21112 research outputs found
Sort by
Employment options and challenges for rural households in Malawi: An agriculture and rural employment analysis of the fifth Malawi Integrated Household Survey, 2019/20
No full textMalawi has suffered from weak economic growth since its independence in 1964. Over 50 percentof the population live below the poverty line, unable to produce enough or to otherwise obtain sufficient income to meet all of their basic needs. Poverty is concentrated in rural areas. Smallholder agriculture dominates employment in rural Malawi. However, with continuing population growth, the average landholding size for smallholder farming households is declining, resulting in many being unable to produce sufficient food to meet their own needs. To escape poverty, rural households increasingly must diversify their sources of income, but many lack the human and financial capital to do so. In this report, a detailed examination is provided of the agricultural production, non-farm employment patterns, and overall incomes obtained by farming households across Malawi using data from the fifth Malawi Integrated Household Survey (IHS5), conducted in 2019/20. The analysis demonstrates that most poor farming households will never be able to escape poverty through their farming alone, even with substantially higher crop productivity. Rainfed cropping remains the primary form of agricultural production for farming households in Malawi. While increasing numbers are engaging in irrigated farming during the dry season, the returns from such farming are inconsistent and low. More importantly, off-farm income sources, particularly temporary ganyu wage employment, are now critical to the livelihoods of most rural households, particularly those with small cropland holdings. The common assumption that agriculture is at the center of the livelihoods of rural households across Malawi no longer holds. Of equal importance is their ability to obtain sufficiently remunerative off-farm employment. In developing strategies for rural economic and human development in Malawi, accelerating agricultural production growth, particularly through increased productivity, and increasing the returns to farming are necessary, but incomplete solutions. Equal attention must now be paid to how workers in farming households can also qualify for and obtain good off-farm jobs. Without increases in such employment opportunities, the economies of most rural communities across Malawi are likely to stagnate and poverty will deepen among households living in them.Non-PRIFPRI1; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; MaSSPDevelopment Strategies (DS); Transformation Strategie
Remoteness, farm production, and dietary diversity in Nepal
No full textThis paper explores the relationship between agriculture, dietary diversity, and market access in Nepal, testing the complex causal chains involved, and the nuanced connections between production diversity and dietary diversity among smallholder farmers. While diversifying farm production could enhance dietary diversity, the case of Nepal indicates a varied and context specific relationship. Market access emerges as a crucial factor, often exerting a more significant impact on smallholder farm households than production diversity. Access to markets not only influences economic viability but also contributes directly to food and nutrition security, offering a practical solution to address dietary needs. Focusing on Nepal's diverse terrain, the study analyzes the interplay of remoteness, market access, irrigation availability, and complementary inputs in shaping farmers' decisions, providing valuable insights into sustainable agricultural strategies for improved dietary outcomes in low- and middle-income countries.Non-PRIFPRI1; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for allNatural Resources and Resilience (NRR); Transformation Strategie
Political and economic drivers of Sudan's armed conflict: Implications for the agri-food system [in Arabic]
No full textNon-PRIFPRI1; SSSP; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and GovernanceDevelopment Strategies and Governance (DSG); Transformation Strategie
Gender, deliberation, and natural resource governance: Experimental evidence from Malawi
No full textInitiatives to combat climate change often strive to include women’s voices, but there is limited evidence on how this feature influences program design or its benefits for women. We examine the causal effect of women’s representation in climate-related deliberations using the case of community-managed forests in rural Malawi. We run a lab-in-the-field experiment that randomly varies the gender composition of six-member groups asked to privately vote, deliberate, then privately vote again on their preferred policy to combat local over-harvesting. We find that any given woman has relatively more influence in group deliberations when women make up a larger share of the group. This result cannot be explained by changes in participants’ talk time. Rather, women’s presence changes the content of deliberations towards topics on which women tend to have greater expertise. Our work suggests that including women in decision-making can shift deliberative processes in ways that amplify women’s voices.Non-PRIFPRI1; DCA; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; G Cross-cutting gender theme; Capacity StrengtheningPoverty, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI); Food and Nutrition Polic
Intervening in complex agrifood systems: Assessing outcomes of a multistakeholder approach in central Mozambique
No full textInclusive co-design of system innovations incorporates diverse perspectives and bodies of knowledge that can generate solutions that fit well in a local context and over time influence the socio-technical regime. In operationalizing system transformation-oriented co-design processes, research and development actors have experimented in recent decades with the role of multistakeholder approaches. A specific application of such approaches in the agrifood system context are Agricultural Innovation Platforms (AIPs). Despite the growing application of AIPs and similar approaches, documentation of AIP achievements and assessment of their outcomes beyond the lifetime of the program are rare. We present an approach for integrating the logic of outcome harvesting into the process of AIP facilitation. We also document the outcomes from an AIP approach implemented in a mixed crop-livestock farming system in central Mozambique, using a mixed-methods approach. Our results indicate likely changes in behavior and behavioral drivers associated with the AIP approach. We also share experiences on methodological challenges in assessing outcomes of AIP processes. We hope that our results increase development actors’ confidence in applying AIPs at a larger scale.Non-PRIFPRI1; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; Capacity StrengtheningNatural Resources and Resilience (NRR); Transformation StrategiesCGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE
Egypt’s Haya Karima Initiative: An assessment of its rural and economywide impacts
No full textEgypt’s Haya Karima (HK) Initiative aims at improving the quality of life in the country’s rural communities through interventions related to human development, infrastructure, and economic sectors. This presidential initiative, whose name translates to “Decent Life” in English, has four strategic goals, all targeting Egypt’s rural population: building human capital, improving quality of life, improving the standard of living for the most vulnerable, and providing decent and productive job opportunities. The initiative is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the objectives of Egypt Vision 2030.
HK aims to not only curb material poverty but also multidimensional poverty by expanding the umbrella of comprehensive social protection, with a focus on education, health, infrastructure, and employment. It also focuses on achieving the goal of geographical equity by addressing regional disparities that affect rural areas such as Upper Egypt. Here, we describe a recently completed study that assesses the economywide effects of the first phase of HK. The analysis was done by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), in collaboration with Egypt’s Ministry of Economic Planning and Development (MPED) under the project Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity (EIBC), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).Non-PRIFPRI1; DCA; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity (EIBC); EgyptSSPDevelopment Strategies and Governance (DSG); Transformation Strategie
C’est la vie!: Mixed impacts of an edutainment television series in West Africa
No full textEdutainment shows promise in changing behavior at scale, yet little is known about how to maximize impacts. We undertake an experimental evaluation of a popular television series, C’est la vie!, delivered through film clubs in rural Senegal, on violence against women and girls, and sexual and reproductive health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. We find C’est la vie! improved knowledge three months after film clubs ended, as well as violence-related attitudes nine months later, however, find no impacts on behaviors. We investigate design components intended to strengthen impacts, generally finding no additional impacts from post-screening discussions, engaging men, and podcasts.Non-PRIFPRI1; DCA; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; G Cross-cutting gender themeNutrition, Diets, and Health (NDH); Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI); Food and Nutrition PolicyCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Trends and determinants of India’s virtual water trade in crop products
No full textThis paper analyzed the determinants of India’s virtual water trade in crops and crop products for the period 2001 to 2020. The study used product data at the 6-digit level of commodity classification, covering 206 commodities traded across 218 partner countries. Analysis shows that India has a favorable virtual water trade balance and terms of trade with its partner countries. Among the commodities traded, rice accounted for over one-fourth of the total volume of virtual water exported, and sunflower/safflower oil constitute over one-third of the total volume of virtual water imported. No consistent pattern was observed with regard to the level of endowment of water resources of export destination countries. Gravity model results revealed, as expected, that partner countries’ GDP and population size had a positive effect on virtual water exports, while distance had a negative effect. The coefficient of membership in a free trade agreement (FTA) was negative and statistically significant, implying that FTA member countries are sensitive to the trading of water-intensive agricultural products. The effect of amount of arable land on virtual water exports was negative; this implies that larger virtual water exports correlate with land constraints in a destination country that impede domestic agricultural production. The water endowment variables did not show any significant relationship with virtual water export flows, which confirms the finding in the literature that the water stress of a partner countries does not affect the direction of virtual water flows.Non-PRIFPRI1; DCA; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; Capacity StrengtheningDevelopment Strategies and Governance (DSG); Transformation Strategie
Welfare and vulnerability in Tajikistan: Evidence from twelve districts in Khatlon Province, 2015–2023
No full textHousehold survey data from February-March 2023 and February-March 2015 were analyzed to document changes in welfare of households in twelve districts of Khatlon Province, USAID’s Zone of Influence (ZOI), over the last eight years.
Key findings
• Housing conditions improved, indicating improved living conditions. Only 1 percent of households had improved sanitation in 2015, but nearly half (49 percent) of all households did so in 2023.
• Total consumption expenditures on food, non-food, and durables increased nearly 10 percent (in real terms) between 2015 and 2023.
• Expenditures on food increased, but these were used to purchase more expensive food rather than improving dietary quality. This led to a stagnation in diet diversity among women of which 70 percent have inadequate dietary diversity. Household consumption patterns do show improvements over time.
• Poverty declined by about 10.4 percent, but movements of households in and out of poverty between 2015 and 2023 suggest that a significant share of households are at risk of falling back into poverty in the face of adversity.
• Correlates with consumption expenditures and poverty demonstrate that households with more household members, with fewer livelihood sources, and in more remote locations are worse off. Households with more women are more likely to be poor given women’s limited income generating opportunities.
• Households that participated in agricultural development activities were approximately 12.7 percent less likely to be poor than other households.
Recommended actions
The findings underscore the importance of the priorities specified in the Government of Tajikistan’s Agri-Food System and Sustainable Development Program (ASDP), specifically strategic priority 4 on food security and safety, and motivate the following policy recommendations:
• Continue to support healthy diets through improved access to food as well as behavior change communication related to dietary diversity and consuming healthy food.
• Further research should serve to understand pathways to lifting farmers out of poverty, including analyzing what works and why when implementing agricultural interventions.
• Continued efforts are needed to mitigate women's disproportionate susceptibility to poverty and their vulnerability to poverty-induced outcomes.Non-PRIFPRI1; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; TEAADevelopment Strategies and Governance (DSG); Transformation Strategie
Impact of the ongoing conflict on smallholder farmers in Sudan: Evidence from a nationwide survey
No full textThis study addresses the impact of the ongoing conflict in Sudan on smallholder farmers' intentions and challenges during the 2023 summer agricultural season. A nationally representative survey of 3,284 smallholder farmers was conducted. Due to the security hazards and connectivity challenges, we used a combination of three interview types, Interactive Voice Recording (IVR), Computer-Assisted-Tele phone-Interviews (CATI) and face-to-face (in-person) interviews. Key findings are that close to a third of the farmers were displaced from their farms’ locations and 40 percent were unable to prepare for plant ing season because of the conflict. Most of the farmers who did not prepare for the summer season at the time of the interview were not intending to plant later in the season. The key challenges that pre vented them from planting were the lack of finance to buy agricultural inputs (such as seeds and fertiliz ers) and/or to hire farm labor. This is compounded by bad weather conditions, poor quality of the local seed varieties, higher cost of improved seeds, and delayed rains (climate challenges). In addition, the ongoing conflict has had direct and indirect impacts that prevented many farmers from planting this season. It disrupted market functionality and reduced the availability of and/or raised the cost of agricul tural inputs and farm labor. The lack of finances has also seen farmers reduce the size of the area they planted this season compared to last year’s season. The compounding challenges of these reduced production are expected to be felt as soon as the harvest season begins. The implications suggest the need for rapid intervention to support farmers during the harvest and winter seasons to mitigate the im pact of the conflict on agricultural activities.Non-PRIFPRI1; 1 Fostering Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Food Supply; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry; SSSPDevelopment Strategies and Governance (DSG); Transformation Strategie