Download or read book Agricultural Strategy Development in West Africa The False Promise of Participation written by Danielle Resnick and Regina Birner IFPRI Discussion Paper No. 844 2008 and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Participation by Men and Women in Off Farm Activities An Empirical Analysis in Rural Northern Ghana written by Nancy McCarthy, Yan Sun and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Using survey data from the Upper East region of Ghana collected in 2005, the paper evaluates the household- and community-level factors influencing women's and men's decisions to participate in off-farm activities, either in the off-farm labor market or in local community groups, and the relationship with on-farm crop returns. Results indicate that crop returns are not affected by increased labor availability over a certain labor-land ratio. Female participation in off-farm labor markets increases at higher levels of labor availability, but participation in women's groups' only increases as labor scarcity is relaxed at lower levels. Alternatively, male participation in off-farm work increases over all levels of labor availability. Results also indicate that male labor is relatively more productive on-farm versus off-farm than female labor, and, though education increases the likelihood that both women and men will work off-farm (with no impact on crop revenues), the impact is greater for women. Finally, participation in off-farm work does not appear to be driven by the need to reduce exposure to risk or to manage risk ex post; wealthier households located in wealthier communities are more likely to participate in off-farm work. Evidence for participation in groups and risk is more complicated; wealthier households in wealthier communities are also more likely to participate, but so too are female-headed households with higher dependency ratios."--Authors' abstract.

Download or read book Managing Africa s Natural Resources written by K. Hanson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-09-23 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors investigate well-known concerns in natural resource management in Africa while focusing on the capacity dimension of the problems. They examine dynamics of leadership, governance, criminality, structural transformation, as well as emerging issues such as green growth.

Download or read book HIV AIDS Growth and Poverty in KwaZulu Natal and South Africa Integrating Firm Level Surveys with Demographic and Economywide Modeling written by James Thurlow, Gavin George, and Jeff Gow and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Preferential Trade Agreements between the Monetary Community of Central Africa and the European Union written by Guyslain K. Ngeleza, Andrew Muhammad and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This paper uses a computable general equilibrium approach to simulate two opposing views describing regional trade agreements either as building blocks for or stumbling blocks to multilateral trade liberalization. This study focuses on the free trade agreement (FTA) between the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) and the European Union (EU). Results show that although a regional trade agreement may slightly raise welfare among the members of the agreement, the cost to nonmembers can be high. In this paper we argue that multilateral liberalization and a regional free trade agreement between the EU and CEMAC are not mutually exclusive. Regional trade agreements should be complementary and consistent with a multilateral agreement, not an attempt to replace it. The regional breakdown in our design considers 14 regions, allowing for country-specific analysis for one least-developed country (Democratic Republic of Congo) and one non-least-developed country (Cameroon). Multilateral liberalization amplifies welfare gain for Cameroon. The Democratic Republic of Congo, with its weaker institutional capacity, is affected negatively. An EU-CEMAC FTA without multilateralism produces gains for both Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The gain for Cameroon is, however, moderate compared with that achieved when the EU-CEMAC FTA is accompanied with a multilateral agreement."--Authors' abstract.

Download or read book African Coalitions and Global Economic Governance written by Michael Byron Nelson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-01 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The proliferation of international institutions with overlapping scope and authority over issue areas creates strategic dilemmas for all states. While African states are often considered marginalised in world politics and global markets, Michael Byron Nelson shows how coalitions can form a crucial part of African strategies to influence international institutions and achieve results. Building a bottom-up analysis of global governance, through legal analysis, content analysis, and in-depth interviews, Nelson illuminates institutional and coalition dynamics through case studies of three key areas - food safety, intellectual property, and agricultural trade. He highlights the difficulties encountered by coalitions attempting to navigate institutional systems, emerging from institutional thickness (increasing the number of institutions involved) and integration (increasing the formal linkages between those institutions). Finally, Nelson shows how increasing the hierarchy of an institutional system, by creating a focal point on a single institution, can make coordination easier for coalitions.

Download or read book Evaluating the Impact of Land Tenure and Titling on Access to Credit in Uganda written by Carly K. Petracco, John Pender and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The theorized impact of land tenure and titling on access to credit has produced mixed results in the empirical literature. Land tenure and titling is hypothesized to increase access to credit because of the enhanced land security provided and the newfound ability to use land as collateral. Using land as collateral and obtaining access to credit are paramount concerns in Uganda and in all of Africa, as greater emphasis is placed on the need to modernize the agricultural system. This paper uses a new approach in evaluating whether land tenure and titling have an impact on access to credit for rural households in Uganda. The new approach includes comparisons across four categories: (1) households who have customary land with versus without a customary certificate, (2) households who have freehold land with versus without a title, (3) households with a title or certificate having freehold versus customary tenure, and (4) households without a title or certificate having freehold versus customary tenure. Each comparison is then evaluated for the impact on access to any form of credit, formal credit, and informal credit. This analysis allows for an in-depth look into which element, tenure or title, is impacting access to credit and to which type of credit, formal or informal. To conduct this analysis, matching techniques are used, including propensity score matching and the Abadie and Imbens matching method. These two methods contain both strengths and weaknesses that allow the results to support to one another. The only significant finding of the matching was a positive impact on access to credit of freehold without title over customary without certificate. Results imply that tenure, not title, impacts credit access for rural households in Uganda."--Authors' abstract.

Download or read book Do Institutions Limit Clientelism A Study of the District Assemblies Common Fund in Ghana written by Afua Branoah Banful and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Analyses of how coveted central-government resources in Africa are shared have shown widespread patronage, ethnic cronyism, and pork-barrel politics. While some governments have attempted to rectify the situation by establishing revenue-sharing formulas, a key unanswered question is whether such institutions are able to achieve this goal. This paper presents an empirical investigation of a pioneering formula-based system of resource allocation from the central government to local governments in Ghana--the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF). The evidence is consistent with governments being able to politically manipulate resource allocation within the confines of the formula-based system. Nevertheless, this does not suggest that the DACF completely fails to limit political influence. It indicates that other guiding structures of a formula-based system--in particular, how and when the formula can be altered--are important determinants of how well a program such as the DACF is able to resist political pressures."--Authors' abstract.

Download or read book The Evolution of Chinese Entrepreneurial Firms Township Village Enterprises Revisited written by Chenggang Xu, Xiaobo Zhang and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Township-village enterprises (TVEs) were a major engine of China's rapid rural industrialization in the past three decades. TVEs also played a key role in fostering entrepreneurship and served as a major stepping-stone for institutional changes when legal protections of private property rights were not in place and the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were slow to react to changing market demand. As private ownership was gradually recognized legally, TVEs lost their edge in competing with private firms. In the past two decades, industrial clusters with a concentration of private entrepreneurial firms coordinated by local governments have emerged rapidly in many areas. The structures of such firms as TVEs and the subsequent clustering modes of production are an outcome of interaction with other local and macro environments. As the environment changes, a firm's organization and organizational structure may change as well."--Authors' abstract.

Download or read book Measuring Agricultural Innovation System Properties and Performance Illustrations from Ethiopia and Vietnam written by David J. Spielman, Dawit Kelemework and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Dynamics of Structural Transformation An Empirical Characterization in the Case of China Malaysia and Ghana written by Thaddee Badibanga, Xinshen Diao, Terry Roe, Agapi Somwaru and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Productivity Convergence in Brazil The Case of Grain Production written by Eduardo Magalhaes, Xinshen Diao and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Preliminary Evidence on Internal Migration Remittances and Teen Schooling in India written by Valerie Mueller, Abusaleh Shariff and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Migration can serve as an outlet for employment, higher earnings, and reduced income risk for households in developing countries. We use the 2004-2005 Human Development Profile of India survey to examine correlations between the receipt of remittances from internal migrants and human capital investment in rural areas. We employ a propensity score-matching approach to account for the selectivity of households into receiving remittances. We interpret the results conservatively due to the cross-sectional nature of the data. We find a positive correlation between remittances received from internal migrants and the schooling attendance of teens. The magnitude of the correlation is greater when focusing on low-caste households, and male schooling attendance in particular becomes more positive and statistically significant. Our findings provide a basis for establishing future research in the areas of migration and social protection in India."--Authors' abstract.

Download or read book Agglomeration Migration and Regional Growth A CGE Analysis for Uganda written by Paul Dorosh and James Thurlow and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Uganda has experienced rapid economic growth and poverty reduction over the past decade but has failed to significantly improve incomes in its northern regions where prolonged conflict has hindered growth. We consider three strategies to close this regional divide: (1) develop a north-south corridor to encourage regional trade, (2) accelerate growth in the southern capital city and encourage north-south migration, and (3) improve agricultural productivity in rural areas. We examine these strategies using a regionalized computable general equilibrium model, accounting for internal migration and productivity gains from urban agglomeration effects. Simulation results indicate that a north-south corridor benefits northern households, but its benefits are limited by the small size of northern urban centers and the low productivity of northern producers. Investing in the capital city accelerates economic growth but has little effect on other regions' welfare because of the city's weak growth linkages with other regions and small migration effects. Improving agricultural productivity, however, though less effective at stimulating national economic growth, generates broad-based welfare improvements in both rural and urban areas. We therefore conclude that without significant gains in agricultural productivity in the next decade, out-migration and urban-led growth centered in Kampala will be insufficient to significantly reduce poverty in northern Uganda."--Authors' abstract.

Download or read book Dynamics in agricultural extension services provision in Malawi Insights from two rounds of household and community panel surveys written by Ragasa, Catherine and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2019-08-01 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Government of Malawi is in the process of developing its National Agricultural Extension Strategy. Two rounds of national household and community surveys (2016, 2018), coupled with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, were implemented to provide research evidence supporting the Strategy’s development. This paper summarizes emerging trends from these surveys and monitors progress in extension services provision, players and actors in extension services provision, and evidence on the coverage and effectiveness of extension approaches. Positive trends include (1) improvements in the percentage of men and women farmers accessing extension services; (2) consistently high ratings in the perceived quality of extension services; (3) more diversity in extension messages, including more information regarding market access and nutrition; (4) greater use of cost-effective tools, such as radio programming and community or group meetings, as sources of agricultural information; and (5) greater crop diversification, although diversification outside of agriculture remains low. Four areas remain weak and need further improvements. First, information sharing among farmers, friends, and neighbors is frequent, and the coverage of those officially trained “lead farmers” (those trained specifically to promote technologies to other farmers) remains low, with only 7 percent of households reporting getting relevant advice from them. Second, while there are more “model villages” and “village agricultural committees” present, we see decreasing participation and ratings for these. Third, we observe greater awareness of promoted technologies, including conservation agriculture, pit planting, and sustainable land practices, but adoption remains very low. Fourth, we observe greater crop diversification, but farm productivity and commercialization remain low. Although we have investigated many dimensions and factors in this paper, there remain challenges and puzzles that could be further addressed in future research. These include constraints on the adoption of minimal expensive inputs and low-cost management practices, constraints on the role of intensive training and labor, and understanding the drivers and factors affecting commercialization and diversification.

Download or read book Aggregate Effects of Imperfect Tax Enforcement written by Miguel Robles and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This paper studies an economy in which the government is not able to perfectly enforce tax compliance among operating firms, and compares it with a similar economy but with perfect tax enforcement. I develop a competitive general equilibrium model where imperfect tax enforcement may affect aggregate outcomes through two mechanisms. First, it may distort firms' optimal output level as long as the probability of avoiding tax compliance is related to the firm's size. Second, poor tax enforcement may lead to a low provision of the public goods that complement firms' productivity. The results for a calibrated version of the model suggest that in economies with tax enforcement problems, aggregate output might be reduced by 12 percent. I also conclude that sizable aggregate effects can be obtained only when the public goods mechanism is at work."--Authors' abstract.

Download or read book Impact of Soaring Food Price in Ethiopia Does Location Matter written by John M. Ulimwengu, Sindu Workneh, Zelekawork Paulos and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2009 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Previous studies implicitly assume uniform price-effects across regions or provinces within countries. They also do not address the issue of integration between the world food market and local markets. Instead, they assume a complete transmission of changes in world food prices to local food prices. In this paper, we first establish evidence of regional price heterogeneity across Ethiopia. We also applied the Johansen test for market integration over 95 local maize markets and found that none of the Ethiopian regional markets for maize is integrated to the world market. However, there is significant short-term price effects between the world maize market and some Ethiopian regional markets. Using the Almost Ideal Demand System, we estimate loss in household consumption and calorie intake as induced by food price increases. The results suggest a great deal of heterogeneity across regions as well as between rural and urban areas. Studies that fail to account for the characteristics of household demand across locations are more likely to induce misleading policy recommendations."--Authors' abstract.