Suchergebnisse

Since 1986, Tanzania, like many other countries, has experienced a remarkable political and economic transition. Formerly a one-party state with a planned economy, the country is now multiparty democracy with a market-oriented economy and has undergone a series of economic reforms, including currency evaluation, tariff reduction, domestic tax reforms, and increased investments in infrastructure. The country's economic performance has improved substantially in many respects. Until now, however, little was known about the effects of the reforms on specific sectors of the Tanzanian economy and on efforts to alleviate poverty in the country. Structural Adjustment and Intersectoral Shifts in Tanzania analyzes how stabilization and structural adjustment policies have affected the country's economic growth, sectoral performance, welfare, and income distribution. It attempts to determine whether economic reforms have actually made ordinary Tanzanians better off — and if so, which of the country 's citizens and economic sectors have benefited the most and the least. It focuses in particular on how economic reforms affect the agricultural sector, comparing the effects on agricultural exporters with those on farmers who produce for the domestic market. ; PR ; IFPRI1; Public Policy and Investment

Failure to accumulate human capital is one of the pressing problems of developing countries. Lacking human capital formation bears consequences on an economy wide level, since education contributes to labor productivity. We examine the impact of increased school enrollment with regard to economic growth and income inequality. A dynamic computable general equilibrium (DCGE) model applying a 2000 SAM for Tanzania is used to evaluate the quantitative long-term effects of increased school attendance on overall economic growth and welfare. In order to get an insight in how a potential skill upgrade would affect the economy, we simulate a government program that aims at increasing primary school enrollment. We find that an increase in human capital formation in the long run leads to higher economic growth rates and increases household incomes in a Pareto sense. The results show that the positive effects of enhanced human capital formation are rather moderate in terms of the distribution of the gains from economic growth and hence income inequality does not change substantially.

This paper focuses on smallholder maize production in Malawi by investigating the linkbetween productivity and soil fertility management. Many studies conducted in Malawi indicate declining levels of maize productivity thereby posing food security concerns, since maize is the staple crop for most areas of the country. This analysis focuses on the factors influencing productivity of maize among smallholder farmers, especially given the fears that unfavourable output and input market conditions throughout the 1990s may have compelled smallholder farmers into unsustainable agricultural intensification. Farm-household survey data is thus used to compare the productivity of smallholder maize production under integrated soil fertility (ISFM) and chemical-based soil fertility management. A normalized translog yield response model is estimated by imposing monotonicity and curvature correctness at the sample mean. The results indicate higher maize yield responses for integrated soil fertility management options, after controlling for the intensity of fertilizer application, labour intensity, seed rate, land husbandry practices and policy factors such as market access, extension and credit access. The estimated model is highly consistent with theoretical regularity conditions. Thus, the findings indicate that the use of ISFM increases maize productivity in comparison to the use of inorganic fertilizers. Since most farmers in the maize-based farming systems are crowded out of the agricultural input market and can hardly afford optimal quantities of inorganic fertilizer, enhancement of ISFM provides scope for enhancing maize productivity and food security especially where inorganic fertilizer is highly unaffordable and risky to use. Thus there is need for policy interventions to promote smallholder uptake of ISFM options. Finally areas of policy support in crop output and input market development, credit access and extension service provision are identified to enhance ISFM uptake in smallholder maize-based farming systems. ; Dieser Beitrag betrachtet die kleinbäuerliche Maisproduktion in Malawi indem die Beziehung zwischen Produktivität und Bodenfertilitätsmanagement untersucht wird. Viele der in Malawi durchgeführten Studien berichten von einer rückläufigen Produktivität des Maisanbaus. Da Mais die zentrale Nahrungsmittelpflanze für die meisten Regionen des Landes ist, führt dies zu Problemen im Hinblick auf die Nahrungsmittelsicherheit. Die nachfolgende Analyse fokussiert daher die Faktoren, welche die Produktivität des kleinbäuerlichen Maisanbaus beeinflussen. Dies geschieht vor dem Hintergrund der unvorteilhaften sektoralen Bedingungen im Verlauf der 90er Jahre, welche bei den Kleinbauern eine Intensivierung der Produktion veranlasst haben könnten. Haushaltsdaten werden genutzt um die Produktivität der kleinbäuerlichen Maisproduktion mit einem integrierten Bodenfertilitätsmanagement (ISFM) und diejenige auf der Basis eines chemikalischen Bodenfertilitätsmanagements zu vergleichen. Es wird ein normalisiertes translog Ertragsmodell geschätzt indem Monotonie- und funktionale Krümmungserfordernisse auferlegt werden. Unter Berücksichtigung der Düngemittel- und der Arbeitsintensität sowie der Aussaatbedingungen, der Bodenbearbeitungspraxis und institutioneller sowie politischer Faktoren zeigen die Resultate höhere Ertragsraten für die Produktion mit integriertem Bodenfertilitätsmanagement. Das Schätzmodell weist eine sehr hohe Konsistenz mit den theoretischen Regularitätsbedingungen auf. Die Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass im Vergleich zu inorganischem Düngemitteleinsatz der Einsatz von ISFM die Produktivität der Maisproduktion erhöht. Da viele der maisproduzierenden Kleinbauern nur schwerlich Zugang zu den traditionellen Inputmärkten haben, könnte die Ausweitung des integrierten Bodenfertilitätsmanagements Raum für eine Steigerung der Produktivität des Maisanbaus und der Nahrungssicherheit geben. Dies gilt insbesondere für Gebiete, in denen inorganische Düngemittel nicht erschwinglich sind und risikoreich in der Anwendung erscheinen. Folglich besteht Bedarf für politische Interventionen, um die Akzeptanz von ISFM unter Kleinbauern zu erhöhen. Schließlich identifiziert die vorliegende Studie Ansatzpunkte für potentielle politische Maßnahmen um die Ausweitung des integrierten Bodenfertilitätsmanagements in kleinbäuerlichen maisbasierten Agrarsystemen nachhaltig zu fördern.

Zambia is one of the poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Almost three-quarters of the population were considered poor at the start of the 1990s, with a vast majority of these people concentrated in rural and remote areas. This extreme poverty arose in spite of Zambia's seemingly promising prospects following independence. To better understand the failure of growth and poverty-reduction this paper first considers the relationship between the structure of growth and Zambia's evolving political economy. A strong urban-bias has shaped the country's growth path leading to an economy both artificially and unsustainably distorted in favor of manufacturing and mining at the expense of rural areas. For agriculture it was the maize-bias of public policies that undermined export and growth potential within this sector.Sustained investment and economic growth during recent years suggest a possible change of fortune for Zambia. In light of this renewed growth, the paper uses a dynamic and spatially-disaggregated economy-wide model linked to a household survey to examine the potential for future poverty-reduction.Although agricultural growth is essential for substantial poverty-reduction, the country's large poor urban population necessitates growth in non-agriculture. The findings suggest that returning to a copper-led growth path is not pro-poor and that non-mining urban growth, although undermined by foreign exchange shortages and inadequate private investment, is likely to be preferable for reducing poverty." -- Authors' Abstract ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; GRP3; Theme 9; ReSAKSS ; DSGD