nep-dev New Economics Papers
on Development
Issue of 2016‒06‒04
twenty papers chosen by
Jacob A. Jordaan
Universiteit Utrecht

  1. Determinants of Changing Informal Employment in Brazil, 2000–2010 By Fairris, David; Jonasson, Erik
  2. Farm input subsidies and the adoption of natural resource management technologies By Koppmair, Stefan; Kassie, Menale; Qaim, Matin
  3. Beyond adoption: welfare effects of farmer innovation behavior in Ghana By Tambo, Justice A.; Wünscher, Tobias
  4. Transformation of the food system in Nigeria and female participation in the Non-Farm Economy (NFE) By Liverpool-Tasie, Saweda; Adjognon, Serge G.; Reardon, Thomas A.
  5. Early Fertility and Labor Market Segmentation: Evidence from Madagascar By Herrera, Catalina; Sahn, David; Villa, Kira
  6. Women’s Participation in Agriculture and Gender Productivity Gap: The Case of Coffee Farmers in Southern Colombia and Northern Ecuador By Avila-Santamaria, Jorge; Useche, Pilar
  7. Who adopts LPG as the main cooking fuel and why? Empirical evidence on Ghana based on national survey By Karimu, Amin; Mensah, Justice Tei; Adu, George
  8. New Maize Variety Adoption in Mozambique: A Spatial Approach By Fang, Di; Richards, Timothy
  9. Migration and household decision on occupational choice and investment: Evidence from Bangladesh By Hossain, Marup; Onel, Gulcan; Mullally, Conner
  10. How Do Nuclear and Extended-Family Households Differ in Labor Allocation Decisions due to Agricultural Technology Adoption? Evidence from Burkina Faso By Ouedraogo, Aissatou; Dillon, Andrew; Porter, Maria
  11. “Cursed is the ground because of you”: Religion, Ethnicity, and the Adoption of Fertilizers in Rural Ethiopia By Guerzoni, Marco; Jordan, Alexander
  12. Climate, Shocks, Weather and Maize Intensification Decisions in Rural Kenya By Bozzola, Martina; Smale, Melinda; Di Falco, Salvatore
  13. Quantification of Exposure to Fecal Contamination in Open Drains in Four Neighborhoods in Accra, Ghana By Stephanie R. Gretsch; Joseph A. Ampofo; Kelly K. Baker; Julie Clennon; Clair A. Null; Dorothy Peprah; Heather Reese; Katharine Robb; Peter Teunis; Nii Wellington; Habib Yakubu; Christine L. Moe
  14. Can agricultural growth explain the reversal of a declining trend in per capita calorie consumption in India? By Kolady, Deepthi; Srivastava, Shivendra; Singh, Jaspal
  15. Mobile Phones and Farmers’ Marketing Decisions in Ethiopia By Tadesse, Getaw; Bahiigwa, Godfrey
  16. Intensification and Intra-Household Decisions: Fertilizer Adoption on Collective and Individual Fields in Burkina Faso By Smale, Melinda; Haider, Hamza; Theriault, Veronique
  17. Intrahousehold valuation, preference heterogeneity, and demand of an agricultural technology in Bihar, India By Gulati, Kajal
  18. Learning about Integrated Soil Fertility Practices: Evidence from a RCT in Malawi By Maertens, Annemie; Michelson, Hope
  19. Ex-post Livestock Diseases, and Pastoralists' Averting Decisions in Tanzania By Ahamad, Mazbahul; Gustafson, Christopher; VanWormer, Elizabeth
  20. Farmer heterogeneity and differential livelihood impacts of oil palm expansion in Sumatra, Indonesia By Krishna, Vijesh; Euler, Michael; Siregar, Hermanto; Qaim, Matin

  1. By: Fairris, David; Jonasson, Erik
    Abstract: This paper explores possible causal determinants of changing wage and salary informality over the period 2000–2010 in Brazil. We utilize demographic census and other institutional data sources from the opening and closing years of the decade, informality regressions in both years that exploit variation across workers and municipalities in informality rates and their causal determinants, and a Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition of changing mean informality rates over the decade. Among the determinants considered are: changes in labor law enforcement, a near doubling of the real value of the minimum wage, the emergence and growth of conditional cash transfer programs, and changing industry composition and labor force demographics. We find that two of the most important policy changes over this period – the increase in the real value of the minimum wage and the dramatic expansion of conditional cash transfer programs – contribute positively, not negatively to informality. Among the factors accounting for the decline in mean informality rates over this time are rising rates of labor law enforcement, rising education levels, increased numbers of workers with spouses in the formal sector, and changes in industry composition, which explain between 16% and 57% of the mean decline in informality over the period. However, most of the decline is accounted for by the changing estimated coefficients on the industry categorical variables – that is, by the changing way in which industrial composition translates into informality.
    Keywords: Brazil, informal employment, labor law enforcement, Bolsa Familia
    JEL: J22 J23 J46 O17
    Date: 2016–02–28
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71475&r=dev
  2. By: Koppmair, Stefan; Kassie, Menale; Qaim, Matin
    Abstract: Farm input subsidies are often criticized to be economically and ecologically unsustainable. The promotion of natural resource management (NRM) technologies are widely seen as more sustainable to increase agricultural productivity and food security. However, relatively little is known about how input subsidies affect farmers’ decisions to adopt NRM technologies. There are concerns of incompatibility, because NRM technologies are one strategy to reduce the use of external inputs in intensive production systems. However, in smallholder systems of Africa, where the average use of external inputs is low, there may possibly be interesting complementarities. Here, we analyze the situation of Malawi’s Farm Input Subsidy Program (FISP). Using panel data from smallholder farm households, we develop a multivariate probit model and examine how FISP participation affects farmers’ decisions to adopt various NRM technologies, such as intercropping of maize with legumes, use of organic manure, water conservation practices, and vegetative strips. As expected, FISP increases the use of inorganic fertilizer and improved maize seeds. Yet, we also observe a positive association between FISP and the adoption of certain NRM technologies. For other NRM technologies we find no significant effect. We conclude that input subsidies and the promotion of NRM technologies can be compatible strategies.
    Keywords: fertilizer subsidy, technology adoption, sustainable agriculture, small farms, Africa, Malawi, Farm Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235313&r=dev
  3. By: Tambo, Justice A.; Wünscher, Tobias
    Abstract: With numerous challenges hindering smallholders’ adoption of externally developed technologies, it is often argued that farmer innovation can play an essential role in rural livelihoods. Yet a rigorous assessment of the impact of farmer innovation is lacking. We address this issue by analyzing the effect of farmer innovation on household welfare, measured by income, consumption expenditure, and food security. Using household survey data from northern Ghana and applying endogenous switching regression, we find that farmer innovation significantly increases household income and consumption expenditure for innovators. It also contributes significantly to the reduction of food insecurity among innovative households by increasing household food consumption expenditure, decreasing the duration of food shortage, and reducing the severity of hunger. However, we find that the positive productivity and income effects of farmer innovation do not significantly translate into nutritious diet, measured by household dietary diversity. Overall, our results show positive welfare effects of farmer innovation, hence, support increasing arguments on the need to promote farmer innovation (which has been largely undervalued) as a complement to externally promoted technologies in food security and poverty reduction efforts.
    Keywords: Farmer innovation, Household welfare, Impact assessment, Endogenous switching regression, Ghana, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, D13, O31, Q12, Q16,
    Date: 2016–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:ubzefd:235297&r=dev
  4. By: Liverpool-Tasie, Saweda; Adjognon, Serge G.; Reardon, Thomas A.
    Abstract: This paper uses a recently available panel dataset from Nigeria to explore some implications of the rapidly transforming food system in Sub Saharan Africa. We find that urban and rural households in Nigeria have rapidly transforming diets. Consumption has diversified greatly, shifting beyond self-sufficiency into heavy reliance on food purchases and with a heavy shift into consumption of processed foods. We find that the growing demand for processed foods has important implications for the midstream (processing and wholesale) and downstream (retail) sector of food systems. The rise of these two segments (on the supply side) paralleling the rise of processed and prepared foods (on the demand side) creates opportunities for employment and income generation. Furthermore the availability of processed foods (to serve as substitutes for home food processing and preparation, usually a heavy use of time for women in traditional settings) appears to have reduced women’s time constraint and freed up time for them to engage more in non-farm activities in the local area – just as it did a half century ago in the US. These findings demonstrate the potential benefits from the transforming foods systems that could increase employment and improve household welfare in developing countries.
    Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236277&r=dev
  5. By: Herrera, Catalina; Sahn, David; Villa, Kira
    Abstract: Women represent the majority of informal sector workers in developing countries. This is especially true in Sub-Saharan Africa where early childbearing rates are still high. However, to date, there is little empirical evidence on the role of early fertility in female labor force participation in the informal sector. We analyze the effect of young women’s timing of first birth on her entry into the labor market and selection into different types of employment. Using a panel survey in Madagascar, designed to capture the transition from adolescence to adulthood, and a multinomial approach, we estimate the effect of early childbearing on selection into four employment categories: non-participation, informal, formal, and student. Our results suggest that young mothers are more likely to work than young women without children. However, women whose first birth occurred during adolescence largely select into low-quality informal jobs. This effect is partially, but not entirely, mediated by the effect of adolescent pregnancy on schooling.
    Keywords: Fertility, informal sector, adolescence, female labor force participation, Madagascar, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, J24, O15, J1,
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235749&r=dev
  6. By: Avila-Santamaria, Jorge; Useche, Pilar
    Abstract: This study examines the intra-household bargaining its impact on the productivity of coffee and other crops functions and on the gender productivity gap, using household-level data from 615 farmers in Colombia and Ecuador. The OLS estimates and the Oaxaca-Blinder (O-B) decomposition method corroborate the hypothesis that given a gain bargaining power through the distribution factor “female participation in the intra-household decision-making” would exacerbate household productivity and the gender gap as long this bargaining is not balanced and wives do not obtain fair benefits from agricultural activities. The results also confirm that differences in observed factors between female and male-headed households are the main reason for the gender gap.
    Keywords: Gender Productivity Gap, Bargaining Power, Coffee Production, Collective Model., Consumer/Household Economics, Productivity Analysis, D13, J16, Q12,
    Date: 2016–05–25
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236156&r=dev
  7. By: Karimu, Amin (CERE and the Department of Economics, Umeå University); Mensah, Justice Tei (Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences); Adu, George (The Nordic Africa Institute and Department of Economics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Kumasi)
    Abstract: The aim of this paper is to identify the factors that influence the probability of adopting LPG as the main cooking fuel in Ghana using household level data gleaned from last two nationwide household surveys (GLSS 5 & GLSS 6). Using a flexible semi-parametric specification, the following were uncovered. First, we find socioeconomic and demographic factors such as income, education, access to urban infrastructure, location of household, as key drivers of households' choice of LPG as main cooking energy source. Again the influences of these factors are stable across time, and with a strong price effect. The evidence shows that urban households with better socioeconomic and demographic factors are likely to adopt LPG as the main cooking fuel relative to households in rural areas and also urban households with poor socioeconomic and demographic factors. Finally, we observe that the imposition of fully parametric structure (functional form) prior to estimation on factors such as age of household head, income and household size as done in the literature is inappropriate, at least in the case of Ghana and tend to bias the marginal effects. There is strong evidence of variations in the response rate of LPG adoption over the domains of income, household size and the age of the household head. The results suggest a policy dichotomy between rural and urban dwellers for it to be effective.
    Keywords: Fuels; cooking; households; development; energy poverty; Ghana
    JEL: C14 O13 Q41 Q42
    Date: 2016–04–26
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:slucer:2016_009&r=dev
  8. By: Fang, Di; Richards, Timothy
    Abstract: Farmers in developing countries can dramatically improve their productivity by adopting new plant varieties. Yet, informational barriers often mean adoption rates remain low. In this study, we focus on how learning from others represents one means of removing informational barriers. We capture the effect of social learning through an explicitly spatial econometric model, applied to farm-level maize adoption rates in Mozambique. We find that social learning is significant, and explains the apparent clustering of adoption among farmers. Agencies interested in promoting variety adoption, therefore, would be well-served to leverage the strength of existing information networks, rather than imposing solutions that work against inter-farmer information flow.
    Keywords: Rural development, social learning, spatial econometrics, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development,
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235388&r=dev
  9. By: Hossain, Marup; Onel, Gulcan; Mullally, Conner
    Abstract: We study the roles of migration and remittances along with other income sources on investment decisions in rural Bangladesh. We estimate households’ investment equations conditional on their participation in and income from alternative (farm and non-farm) activities in the context of household’s current endowments and existing market structures. Using a true household-level panel data from rural Bangladesh covering 2000, 2004, and 2008 with 1223 sample points, we estimate the effects of migration and remittances on household’s investment in own cultivated land, land rent out to other households, livestock and non-farm business capital. Results show that remittances decrease household own cultivated land and also decrease land rent out to other households. We explain this result by controlling households labor endowments, education status and existing market imperfections. Our results also show that female headed households overall invest less in self-employment activities when they receive remittances. We find that remittances have little investment effects in general which is expected result given the overall low productive investment rate of remittance receiving households in Bangladesh.
    Keywords: Migration, remittances, market imperfection, investment, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Crop Production/Industries, International Development, Labor and Human Capital, Livestock Production/Industries, Production Economics, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, D43, E22, F22, F24, O12,
    Date: 2016–05
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236136&r=dev
  10. By: Ouedraogo, Aissatou; Dillon, Andrew; Porter, Maria
    Abstract: Abstract: Households adopting new agricultural technologies often face labor constraints influencing the extent to which such technologies are productive and profitable. Such labor constraints differ for nuclear and extended-family households. In a randomized control trial, we estimate the heterogeneous treatment effect of an efficacious fertilization technique called microdosing by differences in household structure. The encouragement design which allocated starter packs and microdosing training to assigned households induced extended family households to reduce labor to agricultural activities, while nuclear households increased such labor activities. These differentiated effects are dominated by households who had previously used fertilizer. Thus, microdosing does not completely relieve the binding labor constraint for extended households who previously used broadcast fertilizer methods. Although nontrivial labor allocation is necessary for both broadcast and microdosing, for extended households, microdosing lowers total person-days to agricultural production by 18% relative to mean labor allocation at baseline, whereas nuclear households increase labor allocation to agricultural production by 36%.
    Keywords: Household Structure, Technology Adoption, Microdosing, Labor Allocation, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, JEL Keywords: O12, O13, Q12, J22, J12,
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236123&r=dev
  11. By: Guerzoni, Marco; Jordan, Alexander (University of Turin)
    Abstract: This paper analyses culture as a determinant of technology adoption in a developing country. While the literature extensively discusses the influence of culture upon economic growth, little attention has been paid to the mechanisms that can explain this link at the micro level. In this paper, we postulate that culture may play a crucial role in hindering or fostering the adoption and diffusion of innovation, a key trigger of the engine of growth. We thus borrow from the literature on the economics of innovation, and we model the impact of culture upon households’ decision to adopt innovation. We focus on developing countries and specifically on the adoption of fertilizer in Ethiopian rural areas. This empirical study uses the Ethiopia Rural Household Survey† to attempt to differentiate between individual cultural traits, namely, ethnicity and religion, and the cultural homogeneity of the environment as co-determinants of fertilizer adoption. We thus apply a multivariate survival model for clustered and correlated observations and find a positive effect on the diffusion of fertilizer. Firstly, habits and social norms, proxied by ethnicity, provide a better explanation for the role of culture, than religious beliefs, as usually posited in the literature. Secondly, the cultural environment plays a decisive role. While a homogeneous ethnic environment accelerates the diffusion of fertilizer, a diverse religious background in a community creates an environment conducive to initial adoption. While the direct contribution of this paper relates to technology adoption at the micro level, we believe it represents a first step in gaining a better understanding of the relation between culture and growth at the micro level.
    Date: 2016–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201605&r=dev
  12. By: Bozzola, Martina; Smale, Melinda; Di Falco, Salvatore
    Abstract: We explore how climate, climate risk and weather affect maize intensification among smallholders in Kenya. We find that each plays an important role in maize intensification choice. The economic implications of this choice are also analyzed. We find that the share of maize area planted to hybrid seeds contributes positively to expected crop income, without increasing exposure to income variability or downside risk. The promotion of maize hybrids is potentially a valuable adaptation strategy to support the well-being of smallholder farmers, especially if these prove tolerant to a wide range of conditions.
    Keywords: Climate Change, Maize, Smallholder farmer, Vulnerability, Kenya, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Security and Poverty, Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, D81, O13, Q12, Q18,
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235601&r=dev
  13. By: Stephanie R. Gretsch; Joseph A. Ampofo; Kelly K. Baker; Julie Clennon; Clair A. Null; Dorothy Peprah; Heather Reese; Katharine Robb; Peter Teunis; Nii Wellington; Habib Yakubu; Christine L. Moe
    Abstract: In low-income countries, rapid urbanization adds pressure to already stressed water and sanitation systems that are critical to the health of communities.
    Keywords: Water, sanitation, Accra, Ghana, fecal contamination, international
    JEL: F Z
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:486c4a2c9bd045a2b4549b7488244b47&r=dev
  14. By: Kolady, Deepthi; Srivastava, Shivendra; Singh, Jaspal
    Abstract: Conventional wisdom suggests that hunger and malnutrition should be eliminated by economic growth. There is enough evidence on the positive relationship between income growth poverty reduction and consumption expenditure. However, India has been presenting a paradoxical trend since 1970s; a decline in per capita calorie consumption even when economy was growing and per capita real incomes were increasing. For instance, although with fluctuations, India’s annual GDP growth increased from 5.5% in 1990 to 10.3% in 2010 and poverty declined from 45.3% in 1993 to 29.8% in 2009, suggesting a period of robust economy growth and poverty reduction. Paradoxically, per capita calorie consumption declined 5.2 % percent from 2146 in 1993 to 2034 in 2004-5 and a further decline of 1.17% to 2010 in 2009-10. This unexpected decline of per capita calorie consumption is often referred to as “calorie consumption puzzle” in India. However, examination of data from the household consumer expenditure surveys (HCES) conducted by the National Statistical Survey Office (NSSO) in 2011-12, shows a four percent increase in per capita calorie consumption to 2088 in 2011-12. This is the first time since 1970s per capita calorie consumption intake increases in India. This first time reversal raises questions such as, what are the drivers of this increase in per capita calorie consumption intake? and whether this increase in trend will endure in the future? In the available literature focusing on the calorie consumption puzzle in India, considerable attention has been given to explain the consumption puzzle and identify the factors responsible for the puzzle. Most of the available body of research on consumption puzzle in India can be categorized into two broad strands: coercive factors and non-coercive factors. Supporters of theory of coercive factors argue that general rural impoverishment is the cause of the puzzle while supporters of theory of non-coercive factors attribute it to factors such as food budget squeeze, declining subsistence consumption, and diversification of diets, urbanization, changes in occupational structures, declining energy requirements, and improvements in epidemiological environment. There is another strand of explanation which argues that calorie intake in India is not low or declining as reported in the literature, but it is the result of poor data collection and reporting. In contrast, much less is known about the role of agriculture, which provides livelihood for about 55% of India’s total work force, in causing the puzzle or in the reversal of the puzzle. Since 2004-05, India has witnessed unprecedental growth in agriculture, including livestock. To our knowledge, no previous studies has looked at the micro-and macro level effects of this improved agricultural growth on food security and nutrition. In this study, our objectives are three fold. First, identify the factors responsible for the calorie consumption puzzle in India. Second, examine the role of agriculture, if any, in solving the calorie consumption puzzle in rural areas. Third, examine whether the reported increase in calorie intake is due to the improvements in data collection implemented for the 2011-12 HCES survey. We find supporting evidence for our hypotheses.
    Keywords: calorie consumption puzzle, food security, nutrition, household consumption and expenditure survey, agriculture, India, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Development,
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235862&r=dev
  15. By: Tadesse, Getaw; Bahiigwa, Godfrey
    Abstract: This paper examines the impact of mobile phones on farmers’ marketing decisions (spatial arbitrage, buyer’s choice, frequency of selling, and size of transaction) and prices they receive based on household and village level information collected from rural Ethiopia. It explains the reason for the weak impact of mobile phones observed in this study as well as in previous studies in Africa. We argue that even though many farmers participate in information searching, the number of farmers who use mobile phones for information searching is very small. The reason for such low use of mobile phones for information searching seems lack of quality information that can be accessed through mobile phones.
    Keywords: mobile phones, agricultural marketing, producer prices, smallholder farmers, Ethiopia, Farm Management, International Development, Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,
    Date: 2015
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iaae15:212685&r=dev
  16. By: Smale, Melinda; Haider, Hamza; Theriault, Veronique
    Abstract: We contribute to the understanding of technology adoption decisions by complex farm households in the Sudano-Sahelian region of West Africa, where production is organized collectively under the leadership of a senior head who also allocates individual fields to members. Farm families span generations and encompass several nuclear households. We examine the nature of the linkage between fertilizer use decisions on collective and individual plots based on a conceptual model of intra-household bargaining that enables us to draw inferences about efficiency of input allocation. Although the share of individual maize plots receiving fertilizer is lower, use rates on maize tend to be higher than on collective fields. Adoption of fertilizer on a collective plot contributes to a 0.32 rise in adoption probability on an individual plot, but the converse is not true. The marginal effect of application rates on collective plots is positively associated with intensity of use on individual plots but of a magnitude consistent with inefficiency of resource allocation. Determinants of adoption differ between individual and collective fields, and between the decision to use fertilizer and the intensity of use. Findings have implications for the design of extension programs and policies to support agricultural intensification in the region.
    Keywords: fertilizer, adoption, gender, household farm, Burkina Faso, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, International Development,
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235542&r=dev
  17. By: Gulati, Kajal
    Abstract: Measuring intrahousehold preferences for the production activities of the household is challenging as the decisions are made jointly and it is often not possible to switch spheres of influence within a household. An example of a situation where divergent preferences may exist amongst household members even though household constraints masks the household decision is that of rice transplanting in India. In many parts of India, manual rice transplanting in puddled conditions tends to be a task primarily reserved for women, and is highly labor-intensive and arduous. Quite recently, mechanical rice transplanters (MRT), which are a labor-saving production technology, are being promoted in rice-producing areas in the country. We elicit intrahousehold heterogeneity in preferences for mechanical rice transplanting by combining hypothetical and experimental elicitation mechanisms. After informing randomly selected agricultural households about mechanical rice transplanting, we elicited attribute-based non-monetary preferences and monetary hypothetical willingness to pay measures for mechanical and traditional transplanting for women and men in the same household from a sample of 965 households in Bihar, India. Soon after, we conducted village-level, incentive-compatible auctions for providing actual mechanical rice transplanting services, which allowed us to elicit experimental measures of household heads’ willingness to pay. Our study finds evidence of deviations from hypothetical to experimental valuations. However, most individuals did not change their pure preferences for the technology and instead refined their willingness to pay. Knowing the technology service provider during the auctions reduced the difference between hypothetical and individual valuations. Bargaining power of female household members did not play any role in shifting the willingness to pay measures. Women in households where only family labor is used for transplanting value MRTs higher than men by Rs. 162.69, which is driven by their preferences instead of a difference in their individual characteristics.
    Keywords: International Development,
    Date: 2016–05–25
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:236219&r=dev
  18. By: Maertens, Annemie; Michelson, Hope
    Abstract: We combine panel survey data with a randomized controlled trial conducted among 250 villages in Malawi to test the effectiveness of a standard agricultural extension service. The two main tools of the service are a mid-season farmer field day and farmer club managed demonstration plots. We find that farmers in villages who were invited to attend the farmer field days display an increased knowledge of Integrated Soil Fertility Management Practices and a higher probability of adoption (plans), with the majority of the effects concentrated among non-attendees. However, when combined with in-village demonstration plots, farmers who participate in the demonstration plots display a higher knowledge of what we refer to as “detailed” production knowledge, such as types of inputs, quantity of inputs, and increased likelihood of planning to adopt these.
    Keywords: Agricultural technology adoption, ISFM, learning, demonstration plots, farmer field days, Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235475&r=dev
  19. By: Ahamad, Mazbahul; Gustafson, Christopher; VanWormer, Elizabeth
    Abstract: Little is known about the factors affecting pastoralists’ livestock vaccination decisions. In this paper, we use a novel survey-based dataset on pastoralists living in the Ruaha landscape in Tanzania, and employ several econometric approaches to identify the factors affecting pastoralists’ decision-making process about vaccination when disease occurrence and severity, vaccination and healthcare access costs and other related variables are known. Results from binary choice models that account for excess zeros indicate that socially and economically active households are more likely to vaccinate their livestock. The results also identify positive marginal effects of having wage earners and illness incidence on vaccination decisions. The results from mixture models also find that these same variables significantly lower the pastoralist’s probability to vaccinate no livestock. Most notably, vaccination cost significantly lowers the probability that pastoralists vaccinate any livestock, as well as the number of vaccinated livestock. These findings have important policy implications considering livestock health education, veterinary service infrastructure, and supply-side management.
    Keywords: Africa, Averting action, Averting expenditure, Hurdle model, Zero inflated model, Vaccination decision, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Health Economics and Policy, Livestock Production/Industries, D13, D83, Q12, Q13, R28,
    Date: 2016–05–25
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235764&r=dev
  20. By: Krishna, Vijesh; Euler, Michael; Siregar, Hermanto; Qaim, Matin
    Abstract: We examine the impact of oil palm expansion on smallholder livelihoods in Indonesia, using farm-household survey data. Treatment-effects and endogenous switching regression models suggest that smallholders benefit from oil palm adoption on average. Part of the benefit stems from the fact that oil palm requires less labour than rubber, the main alternative crop. This allows oil palm adopters to allocate more labour to off-farm activities and/or to expand their farmland. Households with a lower land-to-labour ratio are typically better-off with rubber. Depending on various social and institutional factors, households’ access to land, labour, and capital varies, contributing to impact heterogeneity.
    Keywords: social heterogeneity, welfare impact, transmigrant programme, Jambi Province, Agricultural and Food Policy, Land Economics/Use,
    Date: 2016
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:235218&r=dev

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