21112 research outputs found
Sort by
COVID-19: Trade restrictions are worst possible response to safeguard food security
No full textAs COVID-19 spreads around the globe, fears of a deep global recession are mounting. Some also fear that food supplies may start running short, especially if supply chains are disrupted. Others fear that agricultural production may be disrupted by containment measures that restrict workers fromharvesting and handling crops. While we should take these concerns seriously — especially for fruits and vegetables, which have complex supply chains, or foods sold primarily through restaurants — they should not be overstated either, especially not for basic staples such as rice, wheat, and maize. Global markets are well supplied, stocks are healthy, production of key staples is unlikely to be disrupted, and prices have remained relatively stable. Trade is allowing production to move from areas of surplus to areas of shortage, avoiding the drastic shortages and food insecurity associated with reliance only on local production.Non-PRIFPRI4; COVID-19 Food Trade Policy Tracker; CRP2MTID; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Assessing the toll of COVID-19 lockdown measures on the South African economy
No full textIn trying to limit the spread of COVID-19, policymakers are confronting the difficult task of balancing the positive health effects of lockdowns against their economic costs — particularly the burdens imposed on low-income and food-insecure households. South African lockdown policies are relatively stringent, and the economic impacts are large. Figure 1 presents impacts on the income components of gross domestic product (GDP), based on an analysis using a social accounting matrix (SAM) model, a tool well-suited to assessing the impacts of shortterm shocks. The work is a collaboration between IFPRI, the National Treasury of South Africa, the South African Reserve Bank, and UNU-WIDER.Non-PRIFPRI4; SA-TIED; CRP2EPTD; DGO; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Mechanization service providers - June 2020 survey round [in Burmese]
No full textNon-PRIFPRI1; MyanmarSSP; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; MAPSADSGD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Assessing the impacts of COVID-19 on household incomes and poverty in Myanmar: A microsimulation approach
No full textWith policy measures imposed by governments around the world to contain and prevent the spread of COVID 19, global and domestic economic activities and trade flows have been interrupted. The unexpected shocks of COVID 19 negatively affect not only Myanmar’s economy, but also the livelihoods of Myanmar households. This Working Paper assesses such impacts at the household level using a microsimulation model based on the Myanmar Poverty and Living Conditions Survey (MPLCS) conducted in 2015.Non-PRIFPRI1; CRP2; MAPSA; MyanmarSSP; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural EconomiesDSGD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Yangon peri-urban poultry farmers - Early July 2020 survey round
No full textSome temporarily closed broiler farms reopened their businesses in early July to meet the recent increasing demand for chicken, but other temporarily closed farms shut down permanently. The share of closed layer farms further decreased by 2 percent, cumulatively by 17 percent compared to 2019. With very few new poultry farms established, the supply of broilers and eggs is likely to be significantly less in coming months compared to 2019. The price of broilers has gradually decreased from its peak of 5,350 MMK/viss in early June to around 3,300 MMK/viss in mid-July. Supply shortages of day-old broiler chicks continues to be the main problem preventing broiler farms from fully recovering their operational capacity. It was also the most important challenge reported in our open-ended question to poultry farmers. Cash flow worsened considerably for broiler farms in early July due to the recent price increase of day-old-chicks and the price decrease of broilers. The number of hired regular workers in operational poultry farms remained similar compared with June, which is still much lower than before the outbreak of COVID-19 . Since March, the total job loss among the 275 surveyed farms was 793 workers – 35 percent of the total labor on those farms. All recommendations in our first two policy notes still stand – temporary income support to poultry farms; participation in government credit guarantee schemes; temporary waiver of the import ban on day-old-chicks; tax exemptions or deferrals for poultry farmers; and further lifting of restrictions on transportation of livestock and livestock products. The temporary waiver of the import ban on day-old-chicks by the Myanmar government should be continued. However, to protect domestic breeder farms and related businesses, the total supply of day-old-chicks should be monitored and the import waiver phased out when domestic breeder farms return to normal production capacity. We estimate this should be in two to three months.Non-PRIFPRI1; MyanmarSSP; CRP2; MAPSA; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural EconomiesDSGD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Credit constraints and agricultural technology adoption: Evidence from Nigeria
No full textThe agricultural sector in Nigeria is characterized by low productivity that is driven by low use of modern agricultural technologies, such as improved seed, chemical fertilizer, agrochemicals, and agricultural machinery. Poor access to credit is claimed to be one of the key barriers to adoption of these technologies. This study examines the nature of credit constraints among smallholder farmers – whether smallholders are credit constrained or not and the extent to which credit constraints emanate from supply-side or demand-side factors. Using multinomial probit and seeming unrelated simultaneous equations econometric models with data from the 2018/19 Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) for Nigeria, the study investigates the factors affecting credit access and the effects of these credit constraints on adoption of four agricultural technologies – inorganic fertilizer, improved seed, agrochemicals, and mechanization.
The results show that about 27 percent of survey households were found to be credit constrained – 12.8 percent due to supply-side factors and 14.2 percent due to demand-side factors. Lack of access to information and communication technology, extension services, and insurance coverage are the major demand-side factors negatively affecting smallholder’s access to credit. Registered land tiles and livestock ownership enhance credit access. Credit constraints manifests themselves differentially on the adoption of different agricultural technologies. While adoption of inorganic fertilizer and improved seed are significantly affected by credit constraints from both the supply and the demand-sides; use of agricultural machinery is affected only by demand-side factors, while use of agrochemicals is not affected from either supply or demand-side credit factors. From a policy perspective, our findings indicate that improving credit access via supply-side interventions alone may not necessarily boost use of modern agricultural technologies by smallholder farmers in Nigeria. Demand-side factors, such as access to information, extension services, and insurance cover, should equally be addressed to mitigate the credit constraints faced by smallholders and increase their adoption of modern agricultural technologies and improve their productivity.Non-PRIFPRI1; NSSP; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Policy ProjectDSGD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Yangon peri-urban poultry farmers - Late July 2020 survey round
No full textThe price of broilers continued to gradually decrease in the second half of July as supply increased – recent prices are close to the 2019 average. The skyrocketing rise in the price of broiler day-old-chicks stopped in July thanks to the Myanmar government having allowed since mid-May the importation of 3.8 million day-old-chicks. Egg prices continued to increase, growing by 14 percent from 2,300 MMK/viss in late June to 2,620 MMK/viss in late July. Cash flow is still very poor for broiler farms and worsened considerably in late July for layer farms. The PMI operational capacity indices for broiler and layer farms were much lower than those of 2019. The indices for June and July 2020 were very similar, suggesting that the operational capacity of both broiler and layer farms did not improve in July. The PMI revenue index for layer farms increased considerably in July but is still much lower than the revenue index for broiler farms. This finding suggests that COVID-19 has impacted the revenue of layer farms more significantly than the revenue of broiler farms. Supply shortages of day-old-chicks remain a bottleneck for both broiler and layer farms. Price increases for feed have become a new challenge.Non-PRIFPRI1; MyanmarSSP; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; MAPSADSGD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Monitoring the impact of COVID-19 in Myanmar: Agricultural input retailers - Mid-June and early July 2020 survey rounds
No full textPhone surveys were conducted with input retailers from Shan, Kachin, Bago, Ayeyarwady, Sagaing, and Mandalay between 17 and 20 June and again between 6 and 8 July 2020 to understand and monitor the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the agricultural input sector.Non-PRIFPRI1; CRP2; MyanmarSSP; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; MAPSADSGD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Global trends in extension provision, staffing, and methods
No full textThis chapter is a landscape view of extension globally. It compares the recent status to the situation several decades ago, when earlier global assessments were conducted. In particular, we look at best-fit characteristics, including legal status and governance of extension providers, staffing, and advisory methods and clientele. We also look at trends and recent developments using the global assessments and recent literature. There have been several major efforts to collect worldwide extension data. Surveys were conducted in 1975 and 1980 by the University of Illinois (Swanson and Rassi 1981). Follow-up work was conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1988–1989, and by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Global Forum for Rural Advisory Services (GFRAS) in 2009–2012. However, there were never any narrative reports produced or much analysis conducted of this data collection effort. Swanson and Rassi (1981) and FAO (1991) were simply directories. GFRAS (2012) is a database; the only report produced was Swanson and Davis (2014), which was a 14-page document giving some key details on the status of extension by region and with a table providing numbers of agents.PRIFPRI4; CRP2DSGD; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
Intra-African trade integration
No full textThis chapter aims to shed light on those questions through the calculation of simple trade indicators, namely the export similarity index, trade complementarity index, and regional trade intensity index, as well as assessing the impact of tariffs and examining the costs of nontariff measures (NTMs) at the intra-African level. Our results reveal that African economies mostly have dissimilar export patterns, suggesting possibilities for transborder trade expansion. However, complementarity between exports and imports among African countries is low, reflecting Africa’s colonial history of exporting raw commodity goods globally while importing processed goods, without developing a strategic web of regional supply chains within the continent. Yet despite limited complementarity in their current trading patterns, and high tariff and nontariff costs in some regions, the intensity of intraregional trade in Africa is higher than expected.PRIFPRI4MTI