Benefit-cost analysis of Uganda's clonal coffee replanting program: An ex-ante analysis

"The Ugandan coffee industry is facing some serious challenges, including low international prices in the international coffee market, aging coffee trees and declining productivity, and, more recently, the appearance of coffee-wilt disease, which have all contributed to the decline in both the quantity and value of coffee exports. The government of Uganda, through the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), in 1993/94 started a coffee-replanting program to both replace coffee trees that were old or affected by coffee-wilt and expand coffee production into other suitable areas in northern and eastern Uganda. This program seems to be helping to both combat the industry's problems and reverse the declining trends. However, the UCDA announced in 2004 that it was withdrawing from the replanting program in the 2004/05 season (it had supported nursery operators and purchased and distributed free seedlings to farmers), so the program's achievements may not last. This paper estimates the economic returns (benefit–cost ratio) of the coffee-replanting program, particularly replanting with clonal varieties, and analyzes the welfare implications of the decision to withdraw. We find that the internal rate of return (IRR) and benefit–cost ratio are very high, about 50 percent and 3.7 respectively, suggesting that the replanting program in Uganda is very beneficial to the livelihoods of coffee farmers, the coffee sub-sector, and the economy as a whole. The largest benefits occur in the central region, where the bulk of coffee is grown, followed by the eastern and western regions. The largest return on investment occurs in the eastern region, followed by the central and western regions. Sensitivity analyses show that the results (that is, the net benefits) are robust with respect to the assumptions made, including demand and supply elasticities and level of domestic consumption. Although the results are sensitive to farm production costs and coffee yields, the program still improves welfare. Taken all together, the results suggest that if the government withdraws from the replanting program without putting place adequate alternative measures to ensure the program's sustainability, welfare will be severely reduced in coffee-growing areas." from Authors' AbstractClonal coffee, Benefit-cost analysis, IRR, DREAM, Agricultural research,

Determinants of change in household-level consumption and poverty in Uganda, 1992/93-1999/00:

"Recent estimates showing increase in the incidence of poverty in Uganda has kindled interest in understanding the factors that cause changes in poverty, as the reversal of the positive trend in the 1990s threatens the government's poverty eradication plan of reducing poverty to a level below 28% by 2014. Using a household and community panel dataset, this paper analyzes the factors contributing to change in household-level consumption and poverty... Results from econometric analyses suggest that adopting policies and strategies that reduce the pressure on agricultural land, creates employment opportunities, and improves access to farmland will be key interventions for raising real per capita consumption and reducing poverty across the country. However, the results also show that the impact of several factors are not the same across the country, suggesting that different interventions for raising consumption will also be needed for different parts of the country." from Authors' AbstractPoverty, household consumption,

Electricity consumption and GDP in an electricity community: Evidence from bound testing cointegration and Granger-causality tests

This study probes nexus between electricity consumption and GDP for the electricity community of Togo and Benin using ARDL bounds testing approach of cointegration. Long-run equilibrium has been established among these variables for Benin. The study further establishes long- and short-run Granger causality running from GDP to electricity consumption for Benin and short-run Granger causality running from GDP to electricity consumption for Togo. The results of the cointegration test and the causality reflect better the Benin and Togo economies that are less dependent on electricity. The absence of causality running from electricity consumption to GDP implies that electricity demand side management measures can be adopted to reduce the wastage of electricity, which would not affect future economic growth in the community.ARDL, cointegration, causality, growth, electricity

Estimating household income to monitor and evaluate public investment programs in Sub-Saharan Africa:

"Monitoring rural household income is important for governments, donors, nongovernmental organizations, researchers, and others involved with development strategies, because increasing rural household income is a primary objective for achieving many development goals, including reducing poverty, hunger, and food and nutrition insecurity. However, accurate assessment of rural household income is time consuming and costly. Using an expenditure-based income measure, data on actual household expenditures per capita obtained from various national surveys for 28 Sub-Saharan African countries, this study used proxy indicators to estimate regression models and then predict and analyze changes in household income per capita between 1985 and 2006. Over the 20-year period, the study predicted annual average real household monthly income per capita at $78 in 1993 international dollars. South Africa was ahead of the group of countries at$225, followed by Côte d'Ivoire and Lesotho at $117 and$91, respectively. Predictions for Nigeria and Zambia were the worst at $28 and$39, respectively. Looking at changes in income over time, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Uganda, Senegal, Mauritania, and Ghana (in declining order) experienced consistent positive growth. In contrast, Zambia, Kenya, and Lesotho showed declining trends, averaging –2.7 percent, –2.0 percent, and –1.3 percent per year, respectively, over the 20-year period. The latter results were not surprising given the low and sometimes negative growth rates in real GDP per capita and real agricultural value added per worker over the same period for those countries. The predicted trends were also consistent with observed trends in poverty and hunger, suggesting that the methodology is a useful and least-cost approach for monitoring household incomes to support evaluation of public investment programs." from Author's AbstractHousehold income, Monitoring and evaluation, Proxy indicators, Public investments,

Costs of projects for orphans and other vulnerable children : case studies in Eritrea and Benin

Very little information is available on the ex-post cost of delivering services to orphans, and other vulnerable children (OVC). This hinders large scale planning of interventions for OVC. This study responds by estimating the costs of some recent projects for OVC in Benin, and in Eritrea. The study shows that the cost of institutional solutions is high relative to family-based solutions. The average annual economic cost per child, of a group home for orphans in Eritrea averaged about $1,900; that for an orphanage in Benin was about$1,300. The corresponding cost of orphans'integration into families in Eritrea was about $100. The cost of assisting street children in Benin was almost$650, and, the cost of assisting children in abusive labor in Benin was almost $570.Economic Theory&Research,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Children and Youth,Street Children,Youth and Governance

Drivers of conservation and utilization of pineapple genetic resources in Benin

Valuation of farmer knowledge has been seen as a route to promote sustainable use of plant genetic resources. In pineapple production systems in Benin, inadequate knowledge of cultivation practices can lead to a number of inconveniences including abandon of some varieties and cultivars. To understand how farmers' knowledge and cultivation practices impact the sustainable utilization of pineapple genetic resources, we surveyed 177 pineapple farmers in southern Benin. We assessed farmers' knowledge and analyzed the relationship between their knowledge and factors such as age, education, and locality of provenance. Pineapple production system was dominated by men (96% respondents). According to farmers, Smooth cayenne is international market-oriented while Sugarloaf mainly targets domestic and regional markets. All farmers recognized that Smooth cayenne provided more income (USD 5,750/ha) than sugarloaf (USD 3,950/ha) in the production systems of southern Benin. The high value of median scores in comparison with the range of possible score showed that most farmers agreed and shared relatively similar knowledge. Correlation matrix and multiple linear regressions showed a significant relationship between farmers'practices and their knowledge of the plant; their knowledge of pineapple varieties is based on fruits traits. Also, farmers' knowledge was associated with locality of provenance. Constraints and options for genetic resources conservation and utilization in the pineapple production systems in Southern Benin were discussed based on current knowledg

Impact of global cotton markets on rural poverty in Benin

World cotton prices have fallen by about 40 percent over the last two years, focusing attention on the effect of subsidies for cotton growers in depressing prices. This paper combines farm survey data from Benin with assumptions about the decline in farm-level prices to estimate the direct and indirect effects of cotton price reductions on rural income and poverty in Benin. The results indicate that there is a strong link between cotton prices and rural welfare in Benin. A 40 percent reduction in farm-level prices of cotton results in an increase in rural poverty of 8 percentage points in the short-run and 6-7 percentage points in the long run. Based on the estimated marginal propensity to consume tradable goods, the consumption multiplier is in the range of 3.3, meaning that one dollar of reduced spending by cotton growers results in a contraction of 3.3 dollars in overall demand. Finally, econometric analysis of the determinants of the demand for hired agricultural labor suggests that falling cotton prices will not greatly reduce labor demand since the labor intensity of cotton is similar to that of competing crops in Benin. Overall, the study highlights the link between rising subsidies for cotton growers in the U.S. and rural poverty in cotton exporting countries such as Benin.

Do external grants to district governments discourage own-revenue generation?: A look at local public finance dynamics in Ghana

Decentralization, Inter-governmental transfers, Local government, Internally generated revenues, Development strategies,

Focus expressions in Yom

This paper deals with the means for expressing the pragmatic category of focus in Yom, which is an Oti-Volta language of the Yom-Nawdem group spoken by about 74,000 people (Gordon 2005, online version) in the department of Donga in Northern Benin. The study is based on results of my field research carried out in March/April 2005 in Djougou (Benin), within the framework of the project “Focus in Gur and Kwa languages”. Main aim of this fieldwork was to study the expression of focus in Yom. Regarding the basic grammatical structure of the language, I mainly rely on various publications by Beacham (1969, 1991, and 1997)

The Determinants of Private Investment in Benin: A Panel Data Analysis

Investment is one of the mainsprings of economic growth. In order to analyse the factors explaining the weakness of investment by private firms in Benin, this paper used a capital demand function. This function was estimated using data from a panel of 123 firms in Benin and covering the 19972003 period. The findings showed that demand uncertainty and, more importantly, the fluctuations in the imports of manufactured goods from Nigeria have a negative effect on investment by private firms in Benin. The investment behaviour of these firms strongly hinges on the cost of capital utilization: When this cost is high, it weighs negatively on the purchase and installation of new production infrastructure. The magnitude of the effect of this cost of capital utilization and of the demand uncertainty which investment firms face depends on the nature of their activities.