Your search found 4 records
1 Vandercasteelen, J.; Beyene, S. T.; Minten, B.; Swinnen, J. 2018. Big cities, small towns, and poor farmers: evidence from Ethiopia. World Development, 106:393-406. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.03.006]
Agricultural production ; Intensification ; Urbanization ; Towns ; Agricultural prices ; Eragrostis tef ; Farmers ; Socioeconomic environment ; Transport ; Costs ; Regression analysis ; Models / Africa South of Sahara / Ethiopia / Addis Ababa / Bahir Dar / Nazareth
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048794)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X18300871/pdfft?md5=83a2c4f32d26313533f9051511024aff&pid=1-s2.0-S0305750X18300871-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H048794.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H048794.pdf
(1.12 MB) (1.12 MB)
Urbanization is happening fast in the developing world and especially so in sub-Saharan Africa where growth rates of cities are among the highest in the world. While cities and, in particular, secondary towns, where most of the urban population in sub-Saharan Africa resides, affect agricultural practices in their rural hinterlands, this relationship is not well understood. To fill this gap, we develop a conceptual model to analyze how farmers’ proximity to cities of different sizes affects agricultural prices and intensification of farming. We then test these predictions using large-scale survey data from producers of teff, a major staple crop in Ethiopia, relying on unique data on transport costs and road networks and implementing an array of econometric models. We find that agricultural price behavior and intensification is determined by proximity to a city and the type of city. While proximity to cities has a strong positive effect on agricultural output prices and on uptake of modern inputs and yields on farms, the effects on prices and intensification measures are lower for farmers in the rural hinterlands of secondary towns compared to primate cities.
2 Abate, G. T.; Dereje, M.; Hirvonen, K.; Minten, B.. 2020. Geography of public service delivery in rural Ethiopia. World Development, 136:105133. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105133]
Public services ; Extension programmes ; Agricultural extension ; Health services ; Rural areas ; Villages ; Household surveys ; Poverty ; Economic aspects ; Policies / Africa / Ethiopia
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049965)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X20302606/pdfft?md5=52d0f3462221caaca9a6ff158dde8c00&pid=1-s2.0-S0305750X20302606-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049965.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049965.pdf
(0.95 MB) (976 KB)
Remote areas are often characterized by lower welfare outcomes due to economic disadvantages and higher transaction costs for trade. But their poorer situation may also be linked to worse public service delivery. Relying on large household surveys in rural Ethiopia, we explore this by assessing the association of two measures of remoteness – (1) the distance of service centers to district capitals and (2) the distance of households to service centers (the last mile) – with public service delivery in agriculture and health sectors. In the agriculture sector, we document statistically significant and economically meaningful associations between exposure to agriculture extension and the two measures of remoteness. For health extension, only the last mile matters. These differences between the two sectors could be due to the fact that more remote villages tend to have fewer agriculture extension workers who also put in fewer hours than their peers in more connected areas. This does not apply in the health sector. These findings provide valuable inputs for policymakers aiming to improve inclusiveness in poor rural areas.
3 Boughton, D.; Goeb, J.; Lambrecht, I.; Headey, D.; Takeshima, H.; Mahrt, K.; Masias, I.; Goudet, S.; Ragasa, C.; Maredia, M. K.; Minten, B.; Diao, X. 2021. Impacts of COVID-19 on agricultural production and food systems in late transforming Southeast Asia: the case of Myanmar. Agricultural Systems, 188:103026. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2020.103026]
Agricultural production ; Agrifood systems ; COVID-19 ; Rural areas ; Livelihoods ; Food security ; Agroindustrial sector ; Agricultural trade ; Food prices ; Household income ; Economic aspects ; Policies / South East Asia / Myanmar
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H050204)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X20308878/pdfft?md5=8ec3733006656f7e2cb2f2cab3585103&pid=1-s2.0-S0308521X20308878-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050204.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H050204.pdf
(2.12 MB) (2.12 MB)
The objective of this contribution is to report the initial impacts of measures taken to contain the COVID-19 pandemic on Myanmar's agri-food system. Myanmar is one of several late-transforming low-income countries in Southeast Asia where agriculture still plays a large role in rural livelihoods, and where food prices are a key factor affecting nutrition security for poor urban and rural households. Whereas the economic impacts of COVID-19 disruptions on tourism and manufacturing were obvious to policymakers, the impacts on the agri-food system were less evident and often more indirect. This resulted in the rural sector being allocated only a very small share of the government's initial fiscal response to mitigate the economic impacts of COVID-19.
To correct this information gap, a suite of phone surveys covering a wide spectrum of actors in the agri-food system were deployed, including farm input suppliers, mechanization service providers, farmers, commodity traders, millers, food retailers and consumers. The surveys were repeated at regular intervals prior to and during the main crop production season which began shortly after nationwide COVID-19 prevention measures were implemented in April. While the results indicate considerable resilience in the agri-food system in response to the initial disruptions, persistent financial stress for a high proportion of households and agri-food system businesses indicate that the road to a full recovery will take time. The experience provides important lessons for strengthening the resilience of the agri-food system, and the livelihoods of households that depend on it.
To correct this information gap, a suite of phone surveys covering a wide spectrum of actors in the agri-food system were deployed, including farm input suppliers, mechanization service providers, farmers, commodity traders, millers, food retailers and consumers. The surveys were repeated at regular intervals prior to and during the main crop production season which began shortly after nationwide COVID-19 prevention measures were implemented in April. While the results indicate considerable resilience in the agri-food system in response to the initial disruptions, persistent financial stress for a high proportion of households and agri-food system businesses indicate that the road to a full recovery will take time. The experience provides important lessons for strengthening the resilience of the agri-food system, and the livelihoods of households that depend on it.
4 Minten, B.; Goeb, J.; Win, K. Z.; Zone, P. P. 2023. Agricultural value chains in a fragile state: the case of rice in Myanmar. World Development, 167:106244. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2023.106244]
Agricultural value chains ; Rice ; Food prices ; Political aspects ; Conflicts ; Models ; Indicators / Myanmar / Ayeyarwady / Bago / Yangon
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H051861)
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X23000621/pdfft?md5=d1d1339cab586e49193be69e8e77dd05&pid=1-s2.0-S0305750X23000621-main.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051861.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H051861.pdf
(1.13 MB) (1.13 MB)
The large majority of extreme poor in the world lives in fragile states. Yet, despite the enormous importance of these areas for global poverty and food insecurity, there is relatively little research examining how agricultural value chains, crucial for assuring food security, respond and adapt to such contexts. This paper analyzes Myanmar’s rice value chain – its most important staple and biggest value chain – during the economic collapse and political instability caused by a military coup in early 2021. It relies on unique data collected with a large sample of rice retailers and millers before and after the coup. Despite many challenges in the rice value chain after the coup – most importantly linked to banking and transport – rice processing and trade continued, assuring availability of rice in most retail markets and illustrating the resilience of the value chain to such major shock. While processing margins were mostly stable, an increased distribution margin (between rice millers and retailers) led to 11 percent higher average retail prices after the coup, implying welfare losses of almost USD 0.5 billion for the country. Using a market-pair regression method, we further find that localized violence near sellers and buyers, distances traveled, and distance of vendors from borders are associated with significantly increased rice price dispersion between rice retailers and mills. Despite the amalgam of problems to address in such settings, prioritizing the easing of transport restrictions and facilitating cheap and safe spatial arbitrage of food products would likely help prevent further food price inflation, assure higher farm prices, and therefore improve welfare.
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