The economic and social weight of small scale agriculture. Evidence from the Rural Income Generating Activities survey data.

In current economic reality, there seems to be a clear need to recognize, characterize and place small scale agriculture in a setup which accounts for novel trends in the modes of doing business in the global economy and with respect to the changing role of agriculture along development transition. Providing that ground it will make it possible to design and promote appropriate policy strategies that will best accommodate small scale farmers’ needs and exploit their potential for agricultural development. The present paper employs a multi country household survey database developed from ESA-FAO, and a series of ad hoc land thresholds to categorize rural households as small or large scale farmers and identify some of their key characteristics as well as their economic weight in the rural as well as the national economy.Small scale agriculture, household survey data, developing countries, International Development, Production Economics, Q12,

Coping with climate shocks: The complex role of livestock portfolios

Abstract The effects of climate change are alarming, with projections suggesting that weather events will become more extreme and frequent, affecting households in regions that are already highly vulnerable. This study explores the role of livestock as a household coping strategy against climate shocks. Using quantile regression analysis, we examine the potential of different animal species to buffer the effects of drought on income and consumption. We assemble a unique global dataset that combines household-level socioeconomic information with a multi-scalar climatic drought index. Our study confirms the significant, yet context-dependent, role of livestock portfolios as a buffering mechanism against the effects of drought on household income and consumption. The effect is driven by the specific type of animal species, length of the shock, and socioeconomic features. These findings could assist the design of livestock-oriented policy interventions. The novel contributions of this study include the first cross-country analysis of the buffering effect of livestock against drought; use of the standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index as a multi-scalar drought indicator -; and a uniquely extensive dataset allowing for the analysis of interactions

Mooring Chain Climbing Robot For Ndt Inspection Applications

Inspection of mooring chains is a dangerous and costly procedure covering inspection above and below the waterline. The paper presents initial results from the RIMCAW project which was aimed at designing and building an inspection robot able to climb mooring chains and deploy NDT technologies for scanning individual links thereby to detecting critical defects. The paper focuses on the design and realisation of the inch worm type novel crawler developed and tested in the TWI Middlesbrough water tank

Institutions, economic freedom and structural transformation in 11 sub-Saharan African countries

Good institutions are a fundamental pre-requisite to successfully achieve structural transformation in growing developing countries (UNECA, 2016). Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing a rapid growth but a weak and slow structural transformation process, which is mainly characterized by the reallocation of labour from agriculture to low skilled services. The focus of this paper is to explore how political and economic institutions affect structural transformation in a panel of 11 sub-Saharan African countries. Our empirical analysis reveals a positive and statistically significant effect of quality of institutions and economic freedom measures on structural transformation between sectors, which translates into movement out of agriculture. Better institutions appear to not improve productivity within sectors, however results highlight the important role played by institutions in facilitating reallocation or resources across sectors. Our findings suggest that improving the legal system, providing a stable macroeconomic environment, and improving freedom to exchange across borders will facilitate structural transformation processes in sub-Saharan African countries. We finally recommend that measures undertaken by governments should be included in a set of targeted policies designed according to countries' characteristics

The economic and social weight of small scale agriculture. Evidence from the Rural Income Generating Activities survey data.

In current economic reality, there seems to be a clear need to recognize, characterize and place small scale agriculture in a setup which accounts for novel trends in the modes of doing business in the global economy and with respect to the changing role of agriculture along development transition. Providing that ground it will make it possible to design and promote appropriate policy strategies that will best accommodate small scale farmers’ needs and exploit their potential for agricultural development. The present paper employs a multi country household survey database developed from ESA-FAO, and a series of ad hoc land thresholds to categorize rural households as small or large scale farmers and identify some of their key characteristics as well as their economic weight in the rural as well as the national economy

On the costs of being small: Case evidence from Kenyan family farms

We analyse allocative efficiency of major input factors for farmers in Kenya

Impact of increasing prices of agricultural commodities on poverty

The present paper attempts to identify the groups of households that most likely will facepositive or negative welfare consequences as a result of food price increases. Using data from household surveys and differentiating urban from rural areas as well as food buyers from food sellers, the analysis presents preliminary evidence, showing that when the short run effects on consumption are considered, household welfare is expected to decrease, threatening initiallyfood security. Real benefits are expected to occur for selected household groups, as soon as some second round effects, that transform the production structure, are considered. Marketparticipation is critical for small land holders to capitalize potential benefits. Irregular wageearners may also gain from the price increases as long as expansion of the food producingsectors takes place in the parts of the developing countries that agriculture is the dominant source of income. Nevertheless it cannot be neglected that appropriation of the benefits, requires sufficient transmission of the price increases to the farm gate. On the other hand, and unless substantive action is taken, urban poverty is expected to increase given that almost uniformly, populations in such areas are net buyers of food

Biggin' it up ' food security and obesity in Jamaica and St Lucia

This paper explores two different aspects of food security, namely undernourishment and overweight in the two Caribbean Islands of Jamaica and St. Lucia. The analysis draws on household surveys conducted in late 2006 and early 2007 among 729 St. Lucian and 1009 Jamaican households. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, the paper focuses on the main vulnerable livelihoods on the two islands, including subsistent farmers and farm labourers, city dwellers, hotel workers and fisher folks. Exposure to risk is an important determinant of food insecurity. Shocks of relevance to vulnerable groups in the two islands include both household specific shocks such of illness, but more importantly also community level shocks such as natural disasters in form of droughts, storms and floods. Natural disasters are of particular importance to these livelihoods and changes in the frequency and severity of such shocks, e.g. as a consequence of changing climate may lead to increased food insecurity. At the same time, it is generally acknowledged that the food systems and the very nature of the food security problem in the Caribbean countries are gradually changing, with food availability becoming less of an issue in most of the region. Instead, energy intensive and unbalanced diets leading to overweight and obesity is increasingly becoming the key food security challenge, even so among households considered vulnerable of becoming food insecure. This is confirmed by the study, looking at anthropometric data collected from the participating households