Suchergebnisse

In most developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, prices received by farmers are not optimal in the sense that they do not optimize government revenues. In this paper a dynamic model for optimal pricing of primary commodities is developed. The model and results demonstrate that optimal prices depend on marginal cost of the commodity stock, the exporting country's supply elasticity, the importing country's demand elasticity, the social rate of time discount. Therefore when the model is cast in a static framework, or the foreign elasticity of demand is not accounted for, the result could be biased.

In this paper, we test the hypothesis that land held under varying configurations of property rights will be farmed at different levels of production efficiency. Production data were collected from 477 plots in a fairly productive, mixed farming system in the Ethiopian highlands. Interspatial measures of total factor productivity, based on the Divisia index, were used to measure the relative production efficiency of three informal and less secure land contracts (rented, share-cropped and borrowed) relative to lands held under formal contract with the Ethiopian government. Although the informally-contracted lands are farmed 10-16 percent less efficiently, the analysis indicates that farmers of such lands actually apply inputs more rather than less, intensively (i.e., more inputs per unit of land). The gap in total factor productivity thus results from the inferior quality of inputs (or lack of skills in applying them) rather than a lack of incentive to allocate inputs to mixed crop-livestock farming. For this reason we find no empirical basis to support the hyothesis that land tenure is a constraint to agriucltural productivity.

This workshop was convened to help ILCA develop priorities and plan for research over the five year period, 1994-1998. The purpose of the workshop was to identify issues and priorities for research and training in the general areas of livestock and resource management policy, appropriate methodologies for research in these priorities, the role of ILCA in policy research and opportunities for collaboration with national and international institutes. The workshop addressed topics in the areas of trade and macro-economic policies, technology, policy, markets and institutions, and resource management policy.

Future research and technology transfer efforts will have to link more effectively to get the message across to grassroots level. In adition, more planning should be done in collaboration with the farming communities. Networks should be formed between government and non-governmental organizations to develop data banks and information retrieval and distribution centres. Several examples linking different geographical areas in Africa are cited. The foreseen All Africa Society of Animal Production should be a further facilitator in this regard.

Reducing resource degradation, increasing agricultural productivity, and reducing poverty and food insecurity are major challenges in Ethiopia, where nearly 90% of people live in rtual areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Since 1991, the federal and regional governments have focused on promoting conservation of natural resources and improving of agricultural productivity and welfare through a broad program of investment in infrastructure (roads, irrigation, etc.), agricultural extension and credit, education, and other services. Empirical evidence is needed of the impacts of these policies and prodams. Using data from the highlands of Amhara region, this paper addresses the information gap. We find that the agricultural extension program and production of high-value crops have had substantial positive impacts on crop production and household incomes, and have contributed to improved land management and adoption of external inputs. Thus, continuing and expanding the extension approach appears well justified, and promoting production of high-value crops can help households escape the poverty trap. However, a key factor underlying these improvements is road Development (i.e., better access to all-weather roads and markets). Population pressure was associated with lower crop production and incomes, as well as worsening of most resource and welfare conditions. Thus, family planning, education and other means of reducing population growth, as well as developing the non-farm sector, will be crucial in relieving the pressure on the land and raising incomes.

The objective of this paper is therefore; to review the economic contribution of pastoral production system to the national economies in sub-Saharan Africa. The first section addressing the economic contribution of pastoralism, which introduces the concept of total factor productivity as a suitable approach for properly measuring the productivity of pastoral systems, and this section discusses in terms of:- employment and income; government revenue and exports; source of food; non-food outputs; inputs for sustainable agriculture; efficient and environmentally sustainable use of scarce and marginal resources. The second section assesses the problems that constrain the Development of pastoral system; finally conclusions are given in the last section.

Land degradation is a severe problem in the Ethiopian highlands. Factors that may be important in influencing land management and its impacts on resources and human welfare include low and uncertain rainfall in much of the highlands, limited market access and market development, land tenure insecurity, credit constraints, farmers' limited education or limited awareness of technological opportunities, poverty, and government policies and programs affecting these factors. Evidence on the impacts of such factors and possible strategies for overcoming land degradation and poverty in the Ethiopian highlands is still sparse. There are recent studies that did not consider most of the socioeconomic and policy factors mentioned above. This study addresses these issues using data on changes in land management and resource and poverty indicators collected in a large number of villages in the Ethiopian highlands. It investigates the impacts of policy factors such as land tenure policies, the presence of various programs and investments in infrastructure, as well as impacts of population pressure and control of omitted variable bias caused by unobservable fixed factors.

In this chapter we introduce the conceptual framework that underlies the case studies presented in this book and discuss hypotheses about the effects of key factors on community and household decisions concerning income strategies and land management. We also discuss the influence of such decisions on outcomes such as agricultural production, household income, and land degradation (or improvement). This chapter is adapted from Scherr et al. (1996); Pender, Place, and Ehui (1999); Pender, Scherr, and Durón (2001); and Nkonya et al. (2004). The conceptual framework considers the effects of dynamic driving forces of change, such as population growth and changes in access to technology, markets, infrastructure, and services, as well as of more slowly changing conditioning factors such as agricultural potential, local institutions, and culture. We also consider the influence of government policies, programs, and institutions, which may influence income strategies, land management, and outcomes in many ways at different levels by affecting the driving forces and conditioning factors at the local level, by directly promoting or inhibiting different income strategies and land management practices, or by directly affecting outcomes (e.g., through food aid). We argue that the impacts of many factors are likely to be context-dependent, emphasizing the importance of empirical research in specific contexts, though some unambiguous hypotheses are derived. In general, policy and program interventions are likely to involve tradeoffs among the objectives of increasing agricultural productivity, increasing household income, and reducing land degradation. ; PR ; IFPRI1; GRP5; Theme 5; Theme 3; Subtheme 3.2; Governance structures and policy processes; Managing natural resources; Environment and Natural Resource Management; DCA ; EPTD

Cet ouvrage rassemble les comptes-rendus d'un atelier d'Abidjan sur le theme "Quelles politiques pour ameliorer la competitivite des petits eleveurs dans la corridor central de l'Afrique de l'ouest: implications pour le commerce et l'integration regionale". L'objectif de I'atelier s'inscrivait dans le cadre de la lutte contre la pauvrete engagee par les Etats et les gouvernements de la sous-region, en collaboration avec les instituts de recherche et les bailleurs de fonds. Il visait de facon specifique a identifier les contraintes qui pesent sur les petits eleveurs de la sous-region et qui les empechent d'acceder au marche des produits animaux marche en pleine expansion, en raison notamment d'une pression de la demande, due a I'accroissement demographique et au phenomene d'urbanisation. Une des originalites de 1'atelier etait la participation effective des eleveurs et des marchands de betail, venus aussi bien des pays saheliens producteurs que des pays cotiers importateurs. A cette presence d'operateurs economiques s'ajoutait celle de scientifiques et de chercheurs, ainsi que la presence de decideurs et de bailleurs de fonds. Cet interface a permis une fois de plus d'identifier les entraves au marche regional du betail et de la viande surtout pour les petits producteurs, mais egalement de repertorier les defis et opportunites du secteur, dans le contexte de la mondialisation des echanges. Les contributions des participants ont essentiellement porte sur la situation des differentes filieres animales dans les pays : production, sante animale, commercialisation, ainsi que sur 1'environnement institutionnel et macroeconomique. La complementarite naturelle des pays en matiere de produits animaux a ete mise en evidence, de meme que lee entraves a une valorisation systematique du betail comme facteur privilegie d'integration economique. Les presentations ont ete suivies de discussions en commissions de travail sur les aspects production et commercialisation. Les principales conclusions et recommandations de 1'atelier ont porte sur la necessite de reorganiser lee operateurs a tous les niveaux, de mettre en place des structures de financement adaptees, de regionaliser et d'harmoniser les programmes de sante animale et lee politiques sectorielles. Enfin les participants ont vivement souhaite que 1'atelier debouche sur un programme regional de developpement des productions animales qui valorise les avantages comparatifs des pays, tout en assurant aux petits producteurs un meilleur acces au marche.