Improving access to livestock markets for sustainable rangeland management

Productivity of rangelands in Kenya is affected by increasing crop farming especially in more fertile range areas. Among the key factors driving the encroachment of crops on rangelands are the changing opportunities brought about by markets. We hypothesize that the existing market inefficiencies characterizing livestock markets, especially the price disincentives that livestock producers face, are major risks rangelands face. To analyze the effect of livestock market conditions on rangeland management, we draw on household survey and economic modeling tools. We find that traders’ rent seeking behavior and high transport costs act as disincentives to livestock producers’ participation in livestock markets and influence their decisions in seeking alternative rangeland uses to sustain livelihoods. However, improved livestock market access enhances livestock producers’ livelihoods and the stewardship of the ecosystems thus reducing pastoralists’ vulnerability to ecological climate variability associated with rangelands.Keywords: Extensive livestock production, market access, ecological-economic model, positive mathematical programming (PMP) model, Keny

Retention of medical doctors in Ghana through local postgraduate training

This study examines the role of postgraduate training in retention of medical professionals, using a primary data from Ghana. The sample consists of medical specialists who have either completed a postgraduate training program and currently in practice or has enrolled in the program and nearing completion. The study made use of descriptive analysis and a logit regression model. The findings identified three main factors that influence doctors to migrate, these are; economic in the form of a quest for higher pay and better working condition; the need to pursue postgraduate medical training to achieve maximum learning potential and to become a certified specialist; and to avoid living in a country with a poor social structure in which there is a high level of poverty. The logit estimation shows that satisfaction of postgraduate training program significantly affects physicians/doctors to consider leaving. The results also showed that physicians/doctors would be willing to live and practice in Ghana if additional resources (in the form of funding, equipment and others) are made available to enhance the postgraduate programs and practice conditions

The impact of rural electrification and institutional quality on agricultural output : a case of Sub-Saharan Africa

Agriculture is the means of livelihood for most rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. In order for small-scale farmers to meet the basic needs of their families and semi-large-scale farming for trading purposes, rural farmers seek to expand their output. To this end, the kind of input employed in the crop production process is very important. In terms of labour, most rural farmers employ their children or other family members and or members of the community where they use traditional farming tools. The use of energy and for that matter, electricity is very little. What happens when rural farmers have access to electricity? What happens if their homes and farms had a constant supply of electricity? Would the farmers spend more time on the farm knowing that they could increase their output and finish household tasks later in the evening when it gets dark because they have access to electricity? The purpose of this thesis is to test the impact of rural electrification on agricultural output. More precisely, I focus on rural household access to electricity on a macro level. I also try to draw a link between a country’s institutional quality and the impact of electrification. I make use of data drawn from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Bank Development Indicators Aklin, S. P., & Urpelainen (2018) and the World Bank Climate Change Knowledge Portal, using date from 1990 to 2016. To do this, I employ a simple Cobb-Douglas production function approach where agricultural output is a function of labour, capital, electrification and other inputs such as rainfall, temperature and land. I later introduce a variable which measures the quality of institution for a country. The study concludes that rural electrification does have a positive effect on agricultural output; the interaction between electrification and institutions has a significant positive effect on agricultural output; and the efficiencies of labour and land also have a positive effect on agricultural output. For this reason, I suggest that governments and policymakers should focus on providing electricity to their rural communities to increase yield in agriculture

Climate change and variability in Ghana: Stocktaking

This paper provides a holistic literature review of climate change and variability in Ghana by examining the impact and projections of climate change and variability in various sectors (agricultural, health and energy) and its implication on ecology, land use, poverty and welfare. The findings suggest that there is a projected high temperature and low rainfall in the years 2020, 2050 and 2080, and desertification is estimated to be proceeding at a rate of 20,000 hectares per annum. Sea-surface temperatures will increase in Ghana’s waters and this will have drastic effects on fishery. There will be a reduction in the suitability of weather within the current cocoa-growing areas in Ghana by 2050 and an increase evapotranspiration of the cocoa trees. Furthermore, rice and rooted crops (especially cassava) production are expected to be low. Hydropower generation is also at risk and there will be an increase in the incidence rate of measles, diarrheal cases, guinea worm infestation, malaria, cholera, cerebro-spinal meningitis and other water related diseases due to the current climate projections and variability. These negative impacts of climate change and variability worsens the plight of the poor, who are mostly women and children

Retention of Medical Doctors in Ghana through Local Postgraduate Training

This study examines the role of postgraduate training in retention of medical professionals, using a primary data from Ghana. The sample consists of medical specialists who have either completed a postgraduate training program and currently in practice or has enrolled in the program and nearing completion.  The study made use of descriptive analysis and a logit regression model. The findings identified three main factors that influence doctors to migrate, these are; economic in the form of a quest for higher pay and better working condition; the need to pursue postgraduate medical training to achieve maximum learning potential and to become a certified specialist; and to avoid living in a country with a poor social structure in which there is a high level of poverty. The logit estimation shows that satisfaction of postgraduate training program significantly affects physicians/doctors to consider leaving. The results also showed that physicians/doctors would be willing to live and practice in Ghana if additional resources (in the form of funding, equipment and others) are made available to enhance the postgraduate programs and practice conditions. Keywords:  Brain Drain, Doctors, Emigration, Postgraduate Medical Education, Ghan

Essays on the economics of multifunctional forests, migration and climate change

This thesis compiles five papers that independently cover issues on multifunctional forest, migration and climate change. Paper I addresses these questions: What is the effect of site quality on forest growth rate and variability in forest growth? How does site quality impact on ecosystem services, that is, timber production and carbon sequestration? Site quality indicator was found to positively affect forest growth and growth rate, and decreases uncertainty in the productivity. Using dynamic optimization model, Paper II estimates the economic value of site quality taking into account its interaction with timber value and carbon sequestration in Swedish forest. Analytical results showed that net present value when considering ecosystem services provided by the forest and its interaction with site quality is higher than in the case without site quality interaction. Paper III links educational attainment to internal migration decisions with much on rural-urban perspective using Ghana as a case study. The effect of educational attainment on migration decisions in 2005/2006 for urban in-migrant was found to be higher than the effect for rural in-migrant, with its significance varying for the different stages of educational attainment. In absolute terms, whereas the effect of secondary educational attainment on migration decisions for urban in-migrant is higher than for rural in-migrant, the reverse holds for higher educational attainment during the period 2012/2013. Paper IV examines the effect of climate element on internal migration decisions using similar methods and data as for Paper III. Whereas temperature positively affects the probability to migrate, aridity index negatively affects migration decisions. Individuals tend to move to the rural areas relative to urban areas with an increase in precipitation and or a decrease in aridity. Paper V explores the effect of climate variability and socio-economic factors on the number of infectious disease patients in Sweden. Temperature showed a linear negative effect on the number of patients, but a non-linear relationship when winter temperature is used. Conversely, a positive effect of precipitation on the number of patients is found, with modest heterogeneity in the effect of climate variables on the number of patients across disease classifications observed. Socio-economic factors were found to correlate with number of patients. We found significant persistence in the number of infectious disease patients but found only temperature and income as dominant drivers in a dynamic model

Fungi diversity in Swedish forests

The impact of biodiversity on forest ecosystem function and provision of ecosystem services has been investigated by many studies, but not the stability in these impacts. This paper calculates the effect of a fungi indicator, forest site quality, on standing volume and variability in forest growth in different forest regions in Sweden. We account for management practices, make use of time series data for a period of approximately 50 years, and estimate forest growth functions totally and for different regions in Sweden. Uncertainty is calculated as the conditional variance in forest growth rate, and the biodiversity indicator together with management practices are used as explanatory variables. Fully modified OLS is used to account for serial correlation and non-stationarity in the variables. The results show that the fungi diversity indicator adds positively to forest growth and growth rate, but increases uncertainty in the growth rate

Quality of institution and the FEG (forest, energy intensity, and globalization) -environment relationships in sub-Saharan Africa

The current share of sub-Saharan Africa in global carbon dioxide emissions is negligible compared to major contributors like Asia, Americas, and Europe. This trend is, however, likely to change given that both economic growth and rate of urbanization in the region are projected to be robust in the future. The current study contributes to the literature by examining both the direct and the indirect impacts of quality of institution on the environment. Specifically, we investigate whether the institutional setting in the region provides some sort of a complementary role in the environment-FEG relationships. We use the panel two-step system generalized method of moments (GMM) technique to deal with the simultaneity problem. Data consists of 43 sub-Saharan African countries. The result shows that energy inefficiency compromises environmental standards. However, the quality of the institutional setting helps moderate this negative consequences; countries with good institutions show greater prospects than countries with poor institutions. On the other hand, globalization of the region and increased forest size generate positive environmental outcomes in the region. Their impacts are, however, independent of the quality of institution. Afforestation programs, promotion of other clean energy types, and investment in energy efficiency, basic city infrastructure, and regulatory and institutional structures, are desirable policies to pursue to safeguard the environment

Deriving a benefit transfer function for threatened and endangered species in interaction with their level of charisma

Biodiversity and species conservation are among the most urgent global issues. Both are under serious threat because of human intrusion and as a result, it is likely that present and future projects will affect threatened and endangered species. Thus, it is important to account for these impacts when evaluating and conducting cost and benefit analyses of projects. Due to their public good character and non-tradability, the total economic value of threatened and endangered species cannot be reflected by a market price and therefore, alternative approaches (stated preference method) are needed to determine their monetary value. This paper reviews and compares the valuation literature on threatened and endangered animals and conducts a meta-analysis regression to identify explanatory variables for the variation in willingness to pay for threatened and endangered species. The main findings of the meta-analysis show that the interaction of the level of threat and charisma have a positive effect on willingness to pay. Furthermore, developed countries have a higher willingness to pay compared to developing countries. Similarly, visitors of conservation sites have higher willingness to pay than residents. The provided example of a benefit transfer of the estimated function shows the practicability of our results