Suchergebnisse

A quasi-input-output framework was employed to measure and compare economy-wide benefits from irrigated crops and cultivated plantations in the Crocodile River catchment. The results of the analysis showed that it makes a huge difference to consider not only direct economic benefits from water-using activities, but also their economy-wide benefits and multisector linkages for evaluating water allocation regimes and policies. A completely opposite ranking of the compared activities was obtained when economy-wide effects (including indirect multipliers) were taken into account, compared with considering only direct benefits. (Dev South Afr/DÜI)

An environmental accounting approach is adopted to adjust current measures of national income and net savings in SA for the value of net accumulation in timber and carbon stocks as well as for the value of water abstraction externality of cultivated forests. Results indicated that the said values missing from current measures of income and capital formation are substantial, amounting to about 0.6 per cent of NNP, on average over the study period. Potential VAD lost to agriculture due to water abstraction by cultivated forests was estimated at R104 million per annum, on average since 1981. This estimate, however, did not account for the social costs associated with potential losses of environmental services from affected ecosystems.

Adaptation to climate change involves changes in agricultural management practices in response to changes in climate conditions. It often involves a combination of various individual responses at the farm-level and assumes that farmers have access to alternative practices and technologies available in the region. This study examines farmer adaptation strategies to climate change in Southern Africa based on a cross-section database of three countries (South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe) collected as part of the Global Environment Facility/World Bank (GEF/WB) Climate Change and African Agriculture Project. The study describes farmer perceptions to changes in long-term temperature and precipitation as well as various farm-level adaptation measures and barriers to adaptation at the farm household level. A multivariate discrete choice model is used to identify the determinants of farm-level adaptation strategies. Results confirm that access to credit and extension and awareness of climate change are some of the important determinants of farm-level adaptation. An important policy message from these results is that enhanced access to credit, information (climatic and agronomic) as well as to markets (input and output) can significantly increase farm-level adaptation. Government policies should support research and development on appropriate technologies to help farmers adapt to changes in climatic conditions. Examples of such policy measures include crop development, improving climate information forecasting, and promoting appropriate farm-level adaptation measures such as use of irrigation technologies. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; Theme 1; Subtheme 1.1; GRP38; not on water page; Global food scenarios ; EPTD

Income risk associated with crop production was analysed using the Quadratic Risk Programming Model for users and non-users of maize production technologies in Dadar district in Ethiopia. The E-V results revealed that both categories of farmers have the same degree of risk aversion as reflected by the degree of risk aversion coefficient (λ = 0.0008). In addition, the optimisation model results showed that improved maize production is associated with higher income risk as no more than the minimum subsistence constraint was chosen under higher degrees of risk aversion. While an increase in fertilizer prices reduced maize area cultivated for package users, the sensitivity analysis results for increases in maize prices showed a substantial rise in the area allocated to improved maize. However, for increased maize prices, area allocated to maize remained at subsistence level for non-users of the package. The development and promotion of new agricultural technologies need to take into account the yield and income risks associated with maize production in the area. In addition, expansion of rural road infrastructure, the promotion of post-harvest crop storage technologies and food processing industries should be given emphasis as strategies to stabilize prices and reduce income variability arising from crop production in the area.

Leaving aside human and social capital for a future volume, the book should be viewed as a crucial first step in developing indicators for total wealth in the countries covered by the case studies, which include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique and South Africa. These case studies experiment with implementing the SEAA in sub-Saharan nations known to suffer from the "resource curse": their wealth in resources and commodities has allowed inflows of liquidity, yet this cash has not funded crucial developments in infrastructure or education. What's more, resource-driven economies are highly vulnerable to commodity price mutability. The new measures of wealth deployed here offer more hope for the future in these countries than they themselves would once have allowed for.--

This paper measures the technical, allocative, and economic efficiencies of farmers within and outside the Extension Package Program (EPP) in high and low potential agro-ecological zones in eastern Ethiopia. Within-group farmer efficiencies are analyzed relative to respective technologies to examine performance variation under traditional and improved technology. The results showed considerable efficiency variation not only among farmers outside EPP who mainly used traditional technologies, but also among farmers within the EPP who used improved technological packages. The results further showed that, in the high potential zone, farmers within the EPP used a superior technology, whereas both groups in the low potential zone used a homogenous technology, confirming the lack of appropriate technologies for less-favored agricultural areas. Education, credit, and the share of the leading cropping system are significantly related to production efficiency. The results suggest that an integrated credit, extension, and input supply system with appropriate technologies would raise food production efficiency.

In response to the sharp rise in domestic grain prices of 2008, the Ethiopian government introduced a wide range of policy instruments to tame the soaring domestic food prices. It is generally argued that before embarking on any intervention in domestic grain market, better understanding of price formation and possible scenarios of the dynamic grain market environment is crucial for policymakers to make informed decisions. This study aimed at examining the price formation and dynamics in the Ethiopian maize market. Furthermore, this article empirically investigate spatial maize market linkages and test maize price leadership role in order to understand as to whether or not there is a central maize market that dictate and lead price information flow over regional maize markets in Ethiopia. ; http://jast.modares.ac.ir ; am2018 ; Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development

This study adopted the multinomial logit model to analyze factors affecting the choice of coping strategies in response to climate extreme events for the Ethiopian Nile River Basin. Results from the multinomial logit model show that different socioeconomic and environmental factors affect coping with climate extreme events. Factors that positively influence coping include education of the head of household, gender of household head being male, farm income, livestock ownership, access to extension for crop and livestock production, farmer-to-farmer extension, temperature, ownership of radio, and better-quality house. Thus, to increase coping with covariate shocks, such as climate extreme events, policies should encourage income generation and asset holding (especially livestock), both of which will support consumption smoothing during and immediately after harsh climatic events. Moreover, government policies should focus on developing institutions that enhance access to education and extension services. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1 ; EPTD

Considering the continuous influx of Mozambican refugees to Malawi as an external shock to the forest ecosystem, a dynamic model of optimizing the use of forest tree resources is developed in this paper. Land clearing for refugee camp sites, construction material, fuelwood and agricultural crop production constitute a major threat to forest resources in the refugee populated areas. The model presented in the paper provides a framework for analysing various afforestation and technology policies to increase the sustainable use of forest tree resources. The optimal conditions for choosing the levels of land clearing for various uses of refugee population are derived. The model parameters are used to identify the optimal timing and rate of afforestation that will attain a dynamic equilibrium of forest tree resources. Several policy implications are derived from the model results for reducing the environmental degradation of forest resources due to the presence of refugees. It is argued that the general environmental regulation policies based on user-pay principles may not be appropriate under the refugee situation and that additional intervention is needed by the host government and international relief agencies for reversing the trends in deforestation." -- Online Abstract ; IFPRI3; ISI ; COM ; PR