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on Agricultural Economics |
| By: | Atanase, Yene; Michelle, Eke Balla Sophie |
| Abstract: | Despite the introduction of agricultural policies, social safety net programmes, investment in agricultural infrastructure, and support measures for small farmers, the country continues to face high levels of food insecurity. Agricultural policies have been hampered by corruption, mismanagement of resources, and lack of monitoring and evaluation, leading to mixed results. Social safety net programmes have faced problems of exclusion and lack of transparency in the distribution of aid. Investment in agricultural infrastructure has been delayed and poorly maintained, limiting its impact on the food supply chain. Support measures for small-scale farmers have encountered obstacles such as lack of access to credit and appropriate training. These failures in the implementation of previous policies have serious consequences for the health, well-being, and socio-economic stability of the most vulnerable populations. It is, therefore, necessary to analyze the trajectory of household food insecurity in Cameroon, in order to better understand the factors and coping strategies that enable households to maintain or improve their food security over time. This may be useful for guiding policies and programmes aimed at reducing food insecurity and strengthening household resilience to shocks and crises. To this end, we used data from a two-round telephone survey of Cameroonian households. In the first round of the survey, 2680 households were interviewed between 1 and 28 February 2021. In the second round, 1861 households from the first round were interviewed between 21 June and 21 July 2021. Using these data, several factors can be identified: (i) the characteristics of the household, including the age of the head of household, the size of the household, the sector of activity of the head of household, insurance, and mutual insurance, access to the internet, area of residence (ii) shocks can be a loss of income, the death of a household member, loss of employment, an increase in the price of inputs, an increase in the price of food consumed. Households may also use a variety of coping strategies, such as savings, stored food, borrowing, government and NGO assistance, remittances, and loans. |
| Date: | 2024–04–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:9357308b-e680-4c3c-81ac-0060f8f2b48b |
| By: | Nikiema, Pouirketa Rita; Dedewanou, F. Antoine |
| Abstract: | In Burkina Faso, agriculture is an important pillar of the national economy and is fundamental to food security. The sector generates one third of the country's GDP and employs 80% of the active population but supports mainly subsistence livelihoods. However, agricultural production and food security are highly dependent on weather shocks. Rainfall variability reduced agricultural production between 6% and 15% in 2019 (Food Crisis Prevention Network, 2020) and this in turn might have tipped 10.1% of population into food insecurity. In addition, over the past five years, the country has been affected by violent terrorist attacks and regional unrest. The combination of insecurity and violence led to the closure of schools, internally displaced people (around 1.7 million people) and shutdown of health centres. These recurrent and violent adversely affected households livelihoods in several regions within the country.Food insecurity is a common social issue affecting several African households. COVID-19 reduced people's ability to meet their food needs, which could continue to exacerbate food and nutrition insecurity in the country. |
| Date: | 2024–04–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:1a1ef8fc-9697-494c-9aec-eed684c21b21 |
| By: | Lacy, Katherine; Lim, Katherine; Williams, David; Whitt, Christine |
| Abstract: | Nonfamily farms (where no producer, household, or extended family owns at least 50 percent of the operation) constitute about 2 percent of total U.S. farms from 2018 to 2022. This report explores nonfamily farms and the households of their principal producers by farm size combining data collected from the annual Agricultural Resource Management Survey from 2018 to 2022. Statistics for nonfamily farms are compared with equivalently sized family farms. Findings show that 70 percent of all nonfamily farms were considered small, with less than $350, 000 in gross cash farm income. Nonfamily farms accounted for 13.4 percent of the value of production from 2018 to 2022 (combined), but much of that production came from large-scale producers. Small nonfamily farms were less financially vulnerable compared with small family farms. Principal producer households of nonfamily farms had lower wealth, income, and debt compared with family farm principal producer households. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, Research Research Methods/Statistical Methods, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uersib:355591 |
| By: | Bwalya, Richard; Chitalu, M. Chama-Chiliba |
| Abstract: | Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been growing concerns about the impact of the pandemic on household food security (Nguyen et al., 2021; Cable et al., 2021; and Paslakis et al., 2020). Available studies show that economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic is proportionately affect members of the society, depending on factors such as socio-economic status, livelihood strategies, and access to markets. However, though informative, these studies tend to be based on small sample sizes, limited geographical coverage or both, and thus less useful for informing the design of effective recovery strategies that lead to more resilient national food systems (Bene et al. 2021). As a contribution to addressing this information gap, this paper investigated changes in household food security and its drivers in Zambia between the pre pandemic and COVID-19 periods, with the objective of identifying significant drivers of food security and understand how they changed during the pandemic. |
| Date: | 2024–04–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:21029715-f08f-4b4b-bafc-99ed4cabce22 |
| By: | Alexey Chernikov (SoDa Labs & Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University); Klaus Ackermann (SoDa Labs & Department of Econometrics and Business Statistics, Monash University); Caitlin Brown (Department of Economics, Université Laval); Denni Tommasi (Department of Economics, University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | Ensuring street food safety in developing countries is crucial due to the high prevalence of foodborne illnesses. Traditional methods of food safety assessments face challenges such as resource constraints, logistical issues, and subjective biases influenced by surveyors personal lived experiences, particularly when interacting with local communities. For instance, a local food safety inspector may inadvertently overrate the quality of infrastructure due to prior familiarity or past purchases, thereby compromising objective assessment. This subjectivity highlights the necessity for technologies that reduce human biases and enhance the accuracy of survey data across various domains. This paper proposes a novel approach based on a combination of Computer Vision and a lightweight Visual Large Language Model (VLLM) to automate the detection and analysis of critical food safety infrastructure in street food vendor environments at a field experiment in Kolkata, India. The system utilises a three-stage object extraction pipeline from the video to identify, extract and select unique representations of critical elements such as hand-washing stations, dishwashing areas, garbage bins, and water tanks. These four infrastructure items are crucial for maintaining safe food practices, irrespective of the specific methods employed by the vendors. A VLLM then analyses the extracted representations to assess compliance with food safety standards. Notably, over half of the pipeline can be processed using a user's smartphone, significantly reducing government server workload. By leveraging this decentralised approach, the proposed system decreases the analysis cost by many orders of magnitude compared to alternatives like ChatGPT or Claude 3.5. Additionally, processing data on local government servers provides better privacy and security than cloud platforms, addressing critical ethical considerations. This automated approach significantly improves efficiency, consistency, and scalability, providing a robust solution to enhance public health outcomes in developing regions. |
| Keywords: | Food Safety, Visual Language Models , Survey Accuracy , Field Assessments , Bias Reduction |
| JEL: | C83 I18 O33 Q18 O12 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajr:sodwps:2025-02 |
| By: | Chakraborty, Kritika Sen; Villa, Kira |
| Abstract: | Climate change disproportionately affects rural economies, particularly in poorer regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, where livelihoods depend on weather fluctuations. South Africa, a middle-income country located within a drought belt, has experienced exacerbated drought conditions in recent years. In 2015-2016, the country suffered the worst drought in decades, which substantially decreased food production (World Bank Group, 2021). To cope with weather events, households employ several strategies, including adjusting the human capital investments and labour supply responses of household members as a form of self-insurance. Rainfall shocks, as a proxy for agricultural productivity shocks, can affect the schoolwork decisions of adolescents and young adults in rural South Africa. Adolescents are particularly vulnerable as they may be forced to enter the labour market to cope with shocks, resulting in school termination and, consequently, long-lasting negative effects on human capital accumulation. Exploring the weather shocks-human capital nexus is crucial for South Africa, which has around 207, 714, out-of-school adolescents and a low net secondary school enrollment rate of 70.3 % in 2019 (UNESCO, 2019). |
| Date: | 2024–03–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:2c9f02bc-6112-42f7-b40c-b1b39c537c00 |
| By: | Rakotonirainy, Miora; Razakamanana, Marilys Victoire; Ramiandrisoa, Tiarinisaina Olivier |
| Abstract: | Child malnutrition and food insecurity are widespread in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, students in developing countries tend to have low academic performance. To address this problem, MDG 2 calls for "eradicating hunger, ensuring food security, improving nutrition, ..." and MDG 4 "ensuring equal access to quality education for all, ...". |
| Date: | 2024–04–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:d6a91909-1bca-4c0c-bb54-d8f9a8c3ec8e |
| By: | See, Priti |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the potential of biomimetics to revolutionize medical and food waste management systems in the United States. By forging circular economies in these fields, biomimetics can provide robust financial benefits. Furthermore, biomimetics can mitigate waste accumulation and related health hazards from such systems. In light of this paper’s findings, ongoing and long-term financial investments in biomimetic technology are recommended to create sustainable medical and food waste systems on a nationwide scale. |
| Date: | 2023–08–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:rg6q2_v1 |
| By: | Ghislain Aihounton; Luc Christiaensen |
| Keywords: | Agriculture-Agribusiness Agriculture-Food Security Agriculture-Fertilizers |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:39701 |
| By: | World Bank |
| Keywords: | Agriculture-Agricultural Sector Economics |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wboper:40794 |
| By: | Wirba, Ebenezer Lemven |
| Abstract: | In this paper we estimate quadratic food Engel curves using data from the 2001, 2007 and 2014 Cameroon household consumption surveys. To address potential mismeasurement of regressors, we employ the heteroscedasticity based identification strategy. Exploratory non-parametric analyses suggest quadratic forms for the food Engel curves. The regression results in this study confirm these patterns. At lower spending levels, unit increases in total spending increase the food budget share, while at levels above the spending thresholds unit increases in total spending reduce the food budget share. We POLICY BRIEF Identification and Estimation of Quadratic Food Engel Curves: Evidence from Cameroon Ebenezer Lemven Wirba October 2023 / No.809 2 Policy Brief No.809 also find evidence of major shifts in the quadratic food Engel curves over time. These findings suggest that reducing taxes on food items would be more beneficial to poor households. |
| Date: | 2024–04–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:dc7acd7e-1720-4fa1-bf7f-d4650d31e34e |
| By: | Zgovu, Evious; Morrissey, Oliver |
| Abstract: | This paper provides estimates of the potential for East African Community (EAC) member countries to increase exports to the rest of Africa as the other countries reduce tariffs under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), using a simple approach to identify the markets (countries) and products most likely to benefit considering only growth of existing imports from the EAC. The assumption is that EAC member countries have evident export capacity in such products and markets, and that these products are unlikely to be excluded from liberalization by importing countries. The results suggest that the EAC could expand exports overall by 10-15%, largely concentrated in relatively close countries, and agriculture and resource-based products, but with basic manufactures. Relatively distant markets in North and West Africa offer reasonable potential to EAC countries, except Rwanda (concentrated on the Democratic Republic of Congo - DRC) and Tanzania (concentrated on Southern Africa). The EAC can anticipate moderate gains from AfCFTA and, by identifying the markets and products most likely to be affected, the study provides a guide to policy makers in EAC countries on sectors to target in supporting exports, including products that could target new distant markets (that include some basic manufactures). Textiles and apparel offer the best potential to engage in regional value chains. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aer:wpaper:713bbf40-a893-4e79-87bf-eb58ac32c3a2 |
| By: | Imen Ghattassi (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord); David Dosso (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord); Francisco Serranito (EconomiX - EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses climate change by examining the determinants of international climate finance. In response to the effects and potential damages of climate change, countries and international institutions are increasingly making efforts to mitigate its impacts. While financial assistance are being increasingly mobilized to help countries confront this threat, many nations remain underprepared for the effects of climate change and are at risk of experiencing significant economic and social damage due to climate-related events. This paper focuses on the allocation of international climate finance, exploring the extent to which countries are supported in their climate change adaptation efforts, particularly with regard to more vulnerable nations. By employing a Gravity Panel Model that includes 140 recipient and 30 provider countries over the period 2000-2021, this paper shows that vulnerable countries to climate change are not likely to receive climate finance in the form of either grants or loans. Political ties and economic interests appear to play a significant role in the allocation of international climate finance. |
| Keywords: | international climate finance, climate vulnerability, gravity panel model |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cepnwp:hal-04984013 |
| By: | Jelliffe, Jeremy; Gerval, Adam |
| Abstract: | Brexit marked the beginning of a new era in European trade, with implications for global commerce as the United Kingdom has sought to broaden its import sources for agricultural commodities. Since formally leaving the European Union on January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom has kept strong, but weakening, trade links to the European bloc. This analysis seeks to quantify the degree of change in the trade dynamic across a range of agri-food and related commodity groups. This analysis is done by measuring the difference in trade trends between United Kingdom and the European Union relative to the rest of the world and their average bilateral trade over the last decade. The following is addressed: • Do post-Brexit trends for European Union-United Kingdom agri-food trade differ from their trade with the rest of the world? • Which product categories experienced the largest relative changes? Key findings include: • United Kingdom trade openness is high in agri-food relative to other regions but has contracted since 2016. • Relative to trade with the rest of the world, rates of agri-food trade growth in the European Union and the United Kingdom suggest that both regions are diversifying to other trading partners despite observed increases in bilateral trade. |
| Keywords: | International Relations/Trade, Research Research Methods/Statistical Methods, Resource/Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uerseb:355527 |
| By: | Scanlan, Oliver |
| Abstract: | The outcome of COP 15 is unlikely to end the debate over the potential adverse effects on human beings caused by a dramatic expansion of area-based conservation targets. Despite uncertainties, common features of a design for conservation approaches that are compatible with human rights commitments have emerged from the literature. These include a substantive decentralisation of decision making to communities, and the application of the principles of recognitional, procedural and distributive justice. Simply by analysing existing documentation disclosed by major conservation initiatives, it is possible to assess how effectively current mainstream approaches, defined by those supported by multilateral donors like the World Bank, embed these features at the intervention level. The Sustainable Forests and Livelihoods (SUFAL) project is currently being funded by the World Bank in Bangladesh, and suffers from major shortcomings relating to all of these characteristics. It is likely that the project will have an adverse impact on local communities, including highly marginalised Indigenous peoples, if it has not already done so. To the extent that the approach used by the World Bank in Bangladesh is replicated by other major actors in the conservation space, so too will these negative human impacts be replicated, vindicating critics of the “30 x 30” target. |
| Date: | 2023–09–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:8tcys_v1 |
| By: | Phoebe Koundouri; Angelos Alamanos; Giannis Arampatzidis; Stathis Devves; Jeffrey D Sachs |
| Abstract: | Achieving climate-neutrality is a global imperative that demands coordinated efforts from both science and robust policies supporting a smooth transition across multiple sectors. However, the interdisciplinary and complex science-to-policy nature of this effort makes it particularly challenging for several countries. Greece has set ambitious goals across different policies; however, their progress is often debated. For the first time, we simulated a scenario representing Greece's climate-neutrality goals drawing upon its main relevant energy, agricultural and water policies, and compared it with a 'current accounts' scenario by 2050. The results indicate that most individual policies have the potential to significantly reduce carbon emissions across all sectors of the economy (residential, industrial, transportation, services, agriculture, and energy production). However, their implementation seems to be based on economic and governance assumptions that often overlook sectoral interdependencies, infrastructure constraints, and social aspects, hindering progress towards a unified and more holistic sustainable transition. |
| Keywords: | Climate Neutrality, Energy-emissions modelling, LEAP, FABLE Calculator, MaritimeGCH, WaterReqGCH, Decarbonization, Greece |
| Date: | 2025–03–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:2527 |