Suchergebnisse

Purpose: Pesticide safety is a growing global concern particularly in developing countries as farmers increase their use of toxic pesticides that can negatively affect farmer and environmental health. Previous literature recommends improving farmer access to information to boost productivity, sustainability, and safety behaviors but has little to say on which information sources have the greatest impacts. This paper explores the relationships between information from different sources and toxicity knowledge and safety behaviors using an innovative metric of exposure. Data: This study uses regression analysis of data from 877 horticultural producers serving markets in Maputo, Mozambique and Lusaka, Zambia. Findings: Formal extension advice is limited, and farmers rely heavily on their social networks for information. High-level messages of pesticide health risks and safety practices are effectively being communicated through formal methods of government extension, NGOs and even private agro-dealer networks. However, information through social networks appears to do a better job of communicating more nuanced messages of pesticide toxicities and varied health risks by toxicity class. Practical implications: Farmers need reliable pesticide information to increase crop production while minimizing risks. This study shows that efforts should be taken to increase farmer trust in formal extension channels, and that social networks should be leveraged improve dissemination of pesticide information . Originality: Despite a consensus that more information needs to reach farmers to improve their pesticide safety practices, this paper is one of the few studies that explores the relationships between different information sources and behaviors and perceptions. We construct novel metrics of toxicity knowledge and safety behavior. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies ; DSGD

Chapter 9, "Droughts, Cereal Prices, and Price Stabilization Options," looks at price volatility, causes, and policy options. Increases in cereal prices in Ethiopia often raise concerns about adverse effects for poor net consumers. In particular, the frequent natural calamities—especially droughts—in Ethiopia can lead to important price hikes. But domestic prices of some cereals (especially maize) fluctuate every year with prices at harvest times substantially dropping, to the detriment of producers. Price stabilization efforts are therefore an important consideration for Ethiopian policymakers. This chapter sheds light on options for cereal price stabilization in Ethiopia drawing on experiences of other developing countries. The international experience in food price stabilization shows that while some countries have achieved success, the efforts of many others have actually destabilized market prices at great fiscal costs. When assessing the extent to which price stabilization efforts in Ethiopia were effective during the major El Niño–induced droughts of 2015 and 2016 (including food aid distributed through the PSNP), the authors find that an opportunity was missed to enhance food security and consumer welfare by allowing private-sector imports to minimize the rise in cereal prices as well as to reduce the fiscal costs to the government and donors. ; PR ; IFPRI4; CRP2; ESSP ; DSGD; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Increases in cereal prices can have adverse effects on poor net food buyers. This is a particular problem in Ethiopia because of frequent natural calamities – especially droughts – that lead to significant price hikes. Conversely, falling domestic prices of some cereals (especially maize), typically at harvest time, can be detrimental to producers who are net sellers. Price stabilization efforts are therefore an important consideration for Ethiopian policy makers. This paper sheds light on options for cereal price stabilization in Ethiopia drawing on experiences of other developing countries. The international experience in food price stabilization shows that while some countries have achieved success, the efforts of many others have actually destabilized market prices at great fiscal cost. We assess the extent to which price stabilization efforts in Ethiopia were effective during the major El Niño induced drought of 2015/16 and find that opportunities were missed to enhance food security and consumer welfare through permitting private sector imports in order to curtail the rise in cereal prices and to reduce fiscal costs for the government and donors. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI2; CRP2; ESSP; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 3 Building Inclusive and Efficient Markets, Trade Systems, and Food Industry ; DSGD; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Chapter 12, "Urbanization and Structural Transformation," describes patterns of urbanization in Ethiopia and government policy to promote development of secondary cities. Official population data indicate rapid urban growth, 4.2 percent per year between 1994 and 2015, far outpacing the overall population growth rate of 2.5 percent. By 2050 urbanization is expected to reach 38 percent with major implications for relative wage rates in rural versus urban areas, infrastructure needs, and public service delivery. Improved road infrastructure is improving connectivity across the country and promoting secondary city development. In addition, recent public investments to promote industrialization and increase manufacturing labor opportunities via newly constructed and planned industrial parks, though small relative to the overall economy, are designed to be a catalyst for future growth. ; PR ; IFPRI4; CRP2; ESSP ; DSGD; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

To help better understand the linkages between public investments and maize productivity within the broader cereals sector, this study estimates the effect of public spending in different sectors (e.g., agriculture, infrastructure, health, education, social protection, and defense) on the area harvested and yield of maize and other major cereals (wheat, rice, sorghum, and millet). The data used are compiled from multiple sources, resulting in a national-level panel dataset of 81 maize-producing countries from 1980 to 2015. We estimate a seemingly unrelated regression (SUR), consisting of eight equations (four for area shares and four for yields for each maize, wheat, rice, and millet/sorghum respectively), with country and year fixed effects and county-specific time trends. We find government expenditure (GE) on agriculture for example has a positive effect on area harvested for rice and sorghum/millet, a negative effect on area harvested for maize and wheat, and a positive effect on maize, wheat, and rice yields. GE on the social sector (education, health, and social protection) has mixed effects on area harvested for maize, wheat, and rice, but negative effects on their yields. GE on infrastructure (transport and communications) also has mixed effects on area harvested for rice and sorghum/millet, but positive effects on wheat and rice yields. GE on defense has negative effects on wheat and rice yields. CGIAR expenditures have mixed effects on area harvested for wheat (positive) and rice and sorghum/millet (negative), but no effect on yields. On the productivity effects, we find that it seems that GE on agriculture and infrastructure have been beneficial to the different cereals (except sorghum/millet), whereas GE on the social sector and defense have had the opposite effect. Although the role of agricultural research and development in raising cereal productivity and incomes and in reducing poverty is well established, deficiencies in governance, political institutions, and other factors have led to missed opportunities. Complementary investments, such as in rural infrastructure, are critical. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; CRP2; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; SPEED ; DSGD; AFR; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

The baraza project, initiated in 2009, is a government-led initiative in Uganda that aims to increase the quality of public service delivery through the provision of information and involvement of beneficiaries in project monitoring by means of providing citizens with an advocacy forum. This article provides a qualitative assessment of the self-identified pathways through which barazas are thought to influence public service delivery, as expressed by participant stakeholders. It also explores motivating factors behind behavioural changes of stakeholders, hindrances to achieving positive outcomes, and opportunities for the implementation of future barazas. ; CRP2; IFPRI3; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance ; DSGD; PIM ; PR ; 11 pages ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

The baraza project, initiated in 2009, is a government-led initiative in Uganda that aims to increase the quality of public service delivery through the provision of information and the involvement of beneficiaries in project monitoring by means of providing citizens with an advocacy forum. This study provides a qualitative assessment of the self-identified pathways through which barazas are expected to influence public service delivery, as expressed by participant stakeholders; and the motivating factors behind behavioral changes surrounding the baraza implementation, hindrances to achieving positive outcomes, and opportunities in the implementation of barazas in the future. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; CRP2; F Strengthening institutions and governance; PIM 2 Science policy and incentives for innovation; DCA ; DSGD; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Building on the work of earlier studies that looked at trends in and returns to federal public expenditures on agriculture in Nigeria, this paper explores spending patterns at the sub-national state level over a nine-year period, as well as trends in agricultural and economic performance and indicators of household welfare. Our examination focuses on two groupings of states – the full 37 state units of Nigeria (the 36 states, plus the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja); and the seven states that are the focus in Nigeria of the Global Food Security Strategy (GFSS) of the United States Agency for International Development. Sub-national agricultural spending as a share of aggregate agricultural spending in Nigeria is large, given the stronger role for sub-national governments in agriculture than is the case in other sectors. However, we find that the share of state-level expenditures on agriculture as a share of aggregate state-level expenditures is still relatively low, an average of 3.86 percent over the period 2007 to 2015. While the prioritization of agriculture spending varies greatly year by year, the variation over time does not have a discernible long-run upwards or downwards trend. We also find that agricultural expenditures are more capital intensive than are overall public expenditures at state level, but that capital expenditures as a share of total agriculture spending has decline over the last decade, as is the case overall in Nigeria's industrial sectors. We conclude that efforts to strengthen state-level agricultural spending in Nigeria merits greater attention, while putting in place measures to ensure improved effectiveness in any such spending. ; Non-PR ; NSSP; DCA; Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Policy Project; IFPRI1; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies ; DSGD; PIM ; CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM)

Public expenditures (PE) are critical for key public sector functions that contribute to development and welfare improvements, including the provisions of necessary public goods and the mitigation of market failures. PE in social sectors, such as health, education, and social welfare, and in agriculture have been increasingly recognized as potentially important for income growth, poverty reduction, fostering increased private investment, improved nutritional outcomes, and greater economic resilience. Furthermore, the importance of the impact of subnational PE on these outcomes has also been recognized, as appropriately decentralized PE systems can potentially achieve greater effectiveness by enabling public sector support that is tailored more to local needs. However, direct evidence of these developmental effects of decentralized PE in developing countries like Nigeria has been relatively limited. This study attempts to fill this knowledge gap by estimating the effects of shares of total subnational PE for agriculture, health, education, and social welfare, as well as PE size, on household-level outcomes using nationally-representative panel household data and both local government area and higher state-level PE data for Nigeria. We find that greater shares of total PE for agriculture, health, and social welfare, conditional on PE size, generally have positive effects on consumption, poverty reduction, and non-farm business capital investments. A greater share of total PE for agriculture benefits a broader range of outcomes than do greater shares of total PE for health and social welfare. These include improving certain nutritional outcomes, like household dietary diversity across seasons, and economic flexibility between farm and non-farm activities, which may be particularly important for building resilience in today's rapidly changing socioeconomic environment due to shocks, including COVID19. Such multi-dimensional benefits of greater PE for agriculture are particularly worthy of attention in countries like ...