计量经济分析 = Econometric analysis

The State of Food and Agriculture

Longitudinal data on household living standards open the way to a deeper analysis of the nature and extent of poverty. While a number of studies have exploited this type of data to distinguish transitory from more chronic forms of income or expenditure poverty, this paper develops an asset-based approach to poverty analysis that makes it possible to distinguish deep-rooted, persistent structural poverty from poverty that passes naturally with time due to systemic growth processes. Drawing on the economic theory of poverty traps and bifurcated accumulation strategies, this paper briefly discusses some feasible estimation strategies for empirically identifying poverty traps and long-term, persistent structural poverty, as well as relevant extensions of the popular Foster-Greer-Thorbecke class of poverty measures. The paper closes with reflections on how asset-based poverty can be used to underwrite the design of persistent poverty reduction strategies.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00220380500405261

The economics of poverty traps and persistent poverty: An asset-based approach

https://www.yieldgap.org/documents/10180/35397/2013%20FCR%20Tittonell%20%26%20Giller--when%20yield%20gaps%20are%20poverty%20traps.pdf

When yield gaps are poverty traps: The paradigm of ecological intensification in African smallholder agriculture

Poverty Traps and Natural Disasters in Ethiopia and Honduras

Land degradation in most sub Saharan Africa is a widely recognized problem and is due in large part to poor land management practices. To address this problem, several policy-based incentives to increase the adoption of better land management practices have been proposed, including fertilizer subsidies, cash payments and, more recently, subsidized or commercially offered weather index-based insurance contracts. However, little is known about farmers’ preferences among these policy alternatives, their relative effectiveness, and their likely fiscal implications. Using survey and choice elicitation data from 271 farmers in Central Malawi, this study examines smallholder farmers’ preferences among four major policy options that provide incentives for adopting agroforestry based conservation practices. Our results suggest that even when the expected value of an ideal insurance contract which has no basis risk was 25 percent higher than the cash payment option, sixty percent of the sample preferred the cash payment. Further, the empirical results indicated that cash flow or liquidity constraints may limit farmers’ willingness to use crop insurance as a risk management tool. We conclude that the potential scope for increasing the use of improved land management techniques through fertilizer subsidies, or cash or insurance incentives payments may be substantial, although fertilizer subsidies and cash payments may be less costly approaches than subsidizing insurance contracts.

Subsistence farmer preferences for alternative incentive policies to encourage the adoption of conservation agriculture in Malawi: A choice elicitation approach

Integrated natural resources management (INRM), of which integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) is a component, offers considerable promise for increasing food production in Kenya. It nonetheless remains unclear whether ISFM/INRM techniques lend themselves easily to adoption by smallholder farmers. Using panel data collected in western Kenya in 1989 and 2002, this study finds that resource constraints limit many farmers’ adoption of ISFM/INRM techniques. The size of the farm owned by a household, the value of its livestock, off-farm income, family labor supply, and the educational attainment and gender of the household head all had a significant positive effect on the likelihood of adoption. Similar factors were found to be statistically significant in discouraging abandonment of the practices under study. There thus seem to exist reinforcing feedback between investments in soil fertility management and household wealth, as measured by asset endowments. Our findings raise important questions as to whether ISFM and related techniques are really affordable to poorer smallholder farmers.

Household-Level Determinants of Adoption of Improved Natural Resources Management Practices Among Smallholder Farmers in Western Kenya

Land under pressure.

Three Essays on the Effect of Ex-Ante Soil Fertility on Smallholder Fertilizer Use Behavior

Among smallholder maize farmers in Ethiopia (and similar areas in Africa), yield and stress tolerance traits in maize varieties are important. While high yields remain a major objective, breeding and seed system development programs are increasingly based on the recognition that farmers also have an interest in other agronomic and consumption traits. In this paper we illustrate these issues by measuring the trade-offs farmers may be willing to make for specific traits in the mid-altitude maize markets in Ethiopia. Based on Choice Experiments among 1499 respondents, we estimate the preference for a set of agronomic and consumption traits relative to yield. by capturing farmers’ “willingness to sacrifice yield”. The results suggest a significant willingness to sacrifice yield for drought tolerance among both male and female household members, but not for early maturity per se. There was also a high willingness to sacrifice yields for plant architecture traits like closed tip and lodging resistance among male participants, but not among females. Heterogeneity in responses according to gender, education and land area under maize cultivation suggests that market segmentation is necessary for seed system development to become more demand-led and inclusive. Final and realistic segmentation will depend on the commercial viability or social impact potential of each segment.

/pdf/maize-variety-preferences-among-smallholder-farmers-in-16kdqe34.pdf

Paswel Marenya

Papers

Subsistence farmer preferences for alternative incentive policies to encourage the adoption of conservation agriculture in Malawi: A choice elicitation approach

Household-Level Determinants of Adoption of Improved Natural Resources Management Practices Among Smallholder Farmers in Western Kenya

Land under pressure.

Three Essays on the Effect of Ex-Ante Soil Fertility on Smallholder Fertilizer Use Behavior

Maize variety preferences among smallholder farmers in Ethiopia: Implications for demand-led breeding and seed sector development