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on Development |
| By: | Sibhatu, Kibrom T.; Krishna, Vijesh V.; Qaim, Matin |
| Abstract: | Enhancing the diversity of agricultural production systems is increasingly recognized as a potential means to sustainably provide diversified food for rural communities in developing countries, hence ensuring their nutritional security. However, empirical evidences connecting farm production diversity and farm-households’ dietary diversity are scarce. Using comprehensive datasets of market-oriented smallholder farm households from Indonesia and Kenya, and subsistence farmers from Ethiopia and Malawi, the present study is carried out with an objective to investigate the effect of farm production diversity on households’ dietary diversity, and the role of market access and other potential influencing factors. Often, farmers from the market-oriented production systems are found consuming more diversified diet than those from the subsistence systems. Even among the subsistence farms, the crucial role of farm diversity to augment dietary diversity is mixed and evident only among those who have limited access to food markets. While farm diversity enhances dietary diversity of Indonesian and Malawian households either through direct consumption, and/or by increasing and stabilizing farm income - which is also dependent on the type of crop on the farm. In Kenya and Ethiopia however no meaningful connection could be found. The study concludes that the link between farm production diversity and dietary diversity does not universally exist and diversifying diets through farm diversification need not require that the production system should be subsistence in nature. |
| Keywords: | Farm production diversity, Dietary diversity, Market access, Farm-household, Developing countries, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, D13, I15, O12, Q10, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205286&r=dev |
| By: | Mason, Nicole M.; Wineman, Ayala; Kirimi, Lilian; Mather, David |
| Abstract: | Kenya joined the ranks of sub-Saharan African countries implementing targeted input subsidy programs (ISPs) for inorganic fertilizer and improved seed in 2007/08 with the establishment of the National Accelerated Agricultural Inputs Access Program (NAAIAP). While certain features of NAAIAP were ‘smarter’ than other ISPs in the region, other features were less ‘smart’. This paper estimates the effects of NAAIAP on Kenyan smallholders’ cropping patterns, incomes, and poverty, using nationwide survey data and both panel data- and propensity score-based methods. It then compares the effects of NAAIAP to those of other ISPs in SSA, and discusses the likely links between differences in program designs (‘smartness’) and program impacts. Results suggest that despite substantial crowding out of commercial fertilizer demand, NAAIAP’s targeting of resource-poor farmers and implementation through vouchers redeemable at private agro-dealers’ shops likely contributed to its larger impacts on maize production and poverty severity compared to Malawi’s and Zambia’s ISPs. |
| Keywords: | input subsidy programs, fertilizer, hybrid seed, smallholder farmers, Kenya, sub-Saharan Africa, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, H2, I38, D31, Q12, Q18, |
| Date: | 2015–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205547&r=dev |
| By: | Stoeffler, Quentin; Mills, Bradford; del Ninno, Carlo |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses the ex-post performance of two popular targeting mechanisms, Proxy Means Testing (PMT) and Community-Based Targeting (CBT), in a pilot cash transfer program in Cameroon. CBT is found to perform poorly in terms of selecting households with low per capita consumption when compared to PMT. CBT appears to select households with low physical and human capital, regardless of actual consumption level and shows more variability in the selection decision than PMT. The results suggest caution is needed in employing CBT methods to select households with low per capita consumption in an environment with high poverty rates and limited administrative capacity. |
| Keywords: | Social Assistance Targeting, Proxy Means Testing (PMT), Community Based Targeting (CBT), Cash Transfers, Sub-Saharan Africa, Cameroon, Food Security and Poverty, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205270&r=dev |
| By: | Afkar, Rythia; Matz, Julia Anna |
| Abstract: | Social protection plays crucial roles in the response of rising food prices. It helps households to maintain access to food and other basic needs, leading to an increase in food and nutrition security, and ultimately prevent an increase in poverty. In this paper, we evaluate the relative and multiple overlapping effects of two main social protection programs in Indonesia, namely Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and in-kind transfer/Subsidized Rice Program (Raskin), on food and nutrition security indicators. Using panel data from household surveys which recorded both CCT and Raskin recipient status, we estimate the impact of CCT and Raskin on food and nutrition security using both Inverse Probability Weighting models and conventional regression method. We find that CCT had a much greater impact on food and nutrition security. However, the multiple-treatment effect between CCT and Raskin is not significantly different from zero. Thus, it is important to re-formulate these two overlapping policies. |
| Keywords: | food and nutrition security, impact evaluation, social protection, multiple treatment, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, I38, H43, H53, Q18, |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205395&r=dev |
| By: | Cordero Salas, Paula; Chen, Susan E. |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence of the effect of agricultural diversification and commercialization on the health of preschool children. We use a nationally representative sample of households taken from the Tanzania National Panel Survey (TNPS) to describe the correlations between agricultural diversification and commercialization on child nutrition. We find that engaging in contract farming for producing food crops has a negative effect on both nutritional stunting and wasting. Diversification only has a positive effect on child nutrition for children at the bottom of the nutritional distribution. The effect of commercialization vary by the type of crop produced and the position of children in the nutritional distribution. The results provide insight into the effects of agricultural diversification and commercialization on the household welfare. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Industrial Organization, International Development, I12, I15, Q12, Q18., |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205050&r=dev |
| By: | Lambrecht, Isabel; Vanlauwe, Bernard; Maertens, Miet |
| Abstract: | Development projects often evaluate their gender strategy by the proportion of female participants. However, female participation not necessarily coincides with reaching program objectives. With data from South-Kivu, we analyze whether targeting female farmers in agricultural extension programs increases the adoption of three technologies: improved legume varieties, row planting, and mineral fertilizer. We find that joint male and female program participation leads to the highest adoption rates, and that female participation is not conducive for the adoption of capital-intensive technologies while it is for (female) labor-intensive technologies, and that targeting female-headed households is more effective for technology adoption than targeting female farmers in male-headed households. |
| Keywords: | gender, agricultural technology adoption, agricultural extension, sub-Saharan Africa, eastern DR Congo, integrated soil fertility management, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:kucawp:167158&r=dev |
| By: | Salas Garcia, Vania B.; Fan, Qin |
| Abstract: | Previous studies have examined the effects of information access on rural price dispersion and local economy in developing countries, but few studies investigate information access on farmers’ selling decisions that directly relate to individual farmer’s utility and welfare. No study, to our knowledge, has particularly examined the effects of information access on smallholder farmers in Peru who generally occupy plots of less than five hectares and face enormous disadvantages. To bridge the gap in the literature, we employ an instrumental variable (IV) approach and seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) to examine the effects of internet and cell phones on Peruvian smallholder farmers’ selling decisions using IV Agricultural Census (IV CENAGRO) of Peru data for the year 2012. Results suggest that internet positively affects Peruvian smallholder farmers’ decisions to sell in both national and international markets and tends to have larger impact on decisions to sell in the national market. Mobile phones have smaller impacts compared to internet and only affect farmers’ decisions to sell in the international market. Results provide empirical support for policies and social programs that promote internet usage and mobile phone coverage for rural Peru, which are important channels to enhance information access for economically disadvantaged smallholder farmers. Our results also suggest that ignoring endogeneity of information access understates its effects. |
| Keywords: | Information and communication technology, Internet, Mobile phones, Smallholder farmers, Selling decisions, Peru, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, Political Economy, L86, O13, O18, Q12, Q13, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205380&r=dev |
| By: | Seidu, Ayuba; Onel, Gulcan |
| Abstract: | The overarching consensus in the applied migration literature is that international migration is typically used to transition out of agricultural sector by rural households in transition economies. In this paper, using data on rural Albanian households, we examine whether international migration of some household members affects the household’s nonfarm activity choices and earnings generated from these activities. In addition, we test whether remittance income received from migrant household members have an indirect effect on households’ agricultural production. We find no apparent relationship between nonfarm activity choice and the number of international migrants in the farm household. However, we find that remittance income is positively and significantly related to households’ propensity to reallocate farm labor to nonfarm self-employment activities, resulting in higher income from non-farm self-employment. In addition, remittance income affects farm income in a positive and significant way. This suggests that previous studies likely underestimated the overall impact of international migration on agricultural production in rural Albania, as they usually ignored the additional remittance income effect. Overall, our empirical findings support the basic tenets of rural income diversification, where the farm household has a diversified portfolio of income-generating activities, in addition to farming. The results suggest that international migration facilitates income diversification among Albanian farm households rather than their exit out of agriculture. |
| Keywords: | international migration, remittances, nonfarm income, transition economies, rural Albania., Consumer/Household Economics, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea15:205517&r=dev |
| By: | Annet, Adong; Tony, Muhumuza; Swaibu, Mbowa |
| Abstract: | A number of policy initiatives in Uganda’s agriculture sector have been tailored towards transforming the sector from subsistence to commercial production. Owing to this background, this study examines the drivers of food crop commercialization in Uganda. The unique feature of this study is threefold: one, we exploit the seasonal component of the surveys to examine the seasonality of participation; two, we provide results of two different measures to proxy commercialization, namely; the likelihood of participation, and intensity of participation, in the market for selected crops; and finally, we investigate these issues using a new panel dataset for Uganda. Findings reveal that different household and community level characteristics pose varying impacts on commercialization across seasons. Of particular interest is evidence that self-sufficiency needs override household decisions during the second season. This finding underscores the need to design interventions that target increased production in this season, characterized by short rains and less production activity. |
| Keywords: | Food crop commercialization, seasons, Uganda, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Industrial Organization, Livestock Production/Industries, Productivity Analysis, Q10, Q12, Q13, |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:eprcrs:184171&r=dev |
| By: | Orazio Attanasio; Arlen Guarín; Carlos Medina; Costas Meghir |
| Abstract: | We use experimental data of a training program in 2005 in Colombia. We find that even up to ten years ahead, the JeA program had a positive and significant effect on the probability to work in the formal sector. Applicants in the treatment group also contributed more months to social security during the analyzed period, and to work for a large firm. Earnings of treated applicants were 11.8% higher in the whole sample, and they made larger contributions to social security. In addition, we also present non parametric bounds that for some percentiles of the sample of women, there are positive and nearly significant effects of the program. Thus, the effects of the program would have been capitalized both in increases in the likelihood of being formal, and increases in productivity. We also present evidence that the estimated program effects on the likelihood of working for the formal sector, the likelihood of working for a large firm, and the earnings in the formal sector, are not an artifact of analyzing multiple outcomes. We also find that for the whole sample of applicants, those in the treatment group have 0.315 more years of education, and have a probability of graduating from high school 10 percent higher than the control group. We find no significant effect on the probability of attending college or any school program, nor on fertility decisions, marital status or some dimensions of assortative mating. Among applicants matching to the census of the poorest population, we find that beneficiaries are more likely to participate in the labor market, to be employed, and to be enrolled in a private health insurance at the time of the survey. Finally, we find that the benefits of the JeA program are higher than it costs, leading to an internal rate of return of at least 22.1 percent. On the whole, the program was a cost-effective alternative, worth to consider to bridging the transit of youths from the informal to the formal sector in the future. |
| JEL: | J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2015–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:21390&r=dev |