The Returns To Empowerment In Diversified Rural Household Evidence From Niger

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The returns to empowerment in diversified rural household: Evidence from Niger

Wouterse, Fleur Stephanie
The returns to empowerment in diversified rural household Evidence from Niger Book PDF

Author : Wouterse, Fleur Stephanie
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 32 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2017-02-23
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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The returns to empowerment in diversified rural household: Evidence from Niger by Wouterse, Fleur Stephanie Pdf

Niger is a landlocked Sahelian country, two-thirds of which is in the Sahara Desert. Although only one-eighth of the land considered arable, the overwhelming majority of Niger’s households is involved in rain-fed agriculture largely for subsistence. Given erratic rainfall and low soil fertility, most smallholders fail to produce enough food to meet household requirements. Income diversification is thus the norm among these rural households and different income-generating activities offer alternative pathways out of poverty for households as well as a mechanism for managing risk in an uncertain environment. Empowerment is likely to be an important factor affecting the ability of households to diversity their activity portfolio and may also affect activity-incomes and thereby household welfare. In this study, I use new household- and individual-level empowerment data from the Tahoua region of Niger and regression analysis to quantify the effects of a range of human capital measures including empowerment on the activity portfolio and activity incomes of rural households. My findings reveal that empowerment in particular plays an important role in enabling households to engage in mixed diversification strategy, which combines staple cropping with nonfarm activities and migration. This is a “last resort” strategy for households in lower landholding quintiles to ensure food security and complement an inadequate resource base. Controlling for activity choice, three empowerment indicators in particular—confidence, group membership, and tenure security—strongly and positively affect income from staple and cash cropping, which on average makes up about 90 percent of household income. In fact, empowerment is the only human capital variable that strongly and positively affects total household income, opening up interesting avenues for policy interventions aimed at augmenting a household’s noncognitive ability through, for example, leadership training or encouraging producer group membership—to increase incomes of the rural poor.

Institutional versus noninstitutional credit to agricultural households in India: Evidence on impact from a national farmers’ survey

Kumar, Anjani,Mishra, Ashkok K.,Saroj, Sunil,Joshi, Pramod Kumar
Institutional versus noninstitutional credit to agricultural households in India Evidence on impact from a national farmers survey Book PDF

Author : Kumar, Anjani,Mishra, Ashkok K.,Saroj, Sunil,Joshi, Pramod Kumar
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 36 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2017-03-02
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Institutional versus noninstitutional credit to agricultural households in India: Evidence on impact from a national farmers’ survey by Kumar, Anjani,Mishra, Ashkok K.,Saroj, Sunil,Joshi, Pramod Kumar Pdf

A goal of agricultural policy in India has been to reduce farmers’ dependence on informal credit. To that end, recent initiatives have been focused explicitly on rural areas and have had a positive impact on the flow of agricultural credit. But despite the significance of these initiatives in enhancing the flow of institutional credit to agriculture, the links between institutional credit and net farm income and consumption expenditures in India are not very well documented. Using a large national farm household–level dataset and instrumental variables two-stage least squares estimation methods, we investigate the impact of institutional farm credit on farm income and farm household consumption expenditures. Our findings show that in India, formal credit is indeed playing a critical role in increasing both the net farm income and per capita monthly household expenditures of Indian farm families. We also find that, in the presence of formal credit, social safety net programs such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) may have unintended consequences. In particular, MGNREGA reduces both net farm income and per capita monthly household consumption expenditures. In contrast, in the presence of formal credit, the Public Distribution System may increase both net farm income and per capita monthly household consumption expenditures.

Insuring against droughts: Evidence on agricultural intensification and index insurance demand from a randomized evaluation in rural Bangladesh

Hill, Ruth Vargas,Kumar, Neha,Magnan, Nicholas,Makhija, Simrin,de Nicola, Francesca,Spielman, David J.,Ward, Patrick S.
Insuring against droughts Evidence on agricultural intensification and index insurance demand from a randomized evaluation in rural Bangladesh Book PDF

Author : Hill, Ruth Vargas,Kumar, Neha,Magnan, Nicholas,Makhija, Simrin,de Nicola, Francesca,Spielman, David J.,Ward, Patrick S.
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 40 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2017-04-07
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Insuring against droughts: Evidence on agricultural intensification and index insurance demand from a randomized evaluation in rural Bangladesh by Hill, Ruth Vargas,Kumar, Neha,Magnan, Nicholas,Makhija, Simrin,de Nicola, Francesca,Spielman, David J.,Ward, Patrick S. Pdf

It is widely acknowledged that unmitigated risks provide a disincentive for otherwise optimal investments in modern farm inputs. Index insurance provides a means for managing risk without the burdens of asymmetric information and high transaction costs that plague traditional indemnity-based crop insurance programs. Yet many index insurance programs that have been piloted around the world have met with rather limited success, so the potential for insurance to foster more intensive agricultural production has yet to be realized. This study assesses both the demand for and the effectiveness of an innovative index insurance product designed to help smallholder farmers in Bangladesh manage risk to crop yields and the increased production costs associated with drought. Villages were randomized into either an insurance treatment or a comparison group, and discounts and rebates were randomly allocated across treatment villages to encourage insurance take-up and to allow for the estimation of the price elasticity of insurance demand. Among those offered insurance, we find insurance demand to be moderately price elastic, with discounts significantly more successful in stimulating demand than rebates. Farmers who are highly risk averse or sensitive to basis risk prefer a rebate to a discount, suggesting that the rebate may partially offset some of the implicit costs associated with insurance contract nonperformance. Having insurance yields both ex ante risk management effects and ex post income effects on agricultural input use. The risk management effects lead to increased expenditures on inputs during the aman rice-growing season, including expenditures for risky inputs such as fertilizers, as well as those for irrigation and pesticides. The income effects lead to increased seed expenditures during the boro rice-growing season, which may signal insured farmers’ higher rates of seed replacement, which broadens their access to technological improvements embodied in newer seeds as well as enhancing the genetic purity of cultivated seeds.

Measuring postharvest losses at the farm level in Malawi

Ambler, Kate,de Brauw, Alan,Godlonton, Susan
Measuring postharvest losses at the farm level in Malawi Book PDF

Author : Ambler, Kate,de Brauw, Alan,Godlonton, Susan
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 36 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2017-04-14
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Measuring postharvest losses at the farm level in Malawi by Ambler, Kate,de Brauw, Alan,Godlonton, Susan Pdf

Reducing food loss and waste are important policy objectives prominently featured in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. To optimally design interventions targeted at reducing losses, it is important to know where losses are concentrated between the farm and fork. This paper measures farmlevel postharvest losses for three main crops—maize, soy, and groundnuts—among 1,200 households in Malawi. Farmers answered a detailed questionnaire designed to learn about losses during harvest and transport, processing, and storage and which measures both total losses and reductions in crop quality. The findings indicate that fewer than half of households report suffering losses conditional on growing each crop. In addition, conditional on losses occurring, the loss averages between 5 and 12 percent of the farmer’s total harvest. Compared to nationally representative data that measure losses using a single survey question, this study documents a far greater percentage of farmers experiencing losses, though the unconditional proportion lost is similar. We find that losses are concentrated in harvest and processing activities for groundnuts and maize; for soy, they are highest during processing. Existing interventions have primarily targeted storage activities; however, these results suggest that targeting other activities may be worthwhile.

The European Union–West Africa Economic Partnership Agreement

Bouët, Antoine,Laborde Debucquet, David,Traoré, Fousseini
The European Union West Africa Economic Partnership Agreement Book PDF

Author : Bouët, Antoine,Laborde Debucquet, David,Traoré, Fousseini
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 80 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2017-02-28
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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The European Union–West Africa Economic Partnership Agreement by Bouët, Antoine,Laborde Debucquet, David,Traoré, Fousseini Pdf

Despite recent modifications, the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and West African (WA) countries is still being criticized for its potential detrimental effects on WA countries. This paper provides updated evidence on the impact of the EPA on these countries. A dynamic multicountry, multisector computable general equilibrium trade model with modeling of the dual-dual economy and with a consistent tariff aggregator is used to simulate a series of new scenarios that include updated information on the agreement. We also go beyond estimating macrolevel economic effects to analyze the impacts on poverty. The policy simulation results show that the implementation of the EPA between the EU and WA countries would have marginal but positive impacts on Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire and negative impacts on Benin, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo. The impact on poverty indicators in Ghana and Nigeria would be marginal. From the perspective of WA countries, this study supports the view that recent EU concessions are not sufficient and that domestic fiscal reforms are needed in WA countries themselves.

Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend

Bulte, Erwin,Wang, Ruixin,Zhang, Xiaobo
Forced gifts The burden of being a friend Book PDF

Author : Bulte, Erwin,Wang, Ruixin,Zhang, Xiaobo
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 40 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2017-03-09
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Forced gifts: The burden of being a friend by Bulte, Erwin,Wang, Ruixin,Zhang, Xiaobo Pdf

In many developing countries, gift expenses account for a substantial share of total household expenditures. As incomes rise, gift expenses are escalating in several developing countries. We develop a theoretical model to demonstrate how (unequal) income growth may trigger “gift competition” and drive up the financial burden associated with gift exchange. We use unique census-type panel data from rural China to test our model predictions and demonstrate that (1) the value of gifts responds to the average gift in the community, (2) the escalation of gift giving may have adverse welfare implications (especially for the poor), and (3) escalating gift expenses crowd out expenditures on other consumption items.

He says, she says: Exploring patterns of spousal agreement in Bangladesh

Ambler, Kate,Doss, Cheryl,Kieran, Caitlin,Passarelli, Simone
He says she says Exploring patterns of spousal agreement in Bangladesh Book PDF

Author : Ambler, Kate,Doss, Cheryl,Kieran, Caitlin,Passarelli, Simone
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 36 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2017-03-09
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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He says, she says: Exploring patterns of spousal agreement in Bangladesh by Ambler, Kate,Doss, Cheryl,Kieran, Caitlin,Passarelli, Simone Pdf

Participation in household decisions and control over assets are often used as indicators of bargaining power. Yet spouses do not necessarily provide the same answers to questions about these topics. We examine differences in spouses’ answers to questions regarding who participates in decisions about household activities, who owns assets, and who decides to purchase assets. Disagreement is substantial and systematic, with women more likely to report joint ownership or decision making and men more likely to report sole male ownership or decision making. Analysis of correlations between agreement and women’s well-being finds that agreement on joint decision making/ownership is generally positively associated with beneficial outcomes for women compared with agreement on sole male decision making/ownership. Cases of disagreement where women recognize their involvement but men do not are also positively associated with good outcomes for women, but often to a lesser extent than when men agree that women are involved.

Limitations of contract farming as a pro-poor strategy: The case of maize outgrower schemes in upper West Ghana

Ragasa, Catherine,Lambrecht, Isabel,Kufoalor, Doreen S.
Limitations of contract farming as a pro poor strategy The case of maize outgrower schemes in upper West Ghana Book PDF

Author : Ragasa, Catherine,Lambrecht, Isabel,Kufoalor, Doreen S.
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 54 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 2017-03-30
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Limitations of contract farming as a pro-poor strategy: The case of maize outgrower schemes in upper West Ghana by Ragasa, Catherine,Lambrecht, Isabel,Kufoalor, Doreen S. Pdf

The focus in this paper is on two relatively large maize-based contract farming (CF) schemes with fixed input packages (Masara and Akate) and a number of smaller and more flexible CF schemes in a remote region in Ghana (Upper West). Results show that these schemes led to improved technology adoption and yield increases. In addition, a subset of maize farmers with high yield improvements due to CF participation had high gross margins. However, on average, yields were not high enough to compensate for higher input requirements and cost of capital. On average, households harvest 29–30 bags (100 kg each), or 2.9–3.0 metric tons, of maize per hectare, and the required repayment for fertilizer, seed, herbicide, and materials provided under the average CF scheme is 21–25 bags (50 kg each) per acre, or 2.6–3.0 tons per hectare, which leaves almost none for home consumption or for sale. Despite higher yields, the costs to produce 1 ton of maize under CF schemes remain high on average—higher than on maize farms without CF schemes, more than twice that of several countries in Africa, and more than seven times higher than that of major maize-exporting countries (the United States, Brazil, and Argentina). Sustainability of these CF schemes will depend on, from the firms’ perspective, minimizing the costs to run and monitor them, and from the farmers’ perspective, developing and promoting much-improved varieties and technologies that may lead to a jump in yields and gross margins to compensate for the high cost of credit.

Nutrition transition and the structure of global food demand

Gouel, Christophe,Guimbard, Houssein
Nutrition transition and the structure of global food demand Book PDF

Author : Gouel, Christophe,Guimbard, Houssein
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 34 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2017-04-07
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Nutrition transition and the structure of global food demand by Gouel, Christophe,Guimbard, Houssein Pdf

Estimating future demand for food is a critical aspect of global food security analyses. The process linking dietary changes to wealth is known as the nutrition transition and presents well-identified features that help to predict consumption changes in poor countries. This study proposes to represent the nutrition transition with a nonhomothetic, flexible-in-income, demand system, known as the Modified Implicitly Directly Additive Demand System (MAIDADS). The resulting model is transparent and estimated statistically based on cross-sectional information from FAOSTAT the statistical database of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It captures the main features of the nutrition transition: rise in demand for calories associated with income growth; diversification of diets away from starchy staples; and a large increase in caloric demand for animal-based products, fats, and sweeteners. The estimated model is used to project food demand between 2010 and 2050 based on a set of plausible futures (trend projections and Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios). The main results of these projections are as follows: (1) global food demand will increase by 46 percent, less than half the growth in the previous four decades; (2) this growth will be attributable mainly to lower-middle-income and low-income countries; (3) the structure of global food demand will change over the period, with a 95 percent increase in demand for animal-based calories and a much smaller 18 percent increase in demand for starchy staples; and (4) the analysis of a range of population and income projections reveals important uncertainties depending on the scenario, the projected increases in demand for animal-based and vegetal-based calories range from 78 to 109 percent and from 20 to 42 percent, respectively.

Existing data to measure African trade

Mitaritonna, Cristina,Traoré, Fousseini
Existing data to measure African trade Book PDF

Author : Mitaritonna, Cristina,Traoré, Fousseini
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 32 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2017-03-10
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Existing data to measure African trade by Mitaritonna, Cristina,Traoré, Fousseini Pdf

One finds a broad consensus in the literature regarding the lack of good information on trade in Africa, particularly intraregional trade. This paper attempts to identify gaps and remedies in measuring and tracking trade in Africa. We review the major international and regional databases that track trade in Africa, identifying the gaps therein. We also review the studies that have attempted to track informal trade between African countries, and we look at the major ongoing initiatives to track such informal trade. It appears that both international and regional databases suffer from a lack of reporting or from faulty reporting of African trade statistics. Informal trade flows pose an ongoing problem when measuring intraregional trade, although actual border-monitoring initiatives ongoing in selected countries constitute an interesting option for their quantification. When no direct monitoring method is available, estimating gravity equations represents an alternative with which to measure the potential trade between two partner countries, giving us an estimate of missing trade. A final avenue consists of estimating unregistered trade via national accounts data by comparing consumption, production, and declared trade.

Smog in our brains: Gender differences in the impact of exposure to air pollution on cognitive performance in China

Chen, Xi,Zhang, Xiaobo,Zhang, Xin
Smog in our brains Gender differences in the impact of exposure to air pollution on cognitive performance in China Book PDF

Author : Chen, Xi,Zhang, Xiaobo,Zhang, Xin
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 43 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2017-03-11
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Smog in our brains: Gender differences in the impact of exposure to air pollution on cognitive performance in China by Chen, Xi,Zhang, Xiaobo,Zhang, Xin Pdf

While there is a large body of literature on the negative health effects of air pollution, there is much less written about its effects on cognitive performance for the whole population. This paper studies the effects of contemporaneous and cumulative exposure to air pollution on cognitive performance based on a nationally representative survey in China. By merging a longitudinal sample at the individual level with local air-quality data according to the exact dates and counties of interviews, we find that contemporaneous and cumulative exposure to air pollution impedes both verbal and math scores of survey subjects. Interestingly, the negative effect is stronger for men than for women. Specifically, the gender difference is more salient among the old and less educated in both verbal and math tests.

Misreporting month of birth: Implications for nutrition research

Larsen, Anna Folke,Headey, Derek D.,Masters, William A.
Misreporting month of birth Implications for nutrition research Book PDF

Author : Larsen, Anna Folke,Headey, Derek D.,Masters, William A.
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 52 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2017-03-09
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Misreporting month of birth: Implications for nutrition research by Larsen, Anna Folke,Headey, Derek D.,Masters, William A. Pdf

Height-for-age z-scores (HAZs) and stunting status (HAZ<−2) are widely used to measure child nutrition and population health. However, accurate measurement of age is nontrivial in populations with low levels of literacy and numeracy, limited use of formal birth records, and weak cultural norms surrounding birthdays and calendar use. In this paper we use Demographic and Health Surveys data from 62 countries over the period 1990–2014 to describe two statistical artifacts indicative of misreporting of age. The first artifact consists of lower HAZs for children reported to be born earlier in each calendar year (resulting in implausibly large HAZ gaps between January- and December-born children), which is consistent with some degree of randomness in month of birth reporting. The second artifact consists of lower HAZs for children with a reported age just below a round age (and hence implausibly large HAZ gaps between children with reported ages just below and just above round ages), which is consistent with survey respondents rounding ages down more than they round ages up. Using simulations, we show how these forms of misreporting child age can replicate observed patterns in the data, and that they have small impacts on estimated rates of stunting but important implications for research that relies on birth timing to identify exposure to various risks, particularly seasonal shocks. Moreover, the misreporting we identify differs from conventional age-heaping concerns, implying that the metrics described above could constitute useful markers of measurement error in nutrition surveys. Future research should also investigate ways to reduce these errors.

Chinese investment in Ghana’s manufacturing sector

Tang, Xiaoyang
Chinese investment in Ghana s manufacturing sector Book PDF

Author : Tang, Xiaoyang
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 32 pages
File Size : 53,6 Mb
Release : 2017-03-31
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Chinese investment in Ghana’s manufacturing sector by Tang, Xiaoyang Pdf

This paper uses Ghana as a case study to illustrate the extent to which Chinese manufacturing firms are driving manufacturing in an African country. Through a combination of desktop and field research, the author finds that the total number of Chinese manufacturing investments in Ghana indeed increased during past decade, but quite a few projects have been abandoned or not implemented because of the unfavorable investment environment. Small and large manufacturing projects can be found in different sectors, such as plastics, steel, pharmaceuticals, and others. All of the manufacturing investments target local or regional markets, either taking advantage of local raw materials or seeing opportunities in a market with little competition. Transitioning from trading to manufacturing investment and clustering are identified as the main patterns by which Chinese investors establish themselves in Ghana. Chinese firms source simple raw materials from local suppliers but import industrial supplies from abroad. Learning from Chinese business models, a few local businessmen have started their own manufacturing projects, mostly in the plastics recycling sector, but a lack of capital appears to keep some local players from moving up the value chain. Ghana’s weak economy itself is limiting technology transfer and local linkages between Chinese firms and Ghanaians.

Participation, learning, and equity in education: Can we have it all?

Delavallade, Clara,Griffith, Alan,Shukla, Gaurav,Thornton, Rebecca
Participation learning and equity in education Can we have it all Book PDF

Author : Delavallade, Clara,Griffith, Alan,Shukla, Gaurav,Thornton, Rebecca
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 48 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2017-03-30
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Participation, learning, and equity in education: Can we have it all? by Delavallade, Clara,Griffith, Alan,Shukla, Gaurav,Thornton, Rebecca Pdf

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals have set a triple educational objective: improving access to, quality of, and gender equity in education. This study is the first to document the effectiveness of policies targeting all these objectives simultaneously. We examine the impact of a multifaceted educational program—delivered to 230 randomly selected primary schools in rural India—on students’ participation and performance. We also study the heterogeneity of this impact across gender and initial school performance, and its sustainability over two years. Although the program specifically targeted outof-school girls for enrollment, the learning component of the program targeted boys and girls equally. We find that the program reduced gender gaps in school retention and improved learning during the first year of implementation. However, targeting different educational goals (access, quality, and equity) did not yield sustained effects on school attendance or learning, nor did it bridge gender inequalities in school performance over the two-year period.

Nutrition incentives in dairy contract farming in northern Senegal

Bernard, Tanguy,Hidrobo, Melissa,Le Port, Agnès,Rawat, Rahul
Nutrition incentives in dairy contract farming in northern Senegal Book PDF

Author : Bernard, Tanguy,Hidrobo, Melissa,Le Port, Agnès,Rawat, Rahul
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 44 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2017-04-07
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Nutrition incentives in dairy contract farming in northern Senegal by Bernard, Tanguy,Hidrobo, Melissa,Le Port, Agnès,Rawat, Rahul Pdf

Health-related incentives to reward effort or commitment are commonplace in many professional contracts throughout the world. Typically absent from small-scale agriculture in poor countries, such incentives may help overcome both health issues for remote rural families and supply issues for firms. Using a randomized control design, we investigate the impact of adding a micronutrient-fortified product in contracts between a Senegalese dairy processing factory and its seminomadic milk suppliers. Findings show significant increases in frequency of delivery but only limited impacts on total milk delivered. These impacts are time sensitive and limited mostly to households where women are more in control of milk contracts.