171 research outputs found
Social services, human capital, and technical efficiency of smallholders in Burkina Faso:
No full textThis study applies regression analysis as well as a non-parametric method to survey data from Burkina Faso to analyze the role of human capital in explaining technical efficiency in smallholder agricultural production. Exploiting the panel nature of the data and explicitly treating human capital inputs as endogenous, a two-stage estimation method is used for the analysis of determinants of data envelopment analysis (DEA) technical efficiency scores in a double-bootstrap procedure. Findings suggest that the impact of human capital on technical efficiency differs strongly by gender. Strong positive returns exist for education of females, whereas male education is associated with higher inefficiency. Body mass index of adult females also positively relates to technical efficiency. At the community level, presence of a clinic, connection to the electrical grid, presence of a secondary school, and year-round accessibility of the community are found to be vital for human capital formation.Human capital, non-parametrics, public services, Smallholders,
Migration and technical efficiency in cereal production: Evidence from Burkina Faso
No full text"This paper uses data envelopment analysis and new data from Burkina Faso to test the impact of intercontinental and continental migration on technical efficiency in the production of two cereals—millet and sorghum—by rural households. Econometric evidence supports our theoretical expectation that the impact of emigration varies by migrant destination. I find evidence of a positive relation between continental migration and technical efficiency and a negative relation between intercontinental migration and technical efficiency. In an imperfect market environment, continental migration is associated with greater efficiency because it removes a male labor surplus; explanations for the negative relationship between intercontinental migration and technical efficiency should be sought in a surplus of female labor supply. Overall, findings suggest that migration does not lead to a transformation of cereal production from traditional to modern, because in an imperfect market environment, liquidity received in the form of remittances cannot compensate for labor shortfalls." from authors' abstractMigration, Rural households, Data envelopment analysis, Science and technology, Agricultural innovation, Cereal production, Institutional change, Innovation systems,
Female participation in African agricultural research and higher education: New insights
No full textFemale farmers play a vital role in African agriculture, accounting for the majority of the agricultural workforce. However, agricultural research and higher education are disproportionately led by men. There is an urgent need for greater representation of women in the field of agricultural science and technology (S&T) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Female scientists, professors, and senior managers offer different insights and perspectives to help research institutes to more fully address the unique and pressing challenges of both female and male farmers in the region. Gender-disaggregated data on S&T capacity are scarce, often lack sufficient detail, and focus more generally on S&T rather than on agriculture specifically. Data are not always comparable due to different methodologies and coverage. The Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) initiative and the CGIAR Gender & Diversity (G&D) Program partnered together to address this information gap. This report presents the results of an in-depth benchmarking survey on gender-disaggregated capacity indicators, covering 125 agricultural research and higher education agencies in 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is the first study of its kind to present detailed human resources data on female participation in agricultural science, the main findings of which include the following: • Total capacity in terms of the professional staff employed at the agricultural research and higher education agencies included in this study increased by 20 percent between 2000/01 and 2007/08, and women constituted almost half of this capacity increase. The female population of professional staff grew by eight percent per year on average, which is four times higher than the comparable rate of increase for the male population, indicating that the gender gap in African agricultural sciences is closing. • The proportion of female professional staff employed at the sample agricultural research and higher education agencies increased from 18 percent in 2000/01 to 24 percent in 2007/08, but fewer women have advanced degrees compared to their male colleagues. In 2007/08, for example, 27 percent of the sample’s professional women held PhD degrees compared with 37 percent of the sample’s professional men. • Of concern, about two-thirds of the overall (female and male) capacity increase comprised staff holding only BSc degrees, indicating that the overall quality of capacity in agricultural research and higher education is declining in some Sub-Saharan African countries. Notably, the total number of male professional staff trained to the MSc level declined between 2000/01 and 2007/08; however, more in-depth analysis is needed to explain the underlying causes of these shifts and to what degree they represent structural changes. • Levels of female participation in agricultural research and higher education among the sample agencies were particularly low in Ethiopia (6 percent), Togo (9 percent), Niger (10 percent), and Burkina Faso (12 percent). Shares of female professional staff were much higher in South Africa, Mozambique, and Botswana (32, 35, and 41 percent, respectively). • The female share of students enrolled in higher agricultural education was higher than the female shares of professional staff employed at the agricultural research and higher education agencies in most cases, but a significant proportion of the female students concerned were undertaking only BSc-level studies (83 percent). • Only 14 percent of the management positions were held by women, which is considerably lower than the share of female professional staff employed at the sample’s agricultural research and higher education agencies (24 percent). • The pool of female staff is much younger on average than the pool of male staff. • The prevalence of female professional staff is comparatively higher in fields related to life and social sciences, and comparatively lower in fields involving areas traditionally thought of as “hard science”, such as engineering.agricultural R&D, Sub-Saharan Africa, female participation, S&T capacity, agricultural higher education,
How to overcome the governance challenges of implementing NREGA
No full textLarge-scale social safety net programs such as India�s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) are difficult to implement due to governance challenges related to elite capture, leakages, and corruption. The ability to identify how the governance challenges of program implementation can be met requires detailed insights into the actual process of program implementation, with clear views on the source of leakage and mismanagement, the sensitivity of program implementation to the influence of different actors, local power structures and informal bureaucratic processes. This paper uses a new participatory research method, referred to as Process-Influence Mapping, to shed light on these issues and related governance challenges, using the implementation of NREGA as an example. The Process-Influence Mapping tool helps identify the specific features of the NREGA implementation process that limit the program�s effectiveness (for example, elite capture in the definition of work and capacity limitations due to staff shortages and lack of training) and create scope for the misappropriation of funds. The insights gained can be used to identify policy options for reforming the administrative process of NREGA implementation so as to create an effective social safety net.Governance, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, participatory research method, Process-Influence-Map,
Climate change implications for water resources in the Limpopo River Basin
No full textThis paper analyzes the effects of climate change on hydrology and water resources in the Limpopo River Basin of Southern Africa, using a semidistributed hydrological model and the Water Simulation Module of the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT). The analysis focuses on the effects of climate change on hydrology and irrigation in parts of the four riparian countries within the basin: Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Results show that water resources of the Limpopo River Basin are already stressed under today�s climate conditions. Projected water management and infrastructure changes are expected to improve the situation by 2030 if current climate conditions continue into the future. However, under the four climate change scenarios studied here, water supply situations are expected to worsen considerably by 2030. Assessing hydrological impacts of climate change is crucial given that expansion of irrigated areas has been postulated as a key adaptation strategy for Sub-Saharan Africa. Such expansion will need to take into account future changes in water availability in African river basins.Climate change, hydrology, Irrigation, Limpopo River Basin, Water resources,
A regional computable general equilibrium model for Guatemala: Modeling exogenous shocks and policy alternatives
No full textIn this paper we develop a dynamic regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for Guatemala that incorporates regional disaggregated sectors for agriculture. The model is designed to be useful as a development tool for determining the effects of regional investments intended to reduce regional poverty and also to explore policy options to deal with a number of macro and balance-of-payments issues. Our model extends previous modeling work on Guatemala in several ways. First, it develops an updated regional social accounting matrix (SAM) for 2008, coupled with an updated CGE. Second, the CGE is a recursive dynamic model that incorporates unemployment in the short run. Most CGE models are not useful for short-run analysis because they are comparative static models that assume full employment. We specify a fixed minimum wage and an informal sector and use a recursive dynamic framework to solve for the short-run adjustment process that occurs as the economy responds to shocks. Second, the model is regional, permitting us to examine the impact of sectoral development policies, particularly those focused on agriculture. Guatemala has one of the lowest investment rates in Latin America. We show that if the investment share is raised by 4percent over five years, the rate of growth of the economy rises by about .6 percentage points. Guatemala is also quite sensitive to external macro disturbances. Our dynamic model gives a first approximation of the timing and nature of the adjustment over the ten years following various macro disturbances. We show that after ten years most of these shocks are absorbed by changes in the real exchange rate and the composition of output rather than the rate of growth of output. Negative shocks cause a real devaluation and a shift from consumption and non-tradables and towards exports and tradable goods. An important empirical question is whether the adjustment toward the traded goods sector is as flexible as the underlying elasticities in the model imply.Computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling, Economic development, general equilibrium models, macro shocks, regional CGE model,
Emerging policies and partnerships under CAADP: Implications for long-term growth, food security, and poverty reduction
No full textThe Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) is one of the main components of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). CAADP is an initiative launched by the African Union Commission (AUC) in 2002 to serve as a continent-wide framework to facilitate faster agricultural growth and progress toward poverty reduction and food and nutrition security in Africa. CAADP seeks to promote policies and partnerships and raise investments in Africa's agricultural sector and achieve better development outcomes. It is an unprecedented, comprehensive effort to rally governments and other stakeholders around a set of key values and principles; create partnership mechanisms at continental, regional, and country levels; promote evidence-based and outcome-driven policy design and implementation; and establish inclusive dialogue and review processes to increase the effectiveness of the development process among African countries. This paper examines the new policy and investment planning and the review, dialogue, and partnership modalities and evaluates their likely impact on future growth and poverty-reduction outcomes.Agriculture, CAADP, Growth, NEPAD, Nutrition, partnership, Poverty,
External shocks and policy alternatives in small open economies: The case of El Salvador
No full textIn this paper we used a dynamic, regionalized computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze the effect of various negative balance of payments shocks on output and employment and the effect of different alternative investment strategies on growth. The model shows clearly how sensitive El Salvador is to remittance or terms of trade shocks. Each 10 percent reduction in remittances lowers gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.2 percent and household consumption by 1.4 percent, with the cost rising as the shock intensifies. Any negative balance of payments shock forces a reduction in absorption, production, and employment and a real devaluation. Because El Salvador's economy is dollarized, that real devaluation can only come about through a fall in domestic prices brought about by recession. We show that the impact of the shock on output depends on how flexible wages are—the impact is smaller when real wages are flexible and greatest when they are fixed in dollars. We used the CGE model to analyze alternative investment strategies for increasing the growth rate. The investment share of GDP is low, and the model makes it clear that without some strategy for increasing investment, the economy's overall growth rate is likely to remain low. We hypothesized two alternative growth rates for investment, both associated with an increase in exogenous technical change. Both strategies require a marginal increase in the share of output devoted to investment. We also showed that if El Salvador can increase the investment share from 15.5 percent to just 16 percent over five years by producing a growth rate in investment of 8 percent per year, and if that increase produces a 1 percent increase in the rate of technical change in all sectors, then the growth rate of the economy will practically double, rising from 2.85 percent to 4.95 percent per year. There are equally favorable effects on employment for unskilled labor and on wages for skilled labor.Development strategies, general equilibrium models, Regional development, Computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling,
Biofuels and economic development in Tanzania
No full textBiofuels provide a new opportunity to enhance economic development in Tanzania. Drawing on detailed cost estimates, we develop a dynamic computable general equilibrium model to estimate the impact of different biofuel production scenarios on growth and poverty. Our results indicate that maximizing the poverty-reducing effects of a biofuels industry in Tanzania requires engaging and improving the productivity of smallholder farmers. Evidence shows that cassava-based ethanol production is more profitable than other feedstock options. Our findings also indicate that cassava generates higher levels of pro-poor growth than do sugarcane-based systems. However, if smallholder yields can be improved rather than expanding cultivated land, then sugarcane and cassava outgrower schemes can produce similar pro-poor outcomes. We conclude that in so far as the public investments needed to establish a biofuels industry in Tanzania are in accordance with national development plans, producing biofuels will contribute to achieving the country�s overall development objectives.Biofuels, Cassava, Computable general equilibrium (CGE) model, Growth, Poverty,
Internal migration and rural service provision in northern Ghana:
No full textThis paper uses a two-stage conditional maximum likelihood procedure and new data from Ghana to identify the determinants of rural-urban migration at the individual, household and community levels, with a particular focus on rural services. The econometric evidence supports the theoretical expectation that human-capital and network variables as well as assets are important determinants of migration. Taking the possible endogeneity of rural services into account, the evidence suggests that rural service improvements aimed at reducing economic isolation can enhance labor mobility and free up on-farm labor for migration by lowering transaction costs.Rural-urban migration, rural services, Development strategies,
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