International Food Policy Research Institute

About: International Food Policy Research Institute is a nonprofit organization based out in Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Agriculture & Food security. The organization has 1217 authors who have published 4952 publications receiving 218436 citations.

Closing the Knowledge Gap on Gender in Agriculture

Abstract: This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book, Gender in Agriculture: Closing the Knowledge Gap. The book grew out of collaborative work done for Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) flagship report, The State of Food and Agriculture 2010–11, Women in agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development, highlighting the important and varied roles of women in agriculture, their unequal access to productive resources and opportunities relative to men, and the gains that could be achieved by closing the gender gap in agriculture. This book provides a more thorough treatment of the conceptual and empirical basis of the FAO report, and fills a niche in the literature for a standard reference for the analysis of gender issues in agriculture. This chapter defines basic concepts related to sex and gender and discusses changes in the way gender issues have been conceptualized in agriculture from the work of Ester Boserup, to the Women in Development (WID) and Gender and Development (GAD) debate, to current approaches that recognize the importance of both women and men and the interplay between the two in agriculture. It traces how gender issues have been addressed institutionally and discusses shifting paradigms in the economic analysis of the household, including how demographic processes surrounding household formation and dissolution, gender differences across the life cycle, and migration have implications for the gender gap in agriculture. It then provides a summary of each of the chapters, suggests areas for future research, and explores implications for development policy and practice.

The impact of Ethiopia's Productive Safety Net Programme and related transfers on agricultural productivity

Abstract: Ethiopia's Food Security Programme provides income transfers through public works in its Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) as well as targeted services provided through the Other Food Security Programme (OFSP) and, later, the Household Asset Building Programme (HABP) designed to improve agricultural productivity. There is a trade-off in these two types of transfers between short-term improvements in food security and longer term food security achieved through increased agricultural productivity. Using the dose–response models of Hirano and Imbens (2004) , we investigate the relative impact of PSNP transfers alone and joint transfers from the PSNP and OFSP/HABP on agricultural output, yields, fertiliser use and agricultural investment for farmers growing cereals in Ethiopia from 2006 to 2010. We find that access to the OFSP/HABP programme plus high levels of payments from the PSNP led to considerable improvements in the use of fertiliser and enhanced investments in agriculture likely to improve agricultural productivity among households receiving both programmes. We find mixed effects of participation in both programmes in terms of impacts on yields. We also find that high levels of participation in the PSNP programme alone had no effect on agricultural input use or productivity and limited impact on agricultural investments. We suggest some mechanisms to explain why the combined transfers are more effective at increasing yields. Copyright 2012 , Oxford University Press.

Marketing Underutilized Plant Species for the Benefit of the Poor: A Conceptual Framework

Abstract: Modern crop production is based on only a few plant species. Particularly in marginal environments of developing agricultural economies, many less well-known agricultural or non-timber forest species, continue to be grown, managed or collected, thus contributing to the livelihood of the poor and to agricultural biodiversity. Some of these species, called underutilized plant species, are characterized by the fact that they are locally abundant in developing countries but globally rare, that scientific information and knowledge about them is scant, and that their current use is limited relative to their economic potential. In this paper, we first identify the economic factors that cause these plants to be 'underutilized'. Based on this analysis, we propose a classification of underutilized plant species based on the relationship of the observed to the potential economic value of the species, and the presence or absence of and constraints to output markets. Then, focusing on a subset of underutilized plant species with market potential, we identify three necessary conditions for the successful commercialization of underutilized plant species for the benefit of the poor: demand expansion, increased efficiency of supply and marketing channels, and a supply control mechanism. This conceptual framework is intended to provide a basis for an empirical assessment of marketing solutions for underutilized plant species among the rural poor in developing economies.