Agricultural exit problems: Causes and consequences

"Contrary to conventional economic theories, the relationship between income growth and the share of the population within the rural or agricultural sector is extremely diverse, even among regions starting from similar levels of development, such as Asia and Africa. The pattern in developing Asia is characterized by fast growth and slow urbanization, primarily as the result of labor-intensive agricultural growth and strong farm–nonfarm linkages. But for all its success to date, Asia appears to be increasingly vulnerable to rising inequality and jobless growth patterns. Africa presents a divergent pattern of slow growth with rapid urbanization stemming from urban-biased policies, low rural population density, and high rates of population growth. But whereas Africa's path of urbanization without growth presents problems like unemployment, congestion, and food-price inflation, it may also provide new development possibilities through greater political empowerment, lower fertility rates, and agglomeration externalities. The paper concludes with a discussion of how development strategies can address these agricultural exit problems." from authors' abstracteconomic growth, structural change, Urbanization, agricultural exits, rural to urban migration, rural non-farm employment, Inequality, employment, agglomeration externalities,

Swimming Against the Tide

An Analysis of Private Sector Development Issues in Small Economies This book examines the underlying factors that determine the environment for investment and growth in small economies, focussing on those in the Pacific.The private sector can flourish and create employment opportunities only if the environment in which it operates is conducive to business. Governments can often create an environment that increases the costs of doing business, reduces profits, and discourages dynamism and entrepreneurship. These issues include • fostering financial sector development for credit to be more readily available for business; • clarifying land rights and modifying them with respect to cultural preservation and the development of land markets; • reducing the role of the state in the economies of the region; • revamping the regulatory regimes for the business environment to be less constrained and monopolies more prudently regulated; • focusing on the assistance of small-scale rural enterprises. With concerted efforts, governments can ensure the resolution of these critical issues. However, doing so requires considerable time and great effort. Nevertheless, now is a perfect time to start the process. Strategies for change should focus on what causes the low rates of return on capital as well as the constraints to business startup and development.private sector development; institutional economics

Evaluating the impact of land tenure and titling on access to credit in Uganda:

"The theorized impact of land tenure and titling on access to credit has produced mixed results in the empirical literature. Land tenure and titling is hypothesized to increase access to credit because of the enhanced land security provided and the newfound ability to use land as collateral. Using land as collateral and obtaining access to credit are paramount concerns in Uganda and in all of Africa, as greater emphasis is placed on the need to modernize the agricultural system. This paper uses a new approach in evaluating whether land tenure and titling have an impact on access to credit for rural households in Uganda. The new approach includes comparisons across four categories: (1) households who have customary land with versus without a customary certificate, (2) households who have freehold land with versus without a title, (3) households with a title or certificate having freehold versus customary tenure, and (4) households without a title or certificate having freehold versus customary tenure. Each comparison is then evaluated for the impact on access to any form of credit, formal credit, and informal credit. This analysis allows for an in-depth look into which element, tenure or title, is impacting access to credit and to which type of credit, formal or informal. To conduct this analysis, matching techniques are used, including propensity score matching and the Abadie and Imbens matching method. These two methods contain both strengths and weaknesses that allow the results to support to one another. The only significant finding of the matching was a positive impact on access to credit of freehold without title over customary without certificate. Results imply that tenure, not title, impacts credit access for rural households in Uganda." from authors' abstractLand tenure, Land titling, Rural credit, Land management,

P.P.R working papers : catalog of numbers 1to 200

This paper contains a numerical listing of working papers produced by the Policy, Planning, and Research Complex. Each citation contains a brief abstract, and the contact point for the paper.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Achieving Shared Growth,Banks&Banking Reform,Poverty Assessment

Reforming Trade Policy in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands

The countries of the South Pacific have struggled to generate sustainable economic growth since their independence. Interventionist policies have failed in the past here, as they have in all other regions. Business and government leaders in this region are now beginning to acknowledge - as has happened in many other developing country regions over the past two decades - that major reforms are needed to put their economies onto a higher growth path. This study examines the growth record of key Pacific island economies and indentifies the reasons for their relatively poor performance. It then looks at the process of globalization that is affecting those and indeed all economies increasingly; and the role the WTO has played in that process

Policy reforms for smallholder agriculture: an analysis using household data for Vietnam

During Vietnam’s thirty years of economic growth since 1986, government policies have been central in raising rice production and export. However, the relevance of the ‘rice first’ policy and the place of smallholder agriculture have recently been questionedin the discussion on Vietnam’s agricultural development strategy. The objective of this thesis is to contribute to designing appropriate agricultural development strategies for Vietnam, based on empirical analysis at the farm household level. The thesis begins by reviewing theories and literature on the agricultural transformation. This reviewassists in the development of the analytical framework and research issues for the thesis. The next chapter provides an overview of agricultural reforms and structural transformation in Vietnam since 1986. The core of the thesis is contained in the next three chapters. Chapter 4 examines the merit of crop diversification in rural Vietnam. Chapter 5 investigates the effect of nonfarm participation on household production choices. Chapter 6 studiesthe effect that land reforms directed towards land consolidation have on labour allocation and promoting the economic diversity of farm households. The final chapter discusses policy implications. The findings indicate that economies of scale are evident in Vietnam’s multiple crop production. Output complementarity is found to exist between rice and other annual crops. Also, substantial technical inefficiency exists in diversified farms. Enhancing education, particularly for women, and further land reforms are the main technical efficiency shifters. Results also show that in a multiple crop environment, households with smallholder production respond to cost stress by lowering family labour use. In addition, in the short run, labour movement into nonfarm activities reduces rice production in the north of Vietnam. In contrast, in the south, labour participation in nonfarm activities has induced rice farmers tomaintain rice production by hiring more labour during periods of peak labour demand, and by investing in more capital to facilitate less labour-intensive farming. While agriculture in the north is losing its comparative advantage, the stability of rice production at the national leveliswelcome news for policy makers in that it suggests that food production can be maintained,despite the rapid structural change in rural areas. Finally, land reforms that lead to less labour-intensive farming, along with the development of credit and insurance markets in rural areas, are important in raising agricultural productivityand the promotion of economic structural transformation. In general, in light of increasing rural wages and structural change, Vietnam’s agricultural transformation replicates the early East Asian experience, characterisedby the dominance of smallholder agriculture.There has so far been no definitive policy resolution of the optimal structure of Vietnam’s smallholder agriculture. The balance between efficiency and equity, between lowering production costs and raising prices, is a challenge for policy makers. The findings suggest policies for maintaining the comparative advantage of agriculture. The government should relax the ‘rice first’ policy to improve household welfare. In addition, land reforms responding to less labour-intensive farming, and the development of the nonfarm economy, should play a central role in restructuring smallholder agriculture

The nexus of crop and income diversification, commercialisation and household welfare: empirical evidence from Ethiopia.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.Abstract available in pdf

Reforming Trade Policy in Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands

The countries of the South Pacific have struggled to generate sustainable economic growth since their independence. Interventionist policies have failed in the past here, as they have in all other regions. Business and government leaders in this region are now beginning to acknowledge - as has happened in many other developing country regions over the past two decades - that major reforms are needed to put their economies onto a higher growth path. This study examines the growth record of key Pacific island economies and indentifies the reasons for their relatively poor performance. It then looks at the process of globalization that is affecting those and indeed all economies increasingly; and the role the WTO has played in that process