Rural Poverty Dynamics, Agricultural Productivity and Access to Resources

The objectives of this paper are: measure the prevalence of rural poverty in 1997 and 2000, based on the nationwide Tegemeo survey; categorize households according to whether they were above the poverty line in both 1997 and 2000, entered into poverty or exited from poverty between 1997 and 2000, or were above the poverty line in both years; identifies the household-level and community-level factors associated with rural poverty through econometric analysis; and the implications of these results for the design of appropriate poverty reduction strategies. Such analysis is intended to guide donor programs and interventions designed to attack the roots of chronic poverty.Food Security, Food Policy, Kenya, Rural Poverty, Food Security and Poverty, Productivity Analysis, Q18,

Food Pricing Policy and Rural Poverty: Insights from Maize in Kenya

This study estimates the effects on poverty resulting from maize price changes associated with the operations of the maize marketing board in Kenya. We consider both supply and demand responses and the accompanying adjustments in rural labor markets in estimating a second order approximation to equilibrium income changes. We then use stochastic dominance techniques to generate poverty rankings between the distribution of income with the effects of the government marketing operations and the distribution of counterfactual incomes. This approach effectively addresses concerns regarding the sensitivity of poverty estimates to the type of poverty measure used. Results indicate that the price-elevating effects of government maize marketing operations have exacerbated rural poverty in all regions of the country except the region from which the largest part of surplus maize originates.Kenya, income transfers, maize policy, Crop Production/Industries, Food Security and Poverty, C22, O2, Q13, Q18,

Smallholder Farming Under Increasingly Difficult Circumstances: Policy and Public Investment Priorities for Africa

Agricultural and Food Policy,

A Cross-Country Analysis of Household Response to Adult Mortality in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications for HIV/AIDS Mitigation and Rural Development Policies

Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Downloads November 2008 - July 2007: 6,

A Cross-Country Analysis of Household Responses to Adult Mortality in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Implications For HIV/AIDS Mitigation And Rural Development Policies.

This paper summarizes and synthesizes across the results of a set of country studies on the effects of prime-age adult mortality on rural households in Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Zambia. Each study is based on large representative rural household surveys. These findings have implications for the design of efforts to mitigate some of the most important effects of rural adult mortality, and for key development policies and priorities.HIV/AIDS, sub-Saharan Africa, mortality, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Health Economics and Policy, Downloads July 2008 - July 2009: 21, I11,

Foresight Africa: Top Priorities for the Continent 2020-2030

The new year 2020 marks the beginning of a promising decade for Africa. Through at least the first half of the decade, economic growth across Africa will continue to outperform that of other regions, with the continent continuing to be home to seven of the world's 10 fastest-growing economies. Collective action among African and global policymakers to improve the livelihoods of all under the blueprint of the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union's Agenda 2063 is representative of the shared energy and excitement around Africa's potential. With business environments improving, regional integration centered around the African Continental Free Trade Agreement progressing, and the transformational technologies of Fourth Industrial Revolution spreading, never before has the region been better primed for trade, investment, and mutually beneficial partnerships. The recent, unprecedented interest of an increasingly diversified group of external partners for engagement with Africa highlights this potential. Despite the continent's promise, though, obstacles to success linger, as job creation still has not caught up with the growing youth labor force, gaps in good and inclusive governance remain, and climate change as well as state fragility threaten to reverse the hard-fought-for gains of recent decades.This special edition of Foresight Africa highlights the triumphs of past years as well as strategies from our experts to tackle forthcoming, but surmountable, obstacles to a prosperous continent by 2030

The Impact of Group-Based Credit on Demand for Productive Inputs and Agricultural Productivity in Rural Kenya

Agricultural credit, joint liability, productive inputs, productivity, Agricultural Finance, International Development, Productivity Analysis, Risk and Uncertainty, D24, Q14, R34,