Download or read book The economics of teff Exploring Ethiopia s biggest cash crop Synopsis written by Minten, Bart and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2018-07-19 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Teff is the staple food of Ethiopia and its biggest cash crop. Teff is nutritious and well adapted to the growing conditions in Ethiopia, but little has been invested to improve the crop’s productivity or to expand domestic or international markets. Given high levels of poverty and food insecurity in Ethiopia, coupled with the large dependency on agriculture, agricultural transformation is a critical development goal. Identifying opportunities to improve agricultural performance, and confronting the challenges to doing so, is essential. The Economics of Teff: Exploring Ethiopia’s Biggest Cash Crop examines the potential of teff and offers recommendations on how to increase production and expand markets in order to benefit both farmers and consumers.

Download or read book The economics of teff Exploring Ethiopia s biggest cash crop written by Minten, Bart and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2018-07-19 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Considerable poverty and food insecurity in Ethiopia, combined with the overwhelming majority of Ethiopians who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, make agricultural transformation a crucial development goal for the country. One promising improvement is to increase production of teff, the calorie- and nutrient-rich but low-yielding staple. The Economics of Teff: Exploring Ethiopia’s Biggest Cash Crop examines key aspects of teff production, marketing, and consumption, with a focus on opportunities for and challenges to further growth. The authors identify ways to realize teff’s potential, including improving productivity and resilience, selecting and scaling up new technologies, establishing distribution systems adapted to different areas’ needs, managing labor demand and postharvest operations, and increasing access to larger and more diverse markets. The book’s analysis and policy conclusions should be useful to policy makers, researchers, and others concerned with Ethiopia’s economic development.

Download or read book Post harvest losses in rural urban value chains Evidence from Ethiopia written by Minten, Bart and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2019-09-12 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We study post-harvest losses (PHL) in important and rapidly growing rural-urban value chains in Ethiopia. We analyze self-reported PHL from different value chain agents – farmers, wholesale traders, processors, and retailers – based on unique large-scale data sets for two major commercial commodities, the storable staple teff and the perishable liquid milk. PHL in the most prevalent value chain pathways for teff and milk amount to between 2.2 and 3.3 percent and 2.1 and 4.3 percent of total produced quantities, respectively. We complement these findings with primary data from urban food retailers for more than 4,000 commodities. Estimates of PHL from this research overall are found to be significantly lower than is commonly assumed. We further find that the emerging modern retail sector in Ethiopia is characterized by half the level of PHL than are observed in the traditional retail sector. This is likely due to more stringent quality requirements at procurement, sales of more packaged – and therefore better protected – commodities, and better refrigeration, storage, and sales facilities. The further expected expansion of modern retail in these settings should likely lead to a lowering of PHL in food value chains, at least at the retail level.

Download or read book Near real time welfare and livelihood impacts of an active civil war Evidence from Ethiopia written by Abay, Kibrom A. and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 57 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ethiopia is currently embroiled in a large-scale civil war that has continued for more than a year. Using unique High-Frequency Phone Survey (HFPS) data, which spans several months before and after the outbreak of the war, this paper provides fresh evidence on the ex durante impacts of the conflict on the food security and livelihood activities of affected households. We use difference-in-differences estimation to compare trends in the outcomes of interest across affected and unaffected regions (households) and before and after the outbreak of the civil war. Seven months into the conflict, we find that the outbreak of the civil war increased the probability of moderate to severe food insecurity by 38 percentage points. Using the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) on households’ exposure to violent conflict, we show that exposure to one additional battle leads to 1 percentage point increase in the probability of moderate to severe food insecurity. The conflict has reduced households’ access to food through supply chain disruptions while also curtailing non-farm livelihood activities. Non-farm and wage related activities were the most affected by the conflict while farming activities were relatively more resilient. Similarly, economic activities in urban areas were much more affected than those in rural areas. These substantial impact estimates, which are likely to be underestimates of the true average effects on the population, constitute novel evidence on the near-real-time impacts of an on-going civil conflict, providing direct evidence on how violent conflict disrupts the functioning of market supply chains and livelihoods activities. Our work highlights the potential of HFPS to monitor active and large-scale conflicts, especially in contexts where conventional data sources are not immediately available.

Download or read book Connecting the Sustainable Development Goals The WEF Nexus written by Laura Cavalli and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-06-20 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This contributed volume offers a state-of-the-art, holistic overview of the employment of a Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus approach to implement the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with a geographical focus on applications in different African regions. The book is divided into three sections, each composed of several chapters contributed by experts in their respective fields. Section I introduces the WEF Nexus and its role in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs. It highlights the attempt to connect different spheres of sustainability thanks to the Nexus, taking advantage of the existing interlinkages and interconnections among the Goals. Section II proposes a multi-scale and multi-stakeholder approach to various aspects of the Nexus and reviews existing quantitative tools. This section focuses on the issue of resource control and development aims and spotlights how Nexus dynamics influence the achievement of the SDGs as a whole. Section III applies the WEF Nexus to different African regions, which are balancing a rising population and an economic boom with severe vulnerability in the face of climate change. Chapter “Review of the Economic Impact of Water Availability on Food Security and the Related Ecosystems” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Download or read book Developing Sustainable and Health Promoting Cereals and Pseudocereals written by Marianna Rakszegi and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2023-03-27 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developing Sustainable and Health Promoting Cereals and Pseudocereals: Conventional and Molecular Breeding reviews the most recent developments in the fields of cereal and pseudocereal breeding, with particular emphasis on the latest biotechnological techniques likely to lead to breakthrough changes in plant breeding. The book provides comprehensive information on the use of genetic resources or pre-breeding activities to improve health-related properties of cereals and pseudocereals. The text also explores targeted field-management practices and the latest in biotechnological methodologies, and offers a cohesive overview necessary for understanding the potential impacts and benefits of improved production of cereals and pseudocereals with high-nutritional value. Includes coverage of cereals and pseudocereals in a single comprehensive volume Focuses on sustainable circular economy, including assurance of food safety, quality, and health benefits Examines breeding to attain robust cereal and pseudocereals with higher nutritional value and adapted to specific regions, climate change, and global warming

Download or read book Accelerating technical change through ICTs Evidence from a video mediated extension experiment in Ethiopia written by Abate, Gashaw Tadesse and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-12-28 with total page 10 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to address a wide array of development issues has gained considerable attention among governments, practitioners, and researchers in recent years (Lwoga and Sangeda 2019). While early studies focused on mobile phones and text messaging, attention is quickly shifting to other media, including video. Many studies on the use of video as a medium explore how increased access and consumption of information can lead to behavior changes that ultimately result in welfare-improving outcomes. This study explores whether video-mediated extension leads to the increased, sustained uptake of productivity-enhancing agricultural technologies and practices by small-scale farmers. Over the two-year period of 2017–2018, the Government of Ethiopia and Digital Green conducted the large-scale rollout of a video-mediated extension approach. We examine the impact of this rollout on a range of outcome indicators, including whether targeting the video-mediated approach to both spouses of a household was more effective than targeting the (typically male) household head alone. Our main outcomes of interest include farmer uptake of the subject technologies and the yield gains resulting from these technologies. Our study provides insights into the mechanisms behind the observed effects and an analysis of the approach’s cost effectiveness. Our results demonstrate that the video-mediated extension approach led to increases in farmer uptake of improved agricultural technologies and practices. In the first year of the experiment, we find an overall 6 percentage point increase in technology uptake, which translates into a 10 percent increase over the mean of the control group. An analysis of uptake by type of technology shows that the video-mediated approach resulted in an increase of 13, 20, and 15 percent over control group means for row planting, precise seeding rate, and urea top/side dressing, respectively. These results endure in the second year of the experiment, pointing to farmers’ effective uptake of the technology beyond a mere trial in one production season. Upon exploring the mechanisms that explain these adoption effects, we find that the video-mediated extension approach led to an increase in extension reach, with a 35 percent increase in farmers’ attendance at extension sessions (likely due to interest in the video medium). Among farmers assigned to the video-mediated extension approach, we also find a higher level of technical understanding of focal agricultural technologies and practices. While our results suggest greater participation and knowledge gains among (typically female) spouses who also participated in the video-mediated extension approach, we do not find clear evidence that targeting both spouses led to higher rates of technology uptake.

Download or read book Millets written by Ashwani Kumar and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2024-01-29 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millets are diverse small-seeded crops which are resilient to climatic stress, pests, and diseases. These can be grown in rainfed conditions with minimal agricultural inputs. These are considered nutritionally superior to other major cereals like rice, wheat, and maize as they contain a significant amount of protein, dietary fibre, and minerals. Today, millets are recognized and considered as integral components of a sustainable food system. Millets have low glycaemic index and are beneficial for diabetics. Millet protein is devoid of gluten, making them a better option than wheat for patients with gluten sensitivity. Millets: Cultivation, Processing, and Utilization covers information on taxonomy, morphology, germplasm accessions, cultivation practices, harvesting methods, threshing, cleaning, storage, milling, structural and engineering properties, nutritional and anti-nutritional values, health benefits, food applications, by-products, non-food applications, quality standards, and prospects in millet processing. This book's sixteen in-depth chapters give readers complete information on all facets of millet cultivation, processing, and use. It is a unique compilation of information on millets from farm to fork and beyond. This book will be useful for students, researchers, farmers, and entrepreneurs in understanding millets and their applications. It has been compiled by experts in the field and can serve as a guidance document for the stakeholders.

Download or read book Governance Conflict and Natural Resources in Africa written by Hany Gamil Besada and published by McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. This book was released on 2021-04-22 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A country's abundant natural resources may serve as a curse or a blessing, with the outcome often dependent on prevailing governance structures and experience managing these assets. Despite natural resource advantages, many African countries have failed to transform their enormous economic potential and wealth into tangible benefits such as sustainable socio-economic development, human security, or peace. Governance, Conflict, and Natural Resources in Africa reevaluates the role that foreign state-owned and private-sector actors play in resource-rich states – whether stable, post-conflict, or fragile – in sub-Saharan Africa. Through research and an analysis of in-depth interviews with local stakeholders in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia, Hany Besada explains how foreign state-owned and private-sector corporations have contributed to economic growth at both the national and local levels in different resource-rich countries. This book reveals the unique challenges and opportunities created by these investors, demonstrating that new policies in business practices and operations have the potential to generate sustainable development and positive economic transformation. Governance, Conflict, and Natural Resources in Africa puts forward a novel framework for understanding the role of private economic actors in extractive industries in Africa and sheds new light on foreign private-sector contributions to capacity building and economic development.

Download or read book Gender research in the CGIAR research program on policies institutions and markets in 2018 and 2019 written by Vos, Andrea and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2021-02-11 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report analyses PIM’s 391 peer-reviewed 2018 and 20191 publications. We highlight key gender findings and discuss the challenges faced by researchers in doing gender analysis, with a view to documenting lessons learned and improving practices. It is hoped that the gaps and strengths identified in this report will be useful inputs for future research under PIM and One CGIAR.

Download or read book Distributional impact of the rice tariffication policy in the Philippines written by Balié, Jean and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2020-09-02 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 2019, the government of the Philippines promulgated a bill called the Rice Tariffication Law (RTL). It has dramatically changed the policy landscape in the rice sector and generated heated debates on how it would affect food security and poverty. This study explores the welfare effects of this reform across different types of households. We rely on the IRRI Global Rice Model to simulate the domestic price effects of the reform (Balié and Valera, 2020) and the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) to study the welfare impact of these price changes. Our results show that the RTL reduces consumer and producer rice prices, which affects households on the production and the consumption sides. Because a large majority of households are net buyers of rice and the policy reform reduces rice prices, most households benefit from the reform. Overall, the effects of the reform on poverty are beneficial. The poorest quintiles are positively affected, while the richest quintiles are unaffected or slightly worse-off. Spatially, the poorest regions also benefit the most. However, the rice growers who are net sellers are negatively impacted. The government should seek to mitigate the negative effects on non-competitive rice growers. Investments in public goods and services are a promising option to ease the emergence of on-farm and off-farm businesses as more profitable alternatives to rice production.

Download or read book Cash crops and food security written by Kuma, Tadesse and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-09-27 with total page 22 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the key questions in food policy debates in the last decades has been the role of cash cropping for achieving food security in low income countries. We revisit this question in the context of smallholder coffee production in Ethiopia. Using unique data collected by the authors on about 1,600 coffee farmers in the country, we find that coffee income improves food security, even after controlling for total income and other factors and after addressing the endogeneity of coffee income. Further analysis suggests that the pathway for achieving this improved food security is linked to being better able to smooth consumption across agricultural seasons. In contrast with food crops, coffee sales take place almost throughout the whole year, providing farmers with cash income also during the lean season.

Download or read book Tef Eragrostis Tef Zucc written by Seyfu Ketema and published by Bioversity International. This book was released on 1997 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Row planting teff in Ethiopia written by Vandercasteelen, Joachim and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2016-07-01 with total page 26 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Improved technologies are increasingly promoted to farmers in sub-Saharan-African countries to address low agricultural productivity in their staple crops. There is, however, a lack of evidence on how adoption affects farmers’ labor use and profitability at the farm level, as well as the importance gender roles play, all essential drivers for the successful up-scaling of the use of the improved technologies. This paper analyses the labor and profitability impact of the recently introduced row planting technology in teff production in Ethiopia. Based on agronomic evidence in experimental settings, the Government of Ethiopia has focused extension efforts on promoting the widespread uptake of row planting to address low teff yields, replacing the traditional broadcasting method of plant teff. Using an innovative Randomized Controlled Trial set-up, we show that the implementation of row planting at the farm level significantly increases total labor use, but not teff yields, relative to broadcast planting, resulting in a substantial drop in labor productivity when adopting row planting. Moreover, the implementation of row planting has important consequences for inter- and intra-household labor allocation, with relatively more use of non-family labor. The adoption of row planting was further found not to be profitable for farmers in the first year of the promotion campaign, seemingly explaining the limited success in up-scaling the adoption of the technology by farmers in the second year of the program.

Download or read book Agriculture and economic transformation in the Middle East and North Africa A review of the past with lessons for the future written by Nin-Pratt, Alejandro and published by Intl Food Policy Res Inst. This book was released on 2017-12-31 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The agriculture sector is key for economic and social development, but the sector’s potential has not received enough attention from policy makers and stakeholders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Political transitions, instability, and the resulting refugee crisis have shifted focus away from other pressing development challenges, including slow progress in economic diversification, high unemployment, and persistent high food insecurity and rural poverty. Despite its small contribution to GDP, agriculture is strategic for sustainable development in the MENA countries. Agriculture, for example, is central to achieve food and water security in a region characterized as one of the most food insecure and water scarce in the world. The sector’s role in employment is also central, given the region’s high structural unemployment. However, it will not be possible for MENA countries to develop agriculture without a pathway to structural economic transformation. The region has already started the process of transformation but longstanding challenges remain. This report aims to examine the drivers, constraints, and social implications of agricultural development in MENA and to explore possible cornerstones for new and sustainable development strategies in the context of economic transformation. More specifically, the report provides answers to the following questions: • What development strategies and policies did governments in MENA put in place over the past three decades and how did they affect the performance of agriculture? • How did the structural characteristics of the MENA countries affect agricultural development and the economic transformation process in the region? • What did we learn from the past performance of agriculture? What should be the central elements guiding future agricultural policies? • What are elements of a new and sustainable development strategy in MENA countries? • What is the role of agriculture and agro-industries for development in MENA?

Download or read book Genetic Glass Ceilings written by Jonathan Gressel and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2020-03-03 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the world’s population rises to an expected ten billion in the next few generations, the challenges of feeding humanity and maintaining an ecological balance will dramatically increase. Today we rely on just four crops for 80 percent of all consumed calories: wheat, rice, corn, and soybeans. Indeed, reliance on these four crops may also mean we are one global plant disease outbreak away from major famine. In this revolutionary and controversial book, Jonathan Gressel argues that alternative plant crops lack the genetic diversity necessary for wider domestication and that even the Big Four have reached a “genetic glass ceiling”: no matter how much they are bred, there is simply not enough genetic diversity available to significantly improve their agricultural value. Gressel points the way through the glass ceiling by advocating transgenics—a technique where genes from one species are transferred to another. He maintains that with simple safeguards the technique is a safe solution to the genetic glass ceiling conundrum. Analyzing alternative crops—including palm oil, papaya, buckwheat, tef, and sorghum—Gressel demonstrates how gene manipulation could enhance their potential for widespread domestication and reduce our dependency on the Big Four. He also describes a number of ecological benefits that could be derived with the aid of transgenics. A compelling synthesis of ideas from agronomy, medicine, breeding, physiology, population genetics, molecular biology, and biotechnology, Genetic Glass Ceilings presents transgenics as an inevitable and desperately necessary approach to securing and diversifying the world's food supply.

Download or read book Accelerating Technical Change Through Video mediated Agricultural Extension written by Gashaw Tadesse Abate and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: