Technical Efficiency and Optimal Farm Size in the Tajik's Cotton Sector

The main objective of this paper is to estimate the technical efficiency of cotton farms in Tajikistan using a stochastic frontier production function, and to derive the optimal farm size. Currently, Tajikistan is reforming its cotton sector. This reform consists essentially of switching from a communist system with large state owned farms to a private system. This brings the question of what the optimal size of the new private farms should be. The study involved collection and analysis of data on 205 cotton farms from the Sughd province where cotton production is concentrated. The analysis suggests that an inverse relationship between productivity and farm size does not hold. The relationship between farm size and technical efficiency is more complex than what is normally believed.Agriculture, Farm size, Stochastic frontier model, Tajikistan

Rice prices and poverty in Liberia

When assessing the impact of changes in food prices on poverty, it is important to consider food producers (who may benefit from an increase in prices) as well as consumers (who loose out when the price increases), with a focus on poor consumers and producers. In the case of rice in Liberia however, the impact of a change in price is not ambiguous because a large share of the rice consumed is imported, while the rice locally produced is used mostly for auto-consumption. An increase in the price of rice will result in higher poverty in the country as a whole (even if some local producers will gain from this increase), while a reduction in price will reduce poverty. Furthermore, because rice represents a large share of food consumption, any change in its price is likely to have a large impact on poverty. Using data from the 2007 CWIQ survey, the paper finds that an increase or decrease of 20 percent in the price of rice could lead to an increase or decrease of three to four percentage points in the share of the population in poverty.Food&Beverage Industry,Rural Poverty Reduction,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Population Policies

Assessing the potential impact on poverty of rising cereals prices : the case of Ghana

Concerns have been raised about the impact of rising food prices worldwide on the poor. To assess the (short term) impact of rising food prices in any particular country it is necessary to look at both the impact on food producers (who benefit from an increase in prices) and food consumers (who loose out when the price increases), with a focus on poor producers and consumers. In Ghana, the impact of a change in the price of rice is not ambiguous because a large share of the rice consumed is imported, so that the negative impact for consumers is much larger than the positive impact for producers. For maize by contrast, the impact is ambiguous since much of the consumption is locally produced. Using a recent and comprehensive household survey, this paper provides an assessment of the potential impact of higher food prices on the poor in Ghana using both simple statistical analysis and non-parametric methods. The paper finds that rising food prices for rice, maize, and other cereals would together lead to an increase in poverty, but that by contrastto a number of other countries, this increase, while not negligible, may not be as large as feared.Rural Poverty Reduction,Population Policies,Food&Beverage Industry,Achieving Shared Growth

Technical Efficiency and Optimal Farm Size in the Tajik's Cotton Sector

The main objective of this paper is to estimate the technical efficiency of cotton farms in Tajikistan using a stochastic frontier production function, and to derive the optimal farm size. Currently, Tajikistan is reforming its cotton sector. This reform consists essentially of switching from a communist system with large state owned farms to a private system. This brings the question of what the optimal size of the new private farms should be. The study involved collection and analysis of data on 205 cotton farms from the Sughd province where cotton production is concentrated. The analysis suggests that an inverse relationship between productivity and farm size does not hold. The relationship between farm size and technical efficiency is more complex than what is normally believed

Has Growth in Senegal After the 1994 Devaluation Been Pro-Poor?

The devaluation of the CFA Franc in 1994 generated a public investment boom in Senegal. The increase in public investment was made possible thanks to an improved budgetary situation related to the reduction in real terms of the public wage bill which had been too large for some time. The rise in public investment was subsequently accompanied by a (smaller) increase in private investment due in part to the attractiveness of Senegal as a place to do business within West Africa, at least compared to other West African nations. In turn, higher public, and to some extent private, investment led to higher growth rates and substantial poverty reduction, with the share of the population living in poverty declining from 67.9 to 57.1 percent. Poverty in urban areas was reduced faster than in rural areas, as most of the investment benefited the manufacturing and services sectors. Also, a few years of poor rainfall in the second half of the 1990s coupled with an initial drop in the real prices of crops in the aftermath of the devaluation affected negatively rural incomes. As a result, while virtually all segments of the population (including the rural poor) benefited from improved standards of living in 2001 as compared to 1994, growth was not strictly speaking “pro-poor” because the growth in consumption per equivalent adult in the upper half of the distribution was larger than that observed among the poor.Poverty; Senegal; devaluation; pro-poor

Education in Liberia: Basic Diagnostic Using the 2007 CWIQ Survey

This chapter was written in 2007 in order to inform the diagnostic of Liberia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. Little has been written on the education system in Liberia since the start of the conflict in large part because of lack of good data. The chapter provides a diagnostic of Liberia’s education system as seen from the point of view of households using the new nationally representative Core Welfare Questionnaire Indicator (CWIQ) survey implemented in 2007. The analysis covers school enrollment rates as well as the reasons for not going to school, and the degree of satisfaction of households with the services received, in each case looking at various age groups and boys and girls separately,as well as at different types of facilities providing education services. Data are also presented on household private spending for education, as well as on distances to facilities. A benefit incidence analysis of public spending for education is conducted, and regression analysis is used to assess the determinants of school enrollment

Coverage of Essential Early Childhood Development Interventions in Uganda

This study relies on nationally representative household surveys and qualitative fieldwork to measure the coverage of essential early childhood interventions in Uganda and document some of the obstacles faced by households to benefit from the interventions. For 18 of 25 essential interventions, information is available in the data sources used for the study. After a methodological chapter, the study first analyzes the extent to which households with young children benefit from support programs and policies for families. Access to healthcare and the availability of micronutrient supplementation are discussed next, followed by access to safe water and sanitation including hand washing. Services related to pregnancies and deliveries are then discussed. The last sets of interventions are related respectively to child growth and development and to preschools and the transition to primary schools

Differences in the private cost of health care between providers and satisfaction with services: results for sub-Saharan African countries

The issue of whether faith-inspired providers are able to reach the poor depends in part on the cost of the health services provided. This paper relies on recent nationally representative household surveys for sub-Saharan African countries to assess to what extent the cost of healthcare is a major reason for not being satisfied with health services and whether concerns with costs differ between types of providers. The paper also provides estimates of the cost of healthcare in a half dozen countries, again comparing public, private secular, and faith-inspired providers. The results suggest that cost indeed remains a major concern for households. There are differences in out-of-pocket costs for households between providers, with in many cases public providers being cheaper than faith-inspired providers and private secular providers. Yet these differences depend on the country and are not as large as one might have assumed

Education in Liberia: Basic Diagnostic Using the 2007 CWIQ Survey

This chapter was written in 2007 in order to inform the diagnostic of Liberia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy. Little has been written on the education system in Liberia since the start of the conflict in large part because of lack of good data. The chapter provides a diagnostic of Liberia’s education system as seen from the point of view of households using the new nationally representative Core Welfare Questionnaire Indicator (CWIQ) survey implemented in 2007. The analysis covers school enrollment rates as well as the reasons for not going to school, and the degree of satisfaction of households with the services received, in each case looking at various age groups and boys and girls separately,as well as at different types of facilities providing education services. Data are also presented on household private spending for education, as well as on distances to facilities. A benefit incidence analysis of public spending for education is conducted, and regression analysis is used to assess the determinants of school enrollment