increases with age. Third, we explore cropping patterns. No crops are grown exclusively by men or women, but rice is more often and vegetables are less often cultivated by households where men are the sole agricultural decision makers. Finally, we focus on access to credit. Women receive loans less often than men (21 percent vs. 26 percent) and youth rarely receive loans (4 percent). Women’s loans are more often aimed at alleviating basic needs, such as food and health expenditures. Men’s loans are more often aimed at investment in productive activities, especially farming. The evidence suggests that including men, women and youth equally in agricultural projects and policy making is critical to advance equity and achieve development goals. |
| Keywords: | MYANMAR; BURMA; SOUTHEAST ASIA; ASIA; gender; youth; agriculture; women; role of women; equity |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2071&r= |
| By: | Massfeller, Anna; Meraner, Manuela; Hüttel, Silke; Uehleke, Reinhard |
| Abstract: | To overcome adoption barriers of EU agri-environmental schemes (AES) related to the organizational burden from complying with the schemes’ inflexible land management prescriptions, the EU has introduced result-based AES. Farms receive compensation once a contracted environmental result is verified. However, desired large-scale adoption of these result-based schemes is threatened since participating farmers risk losing the premium if they cannot reach the environmental target. This study aims at investigating acceptance of a hypothetically result-based AES for arable farmers in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany, and elicit the role of behavioral factors and a social nudge for acceptance. The hypothetical scheme targets at increasing biodiversity of pollinator and bird species by supporting weed-species richness in intensive arable production. We used a split-treatment design to investigate the influence of a social nudge on scheme participation and area enrolled in the scheme (intensity). We rely on a convenience sample of 63 farmers and find an average willingness to participate of about 60%. Results indicate no influence of the social nudge on participation and intensity. Cognitive factors determine the willingness to participate while social and dispositional factors determine the intensity decision. This study sheds light on farmers’ decision-making and delivers a pilot-scheme for follow-up studies. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2021–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi21:317066&r= |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki |
| Abstract: | Agricultural research and development (R&D) is one component of public investments in the agricultural sector toward food system transformation. Enhancing the effectiveness of agricultural R&D remains critical, given increasingly scarce public resources. Exploring spatial spillover potentials has been one way to enhance the effectiveness of agricultural R&D. Geographical locations of National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) research activities are recognized as an important factor affecting such spatial spillover potentials. However, evidence is generally limited in Africa south of Sahara (SSA) as to the spillover potentials of NARS-developed technologies. This paper partly aims to fill this knowledge gap by obtaining insights for maize, one of the most commonly grown crops in SSA, using nationally representative farm household data for Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Uganda, and spatial agroclimatic data. Building on recent literature, this study proxies spillover potentials by “agroclimatic similarity†(AS) indicators between locations where agricultural R&D for maize is conducted by NARS (research locations) and where each farm household is located (farm locations). Results of the analyses suggest that an indicator of the total factor productivity of maize growing farm households, the land productivity of maize, and the use of improved maize varieties are generally higher in farm locations that share similar agroclimatic conditions with maize research locations of NARS. These patterns hold for all four countries studied, even after controlling for the physical proximity to maize research stations and other farm household characteristics. The findings contribute to better understanding of how geographic locations of public investments affect their overall effectiveness as well as returns in maize production and the agricultural sector in general. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA; GHANA; NIGERIA; UGANDA; WEST AFRICA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; maize; public sector; research; agricultural research; agricultural productivity; agroclimatology; agricultural research and development; agroclimatic similarity |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2064&r= |
| By: | Hinkel, Niklas (Cologne Graduate School in Management, Economics and Social Sciences) |
| Abstract: | In face of increased efforts to mitigate climate change, biofuels may be included in reduction plans for greenhouse gas emissions. Feedstock for first generation biofuels and food crops both use arable land and may compete for it. Also, fuel is an input for the production and transport of food. The purpose of this paper is to quantify with empirical data how these two aspects affect market outcomes and to introduce a counterfactual setting where the latter aspect dominates the former. The setting allows an expansion of biofuel production to increase food production by lowering costs of production and transport. Namely, lower costs increase market access, allowing a higher utilization of idle production capacities for food crops. For this quantification, I develop an open market, welfare maximizing, partial equilibrium model for three interdependent goods fuel, fuel feedstock, and food (these goods are represented by diesel/biodiesel, palm oil, and cassava/maize respectively). The model is calibrated to Zambia, which exhibits the necessary underlying conditions of underutilized agricultural capacity, high transport costs, and low exports of food. Compared to a baseline, model results show the counterfactual switch from fossil diesel to biodiesel to reduce the diesel price by 51%. This increases food supply (cassava and maize combined) by 0.4% and decreases related prices by 3%. Overall welfare increases by 9.9%. If additionally, a higher world market price of maize renders exports just profitable, overall welfare continues to gain 9.9%, domestic food supply rises by 0.3%, and related prices drop by 2%, but food supply including exports grows by 32%. Furthermore, the introduction of a palm oil based biodiesel sector eliminates import dependency on fossil diesel and palm oil. |
| Keywords: | Biofuel; Land Use; Energy Economics; Partial Equilibrium Model; Zambia |
| JEL: | C61 O13 O55 Q16 Q18 |
| Date: | 2022–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:ewikln:2022_002&r= |
| By: | Hoffmann, Vivian; Murphy, Mike; Rwakazooba, Ezra; Angebault, Charles; Kagezi, Godfrey; Zane, Giulia |
| Abstract: | Measuring yield accurately is critical for evaluating the impact of interventions that aim to increase agricultural productivity but presents challenges in the case of coffee due to the long harvest period. An allometric approach, in which the fruits on randomly selected branches and clusters are counted is widely used due to its non-destructive nature and acceptability to farmers. However, this approach requires careful attention to detail, which may be difficult to maintain in the context of large-scale data collection efforts. Using data from 199 small-scale Robusta coffee farms in Uganda, we compare yield estimates obtained through a standard allometric protocol against those from a one-time harvest of both ripe and unripe cherries prior to the start of the harvest season. The one-time harvest method was widely acceptable to farmers. Allometric yield estimates explain just under half of the variation in the harvest-based yield measure. While estimated yield is similar across methods for the first tree harvested per farm, we observe a larger difference in allometric versus harvest-based estimates, and systematically lower counts of stems and branches for trees assessed later during the farm visit. We interpret these findings as evidence of deteriorating enumerator performance on the allometric method over time, implying a risk of downward-biased yield estimates. |
| Keywords: | UGANDA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; agriculture; training; agricultural extension; impact assessment; methods; enumeration; yields; measurement; yield components; allometry; coffee |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2065&r= |
| By: | Bednar-Friedl, Birgit; Knittel, Nina; Raich, Joachim; Adams, Kevin M. |
| Abstract: | There is growing recognition that international trade can transmit climate risks across borders, requiring new forms of and approaches to adaptation. This advanced review synthesizes knowledge on how, by whom and where adaptation actions can be taken in the agriculture and industrial sectors to reduce these transboundary climate risks (TCRs). We find a material difference in the literature on TCRs in agriculture as compared with industrial sectors. Operational and market risks, in particular reductions in food availability, dominate in agriculture, while supply chain and trade-related risks are highlighted for industry. While the origin of the risk (source) is the primary target of adaptation to agricultural TCRs, the general governance structure, such as UNFCCC and WTO deliberations, are important targets in both sectors. Adaptation at the country of destination and along the trade network is of minor importance in both sectors. Regarding the type of adaptation option, agriculture heavily relies on trade policy, agricultural adaptation, and adaptation planning and coordination, while in industry knowledge creation, research and development, and risk management are seen as essential. Governments and the international community are identified as key actors, complemented by businesses and research as critical players in industry. Some measures, such as protectionist trade policies and irrigation, are controversial as they shift risks across countries and sectors, rather than reduce them. While more research is needed, this review shows that a critical mass of evidence on adaptation to TCRs is beginning to emerge, particularly underscoring the importance of international coordination mechanisms. This article is categorized under:. Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Institutions for Adaptation Vulnerability and Adaptation to Climate Change > Multilevel and Transnational Climate Change Governance. |
| Keywords: | adaption; agriculture; industry; trade; transboundary climate risk; European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program; Grant number: 776479 (project COACCH). Funding information |
| JEL: | L81 |
| Date: | 2022–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:113693&r= |
| By: | Tasso Adamopoulos; Loren Brandt; Chaoran Chen; Diego Restuccia; Xiaoyun Wei |
| Abstract: | Developing countries are characterized by frictions that impede the mobility of workers across occupations and space. We disentangle the role of insecure property rights from other labor mobility frictions for the reallocation of labor from agriculture to non-agriculture and from rural to urban areas. We combine rich household and individual-level panel data from China and an equilibrium quantitative framework that features the sorting of workers across locations and occupations. We explicitly model the farming household and the endogenous decisions of who operates the family farm and who potentially migrates, capturing an additional channel of selection within the household. We find that land insecurity has substantial negative effects on agricultural productivity and structural change, raising the share of households operating farms by almost 30 percentage points and depressing agricultural productivity by more than 10 percent. Quantitatively, land insecurity is as important as all other labor mobility frictions. We measure a sharp reduction in overall labor mobility barriers over 2004-2018 in the Chinese economy, all of which can be accounted for by improved land security, consistent with reforms covering rural land in China during the period. |
| JEL: | E02 O11 O14 O4 Q1 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:29666&r= |
| By: | Hernandez, Manuel A.; Ceballos, Francisco; Paz, Cynthia; Berrospi, Maria Lucia |
| Abstract: | Coffee is a growth market. Current estimates indicate that global coffee production (in volume) has increased by more than 60% since the 1990s. Coffee is produced by around 25 million farmers, which are mainly smallholders in developing and least developed countries, and over 70% of the coffee produced is exported, resulting in about 20 billion US dollars annual foreign exchange earnings (ICO, 2020). COVID-19 represented a severe joint supply and demand shock to the global coffee sector, particularly during the first months after the start of the pandemic. As noted by Hernandez et al. (2020), the coffee industry experienced important disruptions downstream the value chain, including the functioning of key export infrastructure and international shipping, which combined with local currency devaluations and volatile coffee prices, which resulted in significant challenges for coffee growers, farm workers, and traders. |
| Keywords: | GUATEMALA; LATIN AMERICA; CENTRAL AMERICA; NORTH AMERICA; coffee; Coronavirus; coronavirus disease; Coronavirinae; COVID-19; food production; trade; value chains; coffeee production; coffee growers |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:prnote:1290144041&r= |
| By: | Loring, Philip A. (University of Guelph); Sanyal, Palash (University of Saskatchewan) |
| Abstract: | Global food systems have increased in complexity significantly since the mid-20th century, through such innovations as mechanization, irrigation, genetic modification, and the globalization of supply chains. While complexification can be an effective problem-solving strategy, over-complexification can cause environmental degradation and lead systems to become increasingly dependent on external subsidies and vulnerable to collapse. Here, we explore a wide array of evidence of complexification and over-complexification in contemporary global food systems, drawing on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization and elsewhere. We find that food systems in developed, emerging, and least developed countries have all followed a trajectory of complexification, but that return on investments for energy and other food system inputs have significantly declined—a key indicator of over-complexification. Food systems in developed countries are further along in the process of over-complexification than least developed and emerging countries. Recent agricultural developments, specifically the introduction of genetically modified crops, have not altered this trend or improved return on investments for inputs into food systems. Similarly, emerging innovations belonging to the “digital agricultural revolution” are likewise accompanied by energy demands that may further exacerbate over-complexification. To reverse over-complexification, we discuss strategies including innovation by subtraction, agroecology, and disruptive technology. |
| Date: | 2021–10–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:ecoevo:gkh38&r= |
| By: | Gilligan, Daniel O.; Karachiwalla, Naureen |
| Abstract: | Key Messages - Adoption of productivity-enhancing agricultural technology is low, partly because many of these products are of low-quality and because farmers cannot distinguish between high- and low-quality products. Consequently, farmers do not purchase the products and high-quality producers exit markets. - Governments and/or private regulators can create opportunities for farmers to learn about product quality and increase adoption. One option is a product assurance scheme that provides information to farmers about the quality of the product they purchase. - An example comes from the Uganda National Bureau of Standards, which created a product assurance scheme called Kakasa. The scheme led to large increases in the adoption of both glyphosate herbicide and hybrid maize seed, which both participated in the scheme. - Policymakers should consider providing information to farmers about the quality of agricultural inputs. This can be done without a complicated system of testing, and product assurance can generate sustained increases in adoption and become selfsustaining over time when companies contribute to the scheme. |
| Keywords: | UGANDA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; technology; agriculture; policies; farmers; technology adoption; agricultural technology |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:prnote:1293759984&r= |
| By: | Delgado, Luciana; Schuster, Monica; Torero, Maximo |
| Abstract: | The importance of reducing food loss and food waste has captured the public imagination since it became one of the targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The urgency of this issue and the awareness of its significance to the development community has been growing steadily. Even so, policies to address food insecurity or the increasing pressure on the world’s available land that is being caused by growing populations and changing diets have aimed mainly at increasing agricultural yields and productivity. These efforts are often cost- and time-intensive and do not consider food loss and waste reduction as a tool to help meet growing food demand; nor do they consider food loss reduction as a means to ease pressure on land. Food loss also entails unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions and excessive use of scarce resources including land (FAO 2019); thus, policies to reduce food loss will also benefit the environment. Finally, cutting food loss can help disadvantaged segments of the population, as the loss of marketable food can reduce producers’ incomes and increase consumers’ expenses. Most of the literature uses the terms postharvest losses (PHL), food loss (FL), food waste (FW), and food loss and waste (FLW) interchangeably, but they rarely refer consistently to the same concept. Recent publications (FAO 2014, 2019; HLPE 2014; Lipinski et al. 2013) have tried to clarify this by defining FL as unintentional reductions in food quantity or quality before consumption, that is, from the producer to the wholesale market, inclusive. These losses usually occur in the earlier stages of the food value chain—between production and distribution. This definition, however, does not include crops that are lost before harvesting or are left in the field; nor does it include crops that are lost due to poor harvesting techniques or sharp price drops; nor crops that are not produced because of a lack of adequate agricultural inputs, such as fertilizer, or because of a shortage of available labor. In 2019, the FAO developed the Food Loss Index (FLI), following the definition of food loss mentioned above. According to the FLI, an estimated 14 percent of food produced is lost every year. The major losses are in Central Asia and Southern Asia (20.7 percent), as compared to sub-Saharan Africa, which experiences a 14 percent food loss (FAO 2019), and Latin American and the Caribbean where 11.6 percent is lost. When examining losses in terms of food groups, the highest level of loss is reported in roots, tubers, and oil-bearing crops, followed by fruits and vegetables. It is not surprising that fruits and vegetables incur high levels of loss (more than 20 percent) given their highly perishable nature. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable Development Goals; food losses; value chains; food wastes; postharvest losses |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:prnote:1290143986&r= |
| By: | Adeabah, David; Asongu, Simplice |
| Abstract: | Over the past decade, a growing number of studies have examined the role of agricultural export in economic growth in Africa. The literature, however, provides conflicting results about the agricultural export-led growth hypothesis. In this study, we aim to examine the impact of agricultural export on economic growth by performing a meta-analysis. Our meta-analysis finds significant presence of negative publication bias in the literature. Using mixed-effect multilevel meta-regression, we find that after correction for publication bias, the average agricultural export elasticity to economic growth is 0.763 for the poor in Africa. Interestingly, agricultural export is growth for the rich in Africa, although the elasticity of GDP is 0.043. These results are consistent with the agricultural export-led growth hypothesis. The implication is that export promotion should be targeted at agricultural output in low-income and lower middle-income countries whereas upper middle-income countries in Africa may focus on non-agricultural export. |
| Keywords: | Africa; export-led growth; agricultural export; meta-analysis |
| JEL: | C10 C40 I30 N50 O55 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:111751&r= |
| By: | Kabirigi, Michel; Sun, Zhanli; Hermans, Frans |
| Abstract: | Social interactions among farmers, extension agents, and government officials play a critical role in knowledge development and exchange, uptake of new practices, collective decision-making in agricultural practices. Smartphones and new communication tools are likely to transform the way information exchange and social interactions take place. However, how these ICT developments will influence the communication and social interactions among farmers, and the decision-making of farmers are intriguing questions, yet to be studied. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the use and experience of ICT of banana growers in Rwanda within the context of establishing an effective method for prevention and control of Banana Xanthomas Wilt (BXW), an infectious plant disease. Specifically, we want to assess whether farm clusters associate with the different behaviors and perceptions of the use of ICT. A structured questionnaire was used to collect household information from banana growers (n=690) in 8 representative districts. A combination of principal component analysis and cluster analysis was used to develop a farmer typology of banana growers. Three types of banana growers were identified, namely, i) Beer banana farmers, ii) Livestock-based farmers, and iii) Cooking banana farmers. We then conducted a statistical analysis to regress the use of ICT on the farmer typology and other socioeconomic control variables. Results showed that cooking banana-based farmers are more likely to own a smartphone and perceive ICT as very useful in effective control of BXW whereas beer banana farmers are less likely to own a smartphone, and they tend to perceive ICT as irrelevant in controlling BXW. Beer banana farmers are mainly limited by not knowing how to use these services which are associated with their low level of literacy while Livestock farmers prefer to get information from other sources. The studied farmers provide the potential for using ICT (Mobile based) extension services however beer banana farmers, less likely to own smartphones, are limited to few options. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Community / Rural / Urban Development |
| Date: | 2021–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi21:317054&r= |
| By: | Jean-Joseph Minviel (UMRH - Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores - UMR 1213 - VAS - VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Marc Benoit (UMRH - Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores - UMR 1213 - VAS - VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | Abstract Farm diversification is mainly driven by risk mitigation effects and economic gains related to complementarities between production activities. By combining these two aspects, we investigate diversification economies in a sample of French mixed sheep farming systems and rank these systems using stochastic dominance criteria. Partially diversified systems (Sheep-Grass, Sheep-Crop, Sheep-Landless) and fully diversified systems (Sheep-Grass-Crop-Landless) were evaluated. We find a high degree of diversification diseconomies in the sheep farming systems considered. The results also indicate that the fully diversified system is driven by its risk-reducing effects (including downside risk exposure) and that Sheep-Crop is the dominant system in terms of risk-adjusted returns. |
| Keywords: | downside risk exposure,economic resilience,economies of diversification,Massif Central,mixed sheep farms,SERF analysis,stochastic dominance |
| Date: | 2022–01–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03522983&r= |
| By: | Marending, Myriam (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School); Tripodi, Stefano (Department of Economics, Copenhagen Business School) |
| Abstract: | Desert locust outbreaks and other pests pose a significant threat to food security for millions of people. In this paper we quantify the size of the productivity and welfare loss caused by a desert locust outbreak that hit Ethiopia in 2014. We identify the causal effect of locust swarms on agricultural output and children’s nutritional status by modelling swarms’ movements based on wind speed and direction to identify areas in which they likely land (affected areas). We corroborate our finding by using a “recentered” measure of exposure to swarms that removes the bias due to non random exposure. We find that agricultural output is about 10-11% lower in areas hit by the shock compared to areas that are not affected. On average, children nutritional status is not negatively impacted by the shock, but each additional swarm affecting an enumeration area decreases BMI and weight-for-height z-scores by about 0.03 standard deviations, compared to children living in non affected areas. |
| Keywords: | agricultural shocks; desert locust swarms; food security; Ethiopia; child health |
| JEL: | D13 I15 Q12 Q18 Q54 |
| Date: | 2022–01–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:cbsnow:2021_020&r= |
| By: | Dang, Hai-Anh (World Bank); Carletto, Calogero (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Smallholder farming dominates agriculture in poorer countries. Yet, traditional recall-based surveys on smallholder farming in these countries face challenges with seasonal variations, high survey costs, poor record-keeping, and technical capacity constraints resulting in significant recall bias. We offer the first study that employs a less-costly, imputation-based alternative using mixed modes of data collection to obtain estimates on smallholder farm labor. Using data from Tanzania, we find that parsimonious imputation models based on small samples of a benchmark weekly inperson survey can offer reasonably accurate estimates. Furthermore, we also show how less accurate, but also less resource-intensive, imputation-based measures using a weekly phone survey may provide a viable alternative for the more costly weekly in-person survey. If replicated in other contexts, including for other types of variables that suffer from similar recall bias, these results could open up a new and cost-effective way to collect more accurate data at scale. |
| Keywords: | farm labor, agricultural productivity, multiple imputation, missing data, survey data, Tanzania |
| JEL: | C8 J2 O12 Q12 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14997&r= |
| By: | Abate, Gashaw Tadesse; Bernard, Tanguy; Makhija, Simrin; Spielman, David J. |
| Abstract: | The use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to address a wide array of development issues has gained considerable attention among governments, practitioners, and researchers in recent years (Lwoga and Sangeda 2019). While early studies focused on mobile phones and text messaging, attention is quickly shifting to other media, including video. Many studies on the use of video as a medium explore how increased access and consumption of information can lead to behavior changes that ultimately result in welfare-improving outcomes. This study explores whether video-mediated extension leads to the increased, sustained uptake of productivity-enhancing agricultural technologies and practices by small-scale farmers. Over the two-year period of 2017–2018, the Government of Ethiopia and Digital Green conducted the large-scale rollout of a video-mediated extension approach. We examine the impact of this rollout on a range of outcome indicators, including whether targeting the video-mediated approach to both spouses of a household was more effective than targeting the (typically male) household head alone. Our main outcomes of interest include farmer uptake of the subject technologies and the yield gains resulting from these technologies. Our study provides insights into the mechanisms behind the observed effects and an analysis of the approach’s cost effectiveness. Our results demonstrate that the video-mediated extension approach led to increases in farmer uptake of improved agricultural technologies and practices. In the first year of the experiment, we find an overall 6 percentage point increase in technology uptake, which translates into a 10 percent increase over the mean of the control group. An analysis of uptake by type of technology shows that the video-mediated approach resulted in an increase of 13, 20, and 15 percent over control group means for row planting, precise seeding rate, and urea top/side dressing, respectively. These results endure in the second year of the experiment, pointing to farmers’ effective uptake of the technology beyond a mere trial in one production season. Upon exploring the mechanisms that explain these adoption effects, we find that the video-mediated extension approach led to an increase in extension reach, with a 35 percent increase in farmers’ attendance at extension sessions (likely due to interest in the video medium). Among farmers assigned to the video-mediated extension approach, we also find a higher level of technical understanding of focal agricultural technologies and practices. While our results suggest greater participation and knowledge gains among (typically female) spouses who also participated in the video-mediated extension approach, we do not find clear evidence that targeting both spouses led to higher rates of technology uptake. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; Information and Communication Technologies; agricultural extension; farmers; technology; video-mediated extension |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:prnote:1293759977&r= |
| By: | Ding, Yihong; Balcombe, Kelvin; Robinson, Elizabeth |
| Abstract: | This paper studies Chinese grape growers’ time discounting and its implications for the adoption of technology that can reduce the negative effects of increasing precipitation. Using primary data collected in Xinjiang Province, we undertook a contingent valuation of rain covers that protect fruit from rain and estimated a discounted utility model using these data. Using a hierarchical Bayesian approach, we find that local grape growers discount the future very heavily, with a discount rate of 0.17 per year, which is almost four times higher than the Chinese market interest rate. Farmers also tend to underestimate the benefits of adopting covers, with their purchase decisions appearing to largely depend on their past actual losses rather than future anticipated losses. These findings have broader implications for policies promoting proactive adaptation in response to likely increased rainfall in the region. Targeting farmers who give lower weight to events far off in the future and understanding that many farmers may tend only to make adoption decisions that have strong short-term benefits could improve the efficacy of climate policies that target agricultural technologies. |
| Keywords: | China; contingent valuation; grape; hierarchical Bayesian approach; increased rainfall; technology adoption; time discounting |
| JEL: | C11 O13 Q12 Q16 |
| Date: | 2021–05–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:113546&r= |
| By: | Nissan, Hannah; Simmons, Will; Downs, Shauna M. |
| Abstract: | The food system and climate are closely interconnected. Although most research has focused on the need to adopt a plant-based diet to help mitigate climate change, there is also an urgent need to examine the effects of climate change on food systems to adapt to climate change. A systems approach can help identify the pathways through which climate influences food systems, thereby ensuring that programmes combating malnutrition take climate into account. Although little is known about how climate considerations are currently incorporated into nutrition programming, climate information services have the potential to help target the delivery of interventions for at-risk populations and reduce climate-related disruption during their implementation. To ensure climate services provide timely information relevant to nutrition programmes, it is important to fill gaps in our knowledge about the influence of climate variability on food supply chains. A proposed roadmap for developing climate-sensitive nutrition programmes recommends: (i) research aimed at achieving a better understanding of the pathways through which climate influences diet and nutrition, including any time lags; (ii) the identification of entry points for climate information into the decision-making process for nutrition programme delivery; and (iii) capacity-building and training programmes to better equip public health practitioners with the knowledge, confidence and motivation to incorporate climate resilience into nutrition programmes. With sustained investment in capacity-building, data collection and analysis, climate information services can be developed to provide the data, analyses and forecasts needed to ensure nutrition programmes target their interventions where and when they are most needed. |
| Keywords: | ES/R009708/1 |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2022–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:113561&r= |
| By: | Pierre Triboulet (AGIR - AGroécologie, Innovations, teRritoires - Toulouse INP - Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) - Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Gaël Plumecocq (AGIR - AGroécologie, Innovations, teRritoires - Toulouse INP - Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) - Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, LEREPS - Laboratoire d'Etude et de Recherche sur l'Economie, les Politiques et les Systèmes Sociaux - UT1 - Université Toulouse 1 Capitole - Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées - UT2J - Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Toulouse - ENSFEA - École Nationale Supérieure de Formation de l'Enseignement Agricole de Toulouse-Auzeville) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this article is to explore how value chains adapt quality standards governance to account for societal issues such as sustainable development. It aims to better understand how public and private standards coexist or hybridize within sectors by focusing on two kinds of quality: 'intrinsic' product quality and environmental quality. It offers a new analytical grid combining the literature on innovation economics with that on value chain governance. A case study on the French durum wheat sector for couscous and pasta production is offered to test this grid. To this end, we conducted interviews with the main representatives of the French chain. The results show that there is international competition on product standards and that environmental standards are struggling to emerge in France. These results are discussed in terms of public/private design, homogenization/differentiation processes, vertical/horizontal relationships and links between social values and economic interests. We emphasize that broadening the range of quality attributes impacts the ways in which a value chain organizes itself. |
| Keywords: | Quality Standardization Durum wheat Innovation Environment Value-chain |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03507225&r= |
| By: | Benin, Samuel |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the nature of agricultural transformation taking place in different parts of Africa and analyzes policy drivers of the transformation using data from the CAADP Biennial Review (BR) on 46 indicators from 2014 to 2018. First, a typology of agriculture transformation in different groups of countries is developed by analyzing the initial values and trends in three indicators—share of agriculture in total employment, share of agriculture in gross domestic product, and agriculture labor productivity. The typology, in addition to a conceptual framework that is developed for measuring the relative effect of a policy on an outcome, provides the basis for analyzing the policy drivers of agriculture transformation. The 46 BR indicators are classified into policies (13 indicators), intermediate results (23 indicators), and outcomes (10 indicators), and then econometric methods are used to measure the association between the policy indicators and the intermediate results and outcomes, which include agriculture intensification (e.g., access to finance and extension, fertilizer use, and irrigation development), agriculture growth, agriculture trade, food security, nutrition, and poverty. Different fixed-effects regression methods and model specifications of the explanatory variables are used to assess sensitivity of the results to different assumptions of the data and the relationship between the policies and intermediate and outcome indicators. The trends in the indicators are different. For example, access to finance and extension have risen over time; fertilizer use, irrigation development, agriculture growth, and adult undernourishment have fallen over time; and child nutrition and poverty have remained stagnant over time. Different policy indicators are significantly associated with different indicators of agriculture intensification, agriculture growth, and outcomes. Also, there are differences in the results across the agriculture transformation groups. Major policy drivers of agriculture transformation in the different groups are identified. Implications of the results and suggestions for future research are discussed. |
| Keywords: | AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; CENTRAL AFRICA; EAST AFRICA; NORTH AFRICA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; WEST AFRICA; policies; agriculture; data; equations; agricultural transformation; CAADP biennial review; fixed-effects; simultaneous equations |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2062&r= |
| By: | Robinson, Sherman; Anderson, Lillian; Dunston, Shahnila; Gabriel, Sherwin; Komarek, Adam M.; Mason-D’Croz, Daniel; Sulser, Timothy B. |
| Abstract: | The International Food Policy Research Institute’s International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT) supports analysis of long-term challenges and opportunities for food, agriculture, and natural resources at global and regional scales. IMPACT is continually being updated and improved to better inform the choices that decisionmakers face today. This document describes a new country-level version of the model. IMPACT-SIMM (International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade–Standard IFPRI Multimarket Model) is a partial equilibrium, multi-market, simulation model of the production, supply, and demand of agricultural commodities within a country or group of countries. It simulates the operation of agricultural markets, solving for equilibrium prices within a country and, in multi-country mode, global markets. It is designed to be a “portable†and potentially open-source version of the IFPRI (International Food Policy Research Institute) IMPACT3 model documented in Robinson et al. (2015). IMPACT-SIMM shares model specification, equations, and computer code with IMPACT3, but is designed to be more flexible in application. It allows users to specify a standard multi-market model at any level of aggregation by commodities and countries by changing data inputs, without any change in model code. This model system supports longer-term scenario analysis to provide researchers and policymakers with a flexible tool to assess and compare the potential effects of changes in biophysical systems, socioeconomic trends, technologies, and policies at the level of individual countries or groups of countries. |
| Keywords: | WORLD; commodities; trade; climate change; technological changes; commodity markets; prices; nutrition; ex ante impact assessment; modelling; agriculture; international trade; IMPACT model; multimarket model |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2083&r= |
| By: | Jellason, Nugun P.; Robinson, Elizabeth J. Z.; Ogbaga, Chukwuma C. |
| Abstract: | A fourth agricultural revolution, termed agriculture 4.0, is gradually gaining ground around the globe. It encompasses the application of smart technologies such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, the internet of things (IoT), big data, and robotics to improve agriculture and the sustainability of food production. To date, narratives around agriculture 4.0 associated technologies have generally focused on their application in the context of higher-income countries (HICs). In contrast, in this perspective, we critically assess the place of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in this new technology trajectory, a region that has received less attention with respect to the application of such technologies. We examine the continent’s readiness based on a number of dimensions such as scale, finance, technology leapfrogging, institutions and governance, education and skills. We critically reviewed the challenges, opportunities, and prospects of adopting agriculture 4.0 technologies in SSA, particularly with regards to how smallholder farmers in the region can be involved through a robust strategy. We find that whilst potential exist for agriculture 4.0 adoption in SSA, there are gaps in knowledge, skills, finance, and infrastructure to ensure successful adoption. |
| Keywords: | agriculture 4.0; internet of things (IoT); precision agriculture; robotics; smallholders; sub-Saharan Africa (SSA); APC funding |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2021–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:113550&r= |
| By: | Valentin Bellassen (CESAER - Centre d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales Appliquées à l'Agriculture et aux Espaces Ruraux - AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Filippo Arfini (University of Parma = Università degli studi di Parma [Parme, Italie]); Federico Antonioli (University of Parma = Università degli studi di Parma [Parme, Italie]); Antonio Bodini (University of Parma = Università degli studi di Parma [Parme, Italie]); Michael Boehm (ECOZEPT, Montpellier, France); Ružica Brečić (Faculty of Economics [Zagreb] - University of Zagreb); Sara Chiussi (University of Parma = Università degli studi di Parma [Parme, Italie]); Peter Csillag (Corvinus University of Budapest); Michele Donati (University of Parma = Università degli studi di Parma [Parme, Italie]); Liesbeth Dries (WUR - Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen]); Marion Drut (CESAER - Centre d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales Appliquées à l'Agriculture et aux Espaces Ruraux - AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Matthieu Duboys de Labarre (CESAER - Centre d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales Appliquées à l'Agriculture et aux Espaces Ruraux - AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Hugo Ferrer (CREDA - Centre for Agro-Food Economy & Development, UPC-IRTA, Castelldefels, Spain - UPC - Université polytechnique de Catalogne); Jelena Filipović (University of Belgrade [Belgrade]); Lisa Gauvrit (ECOZEPT, Montpellier, France); José Gil (CREDA - Centre for Agro-Food Economy & Development, UPC-IRTA, Castelldefels, Spain - UPC - Université polytechnique de Catalogne); Matthew Gorton (Newcastle University [Newcastle]); Viet Hoàng (School of Economics, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam); Mohamed Hilal (CESAER - Centre d'Economie et de Sociologie Rurales Appliquées à l'Agriculture et aux Espaces Ruraux - AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Kamilla Knutsen Steinnes (OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University); Apichaya Lilavanichakul (KU - Kasetsart University); Agata Malak-Rawlikowska (SGGW - Warsaw University of Life Sciences); Edward Majewski (SGGW - Warsaw University of Life Sciences); Sylvette Monier-Dilhan (US ODR - Observatoire des Programmes Communautaires de Développement Rural - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Paul Muller (BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Orachos Napasintuwong (KU - Kasetsart University); Kalliroi Nikolaou (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki); Mai Nguyen (School of Economics, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam); an Nguyễn Quỳnh (School of Economics, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam); Ioannis Papadopoulos (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki); Jack Peerlings (WUR - Wageningen University and Research [Wageningen]); Aron Török (Corvinus University of Budapest); Thomas Poméon (US ODR - Observatoire des Programmes Communautaires de Développement Rural - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Bojan Ristic (University of Belgrade [Belgrade]); Burkhard Schaer (ECOZEPT, Montpellier, France); Zaklina Stojanovic (University of Belgrade [Belgrade]); Barbara Tocco (Newcastle University [Newcastle]); Marina Tomic Maksan (Faculty of Economics [Zagreb] - University of Zagreb); Mario Veneziani (University of Parma = Università degli studi di Parma [Parme, Italie]); Gunnar Vitterso (OsloMet - Oslo Metropolitan University) |
| Abstract: | The dataset Sustainability performance of certified and non-certified food (https://www.doi.org/10.15454/OP51SJ) contains 25 indicators of economic, environmental, sustainability performance and social performance, estimated for 27 certified food value chains and their 27 conventional reference products. The indicators are estimated at different levels of the value chain: farm level, processing level, and retail level. It also contains the raw data based on which the indicators are estimated, its source, and the completed spreadsheet calculators for the following indicators: carbon footprint and food miles. This article describes the common method and indicators used to collect data for the twenty-seven certified products and their conventional counterparts. It presents the assumptions and choices, the process of data collection, and the indicator estimation methods designed to assess the three sustainability dimensions within a reasonable time constraint. That is: three person-months for each food quality scheme and its noncertified reference product. Several prioritisations were set regarding data collection (indicator, variable, value chain level) together with a level of representativeness specific to each variable and product type (country and sector). Technical details on how relatively common variables (e.g., number of animals per hectare) are combined into indicators (e.g., carbon footprint) are provided in the full documentation of the dataset. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license. |
| Keywords: | Protected designation of origin,Certified food,Social performance,Environmental performance,Economic performance,Sustainability performance,Protected geographical indication,Organic farming |
| Date: | 2021–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03526645&r= |
| By: | Sarfo, Yaw; Musshoff, Oliver; Weber, Ron; Danne, Michael |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, microfinance institutions (MFIs) with financial products designed for low income groups have been established all over the world. However, credit access for farmers in developing countries remains low. Digital financial services are rapidly expanding globally at the moment. They also bear great potential to address farmers in remote rural areas. Beyond mobile money services, digital credit is successively offered and also discussed in literature. Compared to conventional credit which is granted based on a thorough assessment of the loan applicant’s financial situation, digital credit is granted based on an automated analysis of the existing data of the loan applicant. However, empirical research on farmers’ preferences and willingness to pay (WTP) for digital credit is non-existent. We employ a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to compare farmers’ WTP for digital and conventional credit. Our results indicate a higher WTP for digital credit compared to conventional credit. Furthermore, we find that longer loan duration has a higher effect on farmers’ WTP for digital credit compared to conventional credit. Additionally, our results show that instalment repayment condition reduces farmers’ WTP for digital credit whilst increasing their WTP for conventional credit. Our results show the potential of digital credit for agricultural finance in rural areas of Madagascar if a certain level of innovation is applied in designing digital credit products. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management |
| Date: | 2021–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi21:317074&r= |
| By: | Richard A. Rosen |
| Abstract: | Several major papers have been published over the last ten years claiming to have detected the impact of either annual variations in weather or climate change on the GDPs of most countries in the world using panel data-based statistical methodologies. These papers rely on various multivariate regression equations which include the annual average temperatures for most countries in the world as one or more of the independent variables, where the usual dependent variable is the change in annual GDP for each country from one year to the next year over 30-50 year time periods. Unfortunately, the quantitative estimates derived in these papers are misleading because the equations from which they are calculated are wrong. The major reason the resulting regression equations are wrong is because they do not include any of the appropriate and usual economic factors or variables which are likely to be able to explain changes in GDP/economic growth whether or not climate change has already impacted each country`s economy. These equations, in short, exhibit suffer from "omitted variable bias", to use statistical terminology. |
| Keywords: | climate change and economic growth, regression analysis, panel data methodologies, normal weather fluctuations vs. climate change, reforming peer review, omitted variable bias |
| JEL: | A14 C1 C30 C33 Q51 Q56 |
| Date: | 2021–11–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:thk:wpaper:inetwp171&r= |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Diao, Xinshen |
| Abstract: | Gender differences in the engagement of work activities across sectors are important elements of gender inequality in rural livelihoods and welfare in developing countries. The role of production technologies, including agricultural mechanization, in addressing gender inequality, is increasingly explored. Knowledge gaps remain, however, including, how agricultural mechanization differentially affect labor engagements across sectors. This study aims to partly fill these knowledge gaps through micro-evidence from 8 countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, India, Nepal, Tajikistan and Vietnam), using several nationally representative panel data and supplementary data, and applying Correlated-Random-Effects Double-Hurdle models with Instrumental-Variables. We find that the use of tractors and/or combine harvesters by the household induces greater shift from farm activities to non-farm activities by female members than by male members. While statistical significance varies, these patterns generally hold consistently across all 8 countries studied. These patterns also seem to hold across different farm sizes. While these are short-term relations, agricultural mechanization proxied by tractor and/or combine harvesters is one of the important contributors to gendered rural livelihood. Future studies should more closely investigate underlying mechanisms and implications of these patterns. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA; GHANA; NIGERIA; WEST AFRICA; TANZANIA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; INDIA; NEPAL; SOUTH ASIA; TAJIKISTAN; VIET NAM; VIETNAM; SOUTH EAST ASIA; ASIA; agricultural mechanization; tractors; combine harvesters; gender; labour; models; data; correlated-random-effects double hurdle model; panel data |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2066&r= |
| By: | Glauber, Joseph W. |
| Abstract: | China’s rapid rise as a leading global exporter of manufacturing goods since its accession to the WTO in 2001 has been the focus of both admiration and, increasingly, concern, but China is also a large importer of goods, particularly agricultural products. Since China's accession to the WTO, China agricultural exports have increased by 8 percent annually while imports have risen by almost twice that rate. China has become the world's largest importer of agricultural products and the first or second largest destination for many of the world's top agricultural exporters such as the US, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Argentina. This paper examines the evolution of China's agricultural trade since accession and discusses how agricultural trade policy and domestic support policies have evolved, with particularly emphasis on China's experience as complainant and respondent in WTO trade disputes. |
| Keywords: | CHINA; EAST ASIA; ASIA; WORLD; WTO; agricultural trade; dispute settlement; trade disputes; international trade; trade; tariffs; imports; exports |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2085&r= |
| By: | Treich, Nicolas |
| Abstract: | As is customary in economics, the Dasgupta Review on the economics of biodiversity adopts an anthropocentric approach: that is, among the millions of species on Earth, the Review accords a moral value to only one species; ours. Building on the literature in ethics, I explain why it is morally problematic to assume that other species – at least, sentient animals – only have an instrumental value for humans. The Review defends its approach, but I advance counter arguments. I highlight that preserving the diversity of life in ecosystems is not the same as taking care of the wellbeing of sentient species living in those ecosystems. Some biodiversity policies, such as protecting the blue whale or reducing meat consumption, largely satisfy both nthropocentric and non‐anthropocentric objectives. Other policies, such as the reintroduction of wolves or the eradication of invasive species, induce conflicts between these objectives. I finally discuss why the anthropocentric view remains prevalent in the research on biodiversity and present some potential non‐anthropocentric research directions |
| Keywords: | Biodiversity; environmental economics; anthropocentrism; animal welfare;; sentience; conservation. |
| JEL: | Q51 Q20 Q18 I30 Z00 |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:126575&r= |
| By: | Delgado, Luciana; Schuster, Monica; Torero, Maximo |
| Abstract: | Tackling food loss and waste can help address hunger and malnutrition without adding to environmental stress. Reductions to food loss and waste also hold important implications for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and transforming agrifood systems to make them more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable. However, the lack of country-level data and of an agrifood system-based approach has prevented countries from translating commitment into action to tackle the issue. This brief examines existing knowledge on food loss and waste in the context of agrifood systems. It concludes that food loss and waste pose multiple challenges, which can only be addressed through interdisciplinary research that considers all the elements of agrifood systems. |
| Keywords: | food losses; food wastes; agrifood systems; nutrition |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:prnote:1293759995&r= |
| By: | Folwarczny, Michal (Reykjavik University) |
| Abstract: | In the recent decade, marketing literature has acknowledged the advantages of applying an evolutionary lens to understand consumer behavior in different domains. Food choice context is one such domain, having implications for societal well-being, especially for public health and addressing environmental issues. In this thesis, I investigate how mechanisms that have emerged as adaptations to food scarcity—frequent throughout human history—affect modern consumers’ food preferences, potentially leading to maladaptive outcomes. In Paper I, we highlight that selection pressures adjusted humans to forage in ancestral, hostile environments when they were wandering between periods of food scarcity and food sufficiency. Consequently, consumers often fail to choose foods appropriate to their current needs in contemporary retail contexts. Rather than attempting to override these hardwired and evolutionarily outdated food preferences, we recommend policymakers leverage them in such a way that facilitates healthier food choices. A series of studies reported in Paper II show that exposing people to climate change-induced food scarcity distant in time and space shifts their current food preferences. Specifically, people exposed to such video content exhibit a stronger preference toward energy-dense (vs. low-calorie) foods than their peers exposed to a control video. In Paper III, we aimed to account for potential confounds stemming from the control video used in studies reported in Paper II. Additionally, we strived to conceptually replicate these earlier findings by exposing participants to subtle cues to food scarcity—a winter forest walk. Although not all studies yielded significant results at conventional levels, this empirical package—when taken together—corroborated the earlier findings. Despite that studies described in Papers II–III provided a shred of empirical evidence showing a potency of food scarcity cues in increasing preferences toward energy-dense (vs. low-calorie) products, it was still unclear what drove such a shift in food liking. Thus, in Paper IV, we have developed and psychometrically validated the Anticipated Food Scarcity Scale (AFSS), measuring the degree to which people perceive food resources as becoming less available in the future. Aside from being a candidate mechanism partially explaining findings reported in Papers II–III, anticipated food scarcity (AFS) is also related to some aspects of prosociality. Studies presented in this thesis suggest that when environmental cues to food scarcity are present, people show a stronger preference toward energy-dense (vs. low-calorie) foods than their peers unexposed to such cues. Policymakers should consider these results when designing climate change and other similar campaigns, as such communication often depicts food scarcity. Additional research may explore the possibility that exposure to food scarcity cues affects food choices. Considering that we found AFS correlated with certain prosocial attitudes, it is a new psychological construct that warrants future investigation through multidisciplinary research. |
| Date: | 2021–12–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:thesis:mgqhu&r= |
| By: | Kei Kajisa; Trang Thu Vu |
| Abstract: | There remains an unsettled question regarding the achievement of the African rice Green Revolution (GR): Must a region start from the adoption of basic farm management practices (e.g., seed selection, nursery bed set-up, field leveling, bund construction, and transplanting), many of which were already common in Asia at the time of its GR? This study evaluated a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of training in such basic practices in remote rainfed lowland areas of Mozambique. The training employed two approaches: implementing farmer field schools in demonstration plots and promoting farmer-to-farmer social learning. The intention-to-treat (ITT) effect on the yield was 447?546 kg/ha (29%?36% of the control group average yield), with statistical significance at 7%?8%, regardless of the irregular rainfall conditions. The results indicate that the adoption of basic practices alone can improve rice yield even without modern inputs such as modern varieties and inorganic fertilizer, which are not easily available in local markets in remote areas or accessible to cash-constrained farmers. We also found complementarity among the basic practices, indicating that they must be adopted as a package for effective yield improvement. |
| Keywords: | Management training, extension systems, technology adoption, rice, Green Revolution |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jic:wpaper:226&r= |
| By: | Leight, Jessica; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Mulford, Michael; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum; Tambet, Heleene |
| Abstract: | A growing literature in economics has analyzed the effects of psychological interventions designed to boost individual aspirations as a strategy to increase investments with long-term returns and thus reduce poverty. This paper reports on a randomized controlled trial evaluating a short video-based intervention designed to increase aspirations of adults in poor rural Ethiopian households, all of whom are beneficiaries of the Productive Safety Net Program, the main government safety net program in Ethiopia. Evidence from a sample of 5258 adults from 3220 households is consistent with the hypothesis that there is no evidence that the aspirations treatment had any significant effects on self-reported aspirations for the household, educational investment in children, or savings nine months post-treatment, suggesting that the effect of light-touch aspirations treatments for extremely poor adults may be limited in this context. |
| Keywords: | ETHIOPIA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; rural areas; education; investment; poverty reduction; social safety nets; aspirations; educational investments |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2070&r= |
| By: | Bachev, Hrabrin |
| Abstract: | The issue of understanding, analyzing and assessing the governance of ecosystem services in general, agro-ecosystem services in particular, is among the most topical academic and practical (policies and business forwarded) tasks. Despite of the growing importance and interest in that new area, in Bulgaria, like in many other countries, there are few studies on the meaning, content, measurement and assessment of the specific governance of agro-ecosystem services. This paper tries to give answers to the following academic and practical (policies and business forwarded) questions: what is governance of agro-ecosystem services, which are components of the governance system of that important area, how to assess the governance of ecosystem services, and how to improve the governance. It incorporates the interdisciplinary New Institutional Economics framework and gives new insights on understanding, scope, and assessment of the system of governance of ecosystem services as well as outline the result of a large scale study on mechanisms, modes and impacts of governance in Bulgarian farms. First, it suggests a holistic definition of the governance encompassing (1) the governing agents, and (2) the available rules, mechanisms and modes for agents, and (3) the process of governing, and (4) the outcome (specific order and efficiency) of governance. Secondly, we present a framework for identification, measurement and assessment of the mechanisms and modes of governance, and associated factors, costs and benefits for related agents. Third, it identifies the type, amount, and importance of various ecosystem services maintained and “produced” by the Bulgarian farms. Forth, it identifies and assesses the mechanisms, modes, efficiency and factors of governance of ecosystem services in Bulgarian agriculture. The study has found out that muluple private, market, and public forms and mechanisms are used to govern agro-ecosystem services in Bulgaria. The country’s farms provide a great number of essential ecosystem services among which provisioning food and feed, and conservation of elements of the natural environment prevail. A great variety of private, market, collective, public and hybrid modes of governance of farm activity related to agro-ecosystem services are applied. There is significant differentiation of employed managerial forms depending on the type of ecosystem services and the specialization of holdings. Furthermore, management of agro-ecosystem services is associated with a considerable increase in production and transaction costs of participating farms as well as big socio-economic and environmental effects for farms and other parties. |
| Keywords: | ecosystems, services, governance, efficiency, agriculture, farms, Bulgaria |
| JEL: | Q1 Q12 Q13 Q15 Q18 Q2 Q3 Q5 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:111693&r= |
| By: | Hoffmann, Vivian; Doan, Miki Khanh; Harigaya, Tomoko |
| Abstract: | A challenge to evaluating the impact of agronomy training programs, particularly on downstream impacts such as yield, is the identification of a sample with sufficiently high take-up propensity. We assess the effectiveness of screening farmers for their interest in a coffee agronomy training program based on participation in a pre-training activity designed for this purpose. The screening activity was designed to appeal to the same farmers targeted by the agronomy program, while having minimal impact on that program’s goal of increasing coffee yields. A three-session training on farm business management was conducted in 22 study villages in central Uganda. Coffee agronomy training was then offered in half of these villages, based on random assignment. 52 percent of coffee farmers self-selected through their attendance of business training subsequently attended agronomy training, compared to 22 percent of those identified through a census. Applying these results to the design of a large ongoing RCT, we find that use of a self-selected sample reduces the minimum detectable effect of agronomy training on coffee yield to 15.83%, compared to 38% if population-based sampling were used. |
| Keywords: | UGANDA; EAST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; impact assessment; agronomy; training; agricultural extension; methods |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2063&r= |
| By: | Talevi, Marta; Pattanayak, Subhrendu K.; Das, Ipsita; Lewis, Jessica J.; Singha, Ashok K. |
| Abstract: | Biogas has the potential to satisfy the clean energy needs of millions of households in under-served and energy-poor rural areas, while reducing both private and social costs linked to (i) fuels for household cooking, (ii) fertilizers, (iii) pressure on forests, and (iv) emissions (e.g., PM 2.5 and methane) that damage both household health and global climate. While the literature has focused on identifying these costs, less attention has been paid to household preferences for biogas systems — specifically what attributes are popular with which types of households. We conduct a discrete choice experiment with 503 households in rural Odisha, India, to better characterize preferences for different attributes (smoke reduction, fuel efficiency, and maintenance) and for different cooking technologies (biogas and an improved biomass cookstove). We find that on average households value smoke reduction and fuel efficiency. Willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for the improved biomass cookstove is low, while willingness to pay a premium for biogas is high. Nonetheless, WTP varies by the type of previous experience with biogas (e.g., good or bad experience) and with time and risk preferences of households. While risk-averse and impatient respondents have lower WTP for the improved cookstoves, previous experience with biogas attenuates this gap. These findings suggest that biogas uptake and diffusion could be improved by complementing existing subsidies with technology trials, good quality products, maintenance, and customer services to reduce uncertainty. |
| Keywords: | energy poverty; Biogas; improved cookstoves; air pollution; firewood; discrete choice experiment; Odisha; ES/J500070/1; UKRI block grant |
| JEL: | I30 Q20 Q40 |
| Date: | 2022–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:113454&r= |
| By: | Mohaddes, K.; Ng, R. N. C.; Pesaran, M. H.; Raissi, M.; Yang, J-C. |
| Abstract: | We investigate the long-term macroeconomic effects of climate change across 48 U.S. states over the period 1963-2016 using a novel econometric strategy which links deviations of temperature and precipitation (weather) from their long-term moving-average historical norms (climate) to various state-specific economic performance indicators at the aggregate and sectoral levels. We show that climate change has a long-lasting adverse impact on real output in various states and economic sectors, and on labour productivity and employment in the United States. Moreover, in contrast to most cross-country results, our within U.S. estimates tend to be asymmetrical with respect to deviations of climate variables (including precipitation) from their historical norms. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, economic growth, adaptation, United States |
| JEL: | C33 O40 O44 O51 Q51 Q54 |
| Date: | 2022–01–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camjip:2203&r= |
| By: | Heckert, Jessica; Leight, Jessica; Awonon, Josué; Gelli, Aulo |
| Abstract: | In complex nutrition-sensitive interventions, separately identifying the effect of each programmatic component on the outcomes of interest can be challenging. This paper examines the relationship between participation in different elements of the nutrition-sensitive intervention SELEVER, implemented in rural Burkina Faso with the objective of increasing poultry production and enhancing related nutritional outcomes, and women’s poultry production. We use structural equation modeling to estimate the direct effect of each component of program participation. Our findings suggest that respondents’ directly reported participation in SELEVER intervention activities mediates less than half of the observed intervention effects on poultry owned by women as well as women’s revenue and profits from poultry production. Accordingly, other indirect channels for program effects also seem to be important. |
| Keywords: | BURKINA FASO; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA; programmes; gender; nutrition; modelling; poultry production; structural equation modeling; nutrition-sensitive interventions |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2072&r= |
| By: | Pauline Castaing (CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne) |
| Abstract: | In Burkina Faso, the joint liability system underlies the relations between cotton producers gathered in cooperatives. However, this risk-pooling mechanism develops at the expense of individual efforts to adapt to climate change. |
| Abstract: | Entraves de la caution solidaire à l'adaptation au changement climatique Au Burkina-Faso, le système de caution solidaire organise les relations entre producteurs de coton rassemblés au sein de coopératives. Cette gestion collective du risque se fait au détriment de l' effort individuel face au changement climatique. Une grande variété de risques, parmi lesquels ceux relatifs au climat, menace le secteur agricole africain. Dans cette région, l'agriculture dépend fortement du niveau des précipitations dont la variabilité s'est accrue au cours des dernières décennies (Cook & Vizy, 2006). Cette tendance, qui est amenée à se |
| Keywords: | Ressources naturelles,Microeconomie,Agriculture |
| Date: | 2020–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03514075&r= |
| By: | Angelos Alamanos; Phoebe Koundouri |
| Abstract: | The broad economic notion of Ecosystem Services (ES) refers to the benefits that humans derive, directly or indirectly, from ecosystem functions. ES are directly related with Water Resources Management (WRM), as any catchment's degradation is in fact a degradation of ES, and the opposite. The concept initially had a pedagogical purpose, later it started being measured with economic methods, and has policy extensions, such as markets and payment schemes. ES's valuation is an essential process for achieving environmental, economic and sustainability goals, The Total Economic Value (TEV) of ecosystems includes market values (priced) and mainly non-market values (not explicit in any market), hence the different valuation methods for their explicit valuation. This process involves also human preferences regarding the perception of the nature's contribution to the economy, services, or production processes. ES concept and relevant policies have been criticised on the technical weaknesses of valuation methods, the description of the human behaviour, the interdisciplinary conflicts (e.g. ecological vs economic perception of value), and ethical aspects on the limits of the economic science, nature's commodification, and the purpose of the policy extents. Since valuation affects the policies (markets and payment schemes), it is important to understand the way that humans decide and develop preferences under uncertainty. Those preferences are changing, our behaviour is unpredictable under deep uncertainty (i.e. unknown policies, impacts, unknown probabilistic events, and under climate change) particularly over longer-term important WRM decisions. Behavioural Economics attempt to understand human behavior and psychology, and in a way model our valuation system, under uncertainty. The purpose and use of concept must be based on solid principles, aiming to the development of policies that will improve our ecosystems and lives, achieved by scientific and stakeholder collaboration. |
| Date: | 2022–02–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:2211&r= |
| By: | Asare-Nuamah, Peter; Amoah, Anthony; Asongu, Simplice |
| Abstract: | This study complements the extant literature by assessing the role of governance dynamics in food security in Ghana for the period 1980-2019. The empirical evidence is based on the Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) technique and governance is categorized into: political (entailing political stability and voice & accountability), economic (consisting of regulatory quality and government effectiveness) and institutional (entailing corruption-control and the rule of law) governance dynamics. The study finds that the engaged governance dynamics improve food security in Ghana. Policy implications are discussed with specific emphasis on the sustainable development goals. |
| Keywords: | Governance; Vulnerability; Food security; Sustainable development |
| JEL: | I38 O20 O55 Q12 R20 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:111760&r= |
| By: | Jones, Kelly W. |
| Abstract: | Payments for watershed services (PWS) programs are becoming a popular governance approach in the western United States (US) to fund forest management aimed at source water protection. In this paper we conduct a cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of one of the first collaboratively funded PWS programs in the US, located in the municipal watersheds servicing Denver, Colorado. We combine wildfire modeling, sediment modeling, and primary and secondary data on economic values to quantify the impact of the program on protecting multiple values at risk. Our results show that while the program has led to diverse societal benefits, it is only economically efficient (benefit-cost ratio greater than one) when all co-benefits beyond source water protection are considered and fuels treatments are assumed to encounter wildfire. When the probability of wildfire is accounted for, economic benefits would need to be triple what was estimated in our analysis to achieve economic efficiency. Our findings suggest that improving spatial prioritization of interventions would increase economic benefits and better data on treatment placement and costs would help facilitate future CBA of PWS programs focused on wildfire mitigation. |
| Date: | 2021–11–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:ecoevo:z9skm&r= |