4 research outputs found
The role of a credit guarantee in alleviating credit constraints among coffee farmers' cooperatives in Ethiopia
This study explored the role and effectiveness of a credit guarantee scheme targeting coffee farmers’ cooperatives in Ethiopia. The study, among other things, aims at exploring how provision of a credit guarantee influences supply of institutional credit to coffee farmers’ cooperatives as well as examines cooperatives guaranteed loan utilisation, the resultant changes/impacts and intervening factors. Credit guarantee schemes largely trace their roots in the liberal and neoliberal economic and social contexts. One of the key issues the current study tried to address is examining how a credit guarantee scheme operates in a partially liberal capitalist context where there is pervasive state intervention in the key sectors of the economy, including financial and coffee sectors. The study was conducted in eight zones of the two major coffee producing regions of Ethiopia – Oromia and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ regions. A mixed method with structured questionnaires (at two stages), key informant interviews, focus group discussions and extensive observation were used to collect data from primary cooperatives, financial institutions, coffee extension and cooperative experts. Qualitative analytical methods, descriptive statistics and econometric model were used in analysing the data.
The study reveals that most primary cooperatives have weak institutional, business and financial capacities, and limited access to institutional services including credit. The findings show that cooperatives generally have limited role in the coffee production end, but they play an important role in its marketing. The study suggests that coffee or multipurpose cooperatives are not ideally suitable to serve as intermediaries for bank loans. The study reveals that the vast majority of the study cooperatives have potential demand for loans, but revealed low actual demand. Different sets of internal (demand side) and external factors influence cooperatives’ potential and actual demand for loan in different ways. The assessment of the guarantee scheme under analysis shows that though most of its design and operational features are in line with international practices, there are some obvious limitations. Low risk coverage level, limitation in the total volume of the guarantee fund, lack of capital enhancement mechanism for the lending banks, short life span of the scheme, lack of flexibility and adaptation and reliance on a single lending bank are among the notable limitations. In terms of utilisation of the guarantee fund and outreach of the lending activity, the scheme attained limited achievements with a low leverage ratio.
However, substantial financial additionality was attained among the borrower cooperatives, but the intervention had little impacts in improving the terms and conditions of loans. The positive effects on the economic/business activities of beneficiary cooperatives include acquisition of processing facilities, increase in member size, increased volume of coffee processed and dry cherry traded and improvement in the income generated from such business activities. However, the scheme had limited effects on cooperatives’ human resources and type of management. A number of internal and external factors appear to influence effectiveness of a credit guarantee targeting farmers’ cooperatives.
Several recommendations were made. First, there is a need to integrate attractive features into the scheme that can be periodically revised and adapted. These may include raising the risk coverage level especially at the initial stage, including liquidity boosting mechanism, lowering guarantee fee level, devising longer-term arrangement, integrating strong capacity building and technical support and other incentive packages. Second, the lending banks need to develop suitable loan products, revisit and improve their lending terms, requirements and approaches. Third, if they are to effectively demand for and make proper use of such guaranteed loans, cooperatives need to be supported so as to enhance their organisational, business and technical capacities. Fourth, there is a need for the government to further strengthen provision of a more supportive and enabling legal and institutional environments and relax some of the regulatory frameworks so as to facilitate the lending-borrowing activities.Development StudiesD. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies
Integrating indigenous and exogenous communication channels and capabilities through community-based armyworm forecasting
Many development interventions have failed to generate the desired
impact among African resource-poor farmers for reasons including the
centralised and top-down approach, lack of active community
participation, and over-reliance on external information and technology
delivery strategies and channels. The migrant African armyworm,
Spodoptera exempta, is among the major challenges threatening
livelihoods of millions of farmers in East and Southern Africa.
Outbreaks occur suddenly and can devastate crops and pasture. National
and regional forecasting services have been operational since the 1960s
to provide warning of potential outbreaks. This system relies on
information from armyworm moth traps usually operated at district
level. These centralised services have a number of difficulties and
limitations which include: delays in communicating trap catch data to
the forecaster; forecasts are not village specific; forecasts do not
reach many farmers; lack of responsibility and local ownership of
traps. An innovative approach called community-based armyworm
forecasting (CBAF) was developed as a response to these limitations.
The new approach has been piloted and tested in several East African
countries and found to be effective. CBAF establishes a system that
allows each village to have its own traps and trained forecasters who
collect and interpret data, and provide village specific forecasts. A
recent project on CBAF piloted the approach in 10, 5 and 39 villages of
Malawi, Zimbabwe and Tanzania, respectively, in the 1 st year, and in a
further 25 and 38 villages of Malawi and Tanzania in the 2 nd year.
Discussion with stakeholders, field observations and assessments
conducted by the authors indicate that the initiative has generated a
number of benefits. It built local capacity, and because of the
location specific early warning it enabled farmers to combat the pest
more effectively. It was noticed by the authors that local
communication channels and folk media play an important role in CBAF,
complementing and enhancing the effectiveness of exogenous channels.
This paper discusses how CBAF makes effective use of different
communication channels and capabilities, and highlights preliminary
results.Tant d\u2019interventions de d\ue9veloppement n\u2019ont pas pu
g\ue9n\ue9rer un impact satisfaisant parmi les fermiers africains
sans resources pour de raisons multiples, dont l\u2019utilisation de
l\u2019approche coercitive et centralis\ue9e, le manque d\u2019une
participation active de la communaut\ue9 et le fait d\u2019avoir
plus d\u2019attachement aux informations, aux strat\ue9gies et
guides externes de vulgarization de technologies. Spodoptera exempta,
une chenille aussi nomm\ue9e \u201cchenille africain
migratrice\u201d est parmi les contraintes majeures aux moyens de
subsistance de milliers de fermiers d\u2019Afrique orientale et
australe. Son \ue9ruption est soudaine et peut d\ue9vaster des
cultures ainsi que des pasturages. Les services nationaux et
r\ue9gionaux de pr\ue9diction \ue9taient op\ue9rationnels
depuis 1960 pour fournir des alertes sur des irruptions potentielles
sur base d\u2019informations collect\ue9es sur des pi\ue8ges
tendus aux chenilles au niveau du district. Ces services
centralis\ue9s pr\ue9sentent un bon nombre de difficult\ue9s et
limitations entre autre, le retard dans la communication des
donn\ue9es de pi\ue8ges au pr\ue9visioniste, le manqu\ue9 de
sp\ue9cificit\ue9 des pr\ue9visions, la lenteur dans la livraison
des pr\ue9visions aux fermiers, le manque de responsabilit\ue9 et
d\u2019appropriation locale de ces pi\ue8ges. En r\ue9ponse \ue0
ces limitations, une approche innovatrice appell\ue9e pr\ue9diction
des chenilles au niveau communautaire (CBAF) \ue9tait initi\ue9e et
test\ue9e dans plusieurs pays d\u2019Afrique de l\u2019Est. Cette
approche s\u2019\ue9tait av\ue9r\ue9e efficace \ue0 point
qu\u2019il avait permis \ue0 chaque village d\u2019avoir ses
propres pi\ue8ges et des pr\ue9visionistes form\ue9s pour la
collecte et l\u2019interpr\ue9tation des donn\ue9es ainsi que pour
fournir des pr\ue9visions sp\ue9cifiques aux villages.Un projet
recent sur CBAF avait ex\ue9cut\ue9 cette approche dans 10, 5 et 39
villages de Malawi, Zimbabwe et Tanzanie, respectivement, dans la
premi\ue8re ann\ue9e, et dans plus de 25 et 38 villages de Malawi
et Tanzanie au cours de la deuxi\ue8me ann\ue9e. Des r\ue9unions
avec des partenaires ainsi que des observations et \ue9valuations sur
terrain par des auteurs indiquent combien l\u2019initiative avait
\ue9t\ue9 b\ue9n\ue9fique. Le renforcement de capacit\ue9
locale avait \ue9t\ue9 realis\ue9 et les alertes localement
sp\ue9cifiques ont permis aux fermiers de combattre avec plus
d\u2019efficacit\ue9 la peste. Il \ue9tait remarqu\ue9 que les
cha\ueenes de communication locale ansi que les \u201cfolk
media\u201d jouent un role important dans CBAF par leur
compl\ue9mentarit\ue9 et la promotion de l\u2019efficacit\ue9
des cha\ueenes exog\ue8nes. Cet article discute comment CBAF fait
bon usage de diff\ue9rentes cha\ueenes de communication et
comp\ue9tences, et met en \ue9vidence les r\ue9sultats
pr\ue9liminaires
Integrating indigenous and exogenous communication channels and capabilities through community-based armyworm forecasting
Many development interventions have failed to generate the desired
impact among African resource-poor farmers for reasons including the
centralised and top-down approach, lack of active community
participation, and over-reliance on external information and technology
delivery strategies and channels. The migrant African armyworm,
Spodoptera exempta, is among the major challenges threatening
livelihoods of millions of farmers in East and Southern Africa.
Outbreaks occur suddenly and can devastate crops and pasture. National
and regional forecasting services have been operational since the 1960s
to provide warning of potential outbreaks. This system relies on
information from armyworm moth traps usually operated at district
level. These centralised services have a number of difficulties and
limitations which include: delays in communicating trap catch data to
the forecaster; forecasts are not village specific; forecasts do not
reach many farmers; lack of responsibility and local ownership of
traps. An innovative approach called community-based armyworm
forecasting (CBAF) was developed as a response to these limitations.
The new approach has been piloted and tested in several East African
countries and found to be effective. CBAF establishes a system that
allows each village to have its own traps and trained forecasters who
collect and interpret data, and provide village specific forecasts. A
recent project on CBAF piloted the approach in 10, 5 and 39 villages of
Malawi, Zimbabwe and Tanzania, respectively, in the 1 st year, and in a
further 25 and 38 villages of Malawi and Tanzania in the 2 nd year.
Discussion with stakeholders, field observations and assessments
conducted by the authors indicate that the initiative has generated a
number of benefits. It built local capacity, and because of the
location specific early warning it enabled farmers to combat the pest
more effectively. It was noticed by the authors that local
communication channels and folk media play an important role in CBAF,
complementing and enhancing the effectiveness of exogenous channels.
This paper discusses how CBAF makes effective use of different
communication channels and capabilities, and highlights preliminary
results.Tant d’interventions de développement n’ont pas pu
générer un impact satisfaisant parmi les fermiers africains
sans resources pour de raisons multiples, dont l’utilisation de
l’approche coercitive et centralisée, le manque d’une
participation active de la communauté et le fait d’avoir
plus d’attachement aux informations, aux stratégies et
guides externes de vulgarization de technologies. Spodoptera exempta,
une chenille aussi nommée “chenille africain
migratrice” est parmi les contraintes majeures aux moyens de
subsistance de milliers de fermiers d’Afrique orientale et
australe. Son éruption est soudaine et peut dévaster des
cultures ainsi que des pasturages. Les services nationaux et
régionaux de prédiction étaient opérationnels
depuis 1960 pour fournir des alertes sur des irruptions potentielles
sur base d’informations collectées sur des pièges
tendus aux chenilles au niveau du district. Ces services
centralisés présentent un bon nombre de difficultés et
limitations entre autre, le retard dans la communication des
données de pièges au prévisioniste, le manqué de
spécificité des prévisions, la lenteur dans la livraison
des prévisions aux fermiers, le manque de responsabilité et
d’appropriation locale de ces pièges. En rĂ©ponse Ă
ces limitations, une approche innovatrice appellée prédiction
des chenilles au niveau communautaire (CBAF) était initiée et
testée dans plusieurs pays d’Afrique de l’Est. Cette
approche s’était avérée efficace à point
qu’il avait permis à chaque village d’avoir ses
propres pièges et des prévisionistes formés pour la
collecte et l’interprétation des données ainsi que pour
fournir des prévisions spécifiques aux villages.Un projet
recent sur CBAF avait exécuté cette approche dans 10, 5 et 39
villages de Malawi, Zimbabwe et Tanzanie, respectivement, dans la
première année, et dans plus de 25 et 38 villages de Malawi
et Tanzanie au cours de la deuxième année. Des réunions
avec des partenaires ainsi que des observations et Ă©valuations sur
terrain par des auteurs indiquent combien l’initiative avait
été bénéfique. Le renforcement de capacité
locale avait été realisé et les alertes localement
spécifiques ont permis aux fermiers de combattre avec plus
d’efficacité la peste. Il était remarqué que les
chaînes de communication locale ansi que les “folk
media” jouent un role important dans CBAF par leur
complémentarité et la promotion de l’efficacité
des chaînes exogènes. Cet article discute comment CBAF fait
bon usage de différentes chaînes de communication et
compétences, et met en évidence les résultats
préliminaires