Relationship between Income-poverty and Food insecurity in Rural Far-western Mid-hills of Nepal

For the purpose of this study, sample was selected through stratified random sampling from Baitadi district, which falls in rural Far-western Hills of Nepal. Both income and consumption measure of poverty revealed that problem of poverty is more severe in Melauli, which is relatively remote village devoid of transportation, communication, market, and other developmental services. Education, occupation, gender of household head, and family size are found to be the most important factors that affect income-poverty as well as consumption-poverty (food insecurity). Caste and landholding size has a significant effect on poverty when we consider food insecurity. Households with illiterate head, head engaged in laboring, female-head, larger family size, Occupational Caste household, and small holding are suffering from both income-poverty and consumption-poverty in greater extent. Income-poverty measure shows the higher incidence, gap, and severity of poverty compared to food insecurity for all the variables considered for the study. This could be due to inclusion of non-food expenses while constructing poverty line, and is also due nature of consumption itself, which is relatively continuous compared to income. However, in Melauli, incidence, depth, and severity of both poverty measures are closer. This may be due to shortcoming of income-poverty measure to take into account of spatial factor. Therefore, adoption of poverty line for whole region i.e., Rural Western Hills could mislead understanding of poverty. Thus, consumption-poverty is very relevant in the case where construction of location specific income-poverty line demands extra cost. This can further be justified by significantly higher chance of non-poor, in terms of income-poverty, being food insecure, and lower chance of income-poor being food secure in Melauli compared to Patan.Income-poverty; consumption-poverty; Baitadi; householdIncome-poverty, consumption-poverty, Baitadi district.

Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA): A Systematic Assessment and Analysis of Policies/plans and Practices in South Asia, Particularly Focusing on Nepal and India <Article>

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is a promising concept in agriculture to deal with the climate change impacts through innovative policies/plans, approaches, and practices. This study presents the assessment and analysis of the concept, policies, and practices in relation to CSA in South Asia, particularly focusing on Nepal and India. Both countries have different climatic contexts, but most of the farmers rely on rainfall for agriculture, which is the main source of livelihood and food security. This study applied the systematic review of published papers relating to climate policies/plans and CSA practices in Science Direct (SD) and Springer Link (SL) for the period of 2009 to 2019 with specific inclusion and exclusion criteria. It was found that these studies had specifically focused on climate policies/plans and CSA practices chiefly focusing on agriculture and food security in these countries. However, the CSA practices were different based on the local climatic contexts either initiated by farmers themselves or supported by the government, non-government, and other agencies. Farmer-initiated CSA practices were mostly spontaneous, whereas institution-supported practices were planned, guided by the climate policies/plans. However, these policies/plans and practices lacked specific indicators to assess the successes. Many of these practices were common prior to the emergence of the CSA concept and approach. Thus, it is important to define and understand the CSA concept, approaches, and mechanisms through research, development, and promotion at the national as well as local levels.This paper is a partial output of the JSPS Bilateral Joint Research Project (JPJSBP 120197904: 2019), “Moving Towards Climate Resilient Agriculture: Understanding the Factors Influencing Adoptian in India and Japan”, Principal Investigator: Maharjan, Keshav Lall, Professor, Hiroshima University

Role of Cooperative in Improving Accessibility to Production Resources and Household Economy of Backyard Pig Raisers in Batangas, Philippines

The backyard (small scale) pig sector is considered a key proponent in the development of Philippine agriculture and of the local animal industry. For years, it outperforms the commercial (large-scale) pig sector in terms of aggregate inventory, volume and value of production and number of direct dependents it employs nationwide. However, the marked increase of pork demand driven by rapid urbanization and population growth in major urban centers of Metro Manila and nearby provinces of Central and Southern Luzon regions hinder the local backyard pig sector to cope with the "Livestock Revolution". With this phenomenon, backyard pig raisers are required to upscale their farm operation to increase the domestic pork supply and to meet the rising demand of the people. The backyard pig raisers' limited access to scarce production resources is adversely affected by commercial pig operators specially in Central and Southern Luzon regions where the impacts of the "Livestock Revolution" is strongly felt. The assembly of backyard pig raisers to cooperative is one of the potential measures promoted by the government (public) and private sector to directly link them with the dynamics of the whole market chain ranging from procurement of critical production resources and services to the differentiated products of the output market. Through their linkage to the formal livestock market, backyard pig raisers gains the potential to improve their operation and socioeconomic status as well. Based on a field survey, this paper aims to highlight the role of cooperatives in improving the backyard pig raisers' access to various production resources and their household economy.Backyard pig farming, Livestock Revolution, cooperative production, contract growing, facilitate credit and services, household economy, Livestock Production/Industries,

A Poverty Analysis in Baitadi District, Rural Far Western Hills of Nepal: An Inequality Decomposition Analysis

Occupational caste is deprived in terms of education, and landholding. Due to this laboring and agriculture (specially small animals like goats and poultry) remain the prominent source of income for them. Average income from salaried job is the highest followed by remittance and that from laboring is the lowest. This led to the high concentration of Occupational caste under third and fourth income quartile (poorer). A share of income from agriculture in total income is the highest and the share from laboring is the lowest. Relative concentration coefficient (RCC-ci or gi) shows salaried job has both the highest income disequalizing effect (ci = 1.56 or gi = 1.49) as well as the highest factor inequality weight (wici) followed by agriculture. In case of Melauli, however, salaried job followed by remittance has the highest income disequalizing effect. Negative values of Relative Concentration Coefficient and factor inequality weight for laboring indicate that income from it has the income equalizing effect. Thus, agricultural promotion in rural areas based on labor demand increasing policies with proper market arrangement for the agricultural produce will be helpful to reduce the income inequality. In addition, regulation regarding working hour and minimal wage rate should be strictly enforced for the welfare of those involved in laboring, which is also the poorest.Coefficient of variation; gini-coefficient; relative concentration coefficient; factor inequality weight

An Exploration of the Informal Credit Practices for Agriculture in Afghanistan: Reasons for Availing Informal and not Availing Formal Credit

Access to finance is a prerequisite for agriculture development. However, the coverage of formal credit to agriculture is shallow in Afghanistan. Most of the cash-starved farmers rely on informal credit sources for obtaining inputs and consumption smoothening. This paper aims to explore and assess the various types of informal credit for agriculture in Afghanistan, the reasons for availing informal and not availing formal credit, and the challenges faced in the acquisition of informal credit. Data has been collected from a sample of 99 informal credit users from Behsood, Balkh, and Paghman districts in Afghanistan. Descriptive statistics were used for summarizing and comparison. To assess the reasons for availing informal credit and not availing formal credit, the Garrett ranking technique was worked out. The results revealed that the informal credit has two features, the cost-free credit, which was availed based on relations and mutual help, called Qarzi Hassana, and the credit in which the lenders sought profit, which had four types, Peshaki, Musawamah credit, Grawee, and Sudh. Easy availability was the main reason for availing informal credit. The religious constraints and lack of information were the main reasons for not availing formal credit. Furthermore, the limited amount of cash and short repayment period were the main problems in informal credit acquisition. Moreover, the farmers sensed dependency and inferiority for being informal credit users. There is a need for increasing financial awareness. Peshaki and Musawamah credit should be controlled and should be included as a financial product by the formal financial institutions. Furthermore, credit should be extended to the farmers in a sufficient amount and for a convenient repayment period

The Role of Credit Obtained from Input Suppliers in Farm Investment in Afghanistan <Article>

Access to improved technologies largely depends on the availability of credit. Access to formal credit is shallow in Afghanistan, and the farmers mostly rely on the informal credit. Input supplier credit is one of the informal sources of credit available to the farmers. Using qualitative data from the interviews of 23 farmers and 10 input suppliers from three cities of Afghanistan, this study aims to analyze the role of the credit obtained from input suppliers in farm investment, the reasons for obtaining and giving credit, and the problems faced. The study also analyzes the advantages the input suppliers have over financial institutions. The credit was provided in-kind, which is acceptable to the farmers as it complies with Islamic doctrines of finance. The credit reduced the risk of underinvesting in production. However, it did not help in acquiring capital goods and long-term investment. The credit was mainly based on good rapport. The short repayment period and the lack of transparency were the challenges faced by the farmers. Input suppliers gave credit mainly to expand their businesses. Default and currency risk were the main problems they faced. In lending to farmers, input suppliers had advantages over financial institutions in acquiring information, controlling borrowers, and in the social acceptance of the credit they disbursed. The study also suggests suitable policies to increase access to formal credit for farm investment in Afghanistan

Characteristics and Challenges of Formal Agricultural Credit in Afghanistan: What Potential Policy Can Increase Participation? <Article>

Access to credit improves farmers’ productivity and income. However, farmers’ low access to credit remains a confounding issue in Afghanistan. This study predominantly aims to identify the challenges hindering the country’s financial sector from effectively serving agriculture. We used the triangulation method of data collection to capture the various dimensions of the challenges to formal agricultural credit access in Afghanistan. The results showed that commercial banks are reluctant to provide credit for agricultural purposes. Financial institutions supply credit to farmers in a fragmented manner, rather than through a unified mechanism. Furthermore, farmers cited the cumbersome process of obtaining credit and the lack of suitable collateral for it as the most pressing issues. Moreover, a thematic analysis of key respondents’ interviews revealed that vulnerability to risk, operational restrictions, societal constraints, and the less active real estate market are the predominant challenges to expanding formal agricultural credit. Finally, we present our suggestions to address these challenges

Issues of Nepal-India Trade : A Nepalese Perspective

Nepal and India have a very unique relationship based on their common cultures, e.g., religion, ethnicity, language, and long history of cordial relationship. Even after the fixed border was demarcated between the two countries, the people, goods, money, and information flowed freely across the border in both directions. A long open border that could be crossed easily enhanced these flows. Additionally, because the people living near the border have economic, ethnic, community, familial, and educational relations across the border, for them these flows are just an essential part of their daily lives. Thus, they may not necessarily perceive the border and the flows across it as the governments of both the countries do. The governments, particularly that of Nepal, wanted to trap these flows as a source of revenue and thus needed to account them officially. Standardizing the flow of goods was a priority, and the two governments made a treaty on trade and transit in the early 1950s. Nepal has monitored and accounted for the cross-border trade to the best of its ability ever since the treaty, as not only did this trade constitute the majority of the country's foreign trade, the customs duties it generated constituted a vital part of the national revenue. For India, because this trade was only a negligible fraction of foreign trade, it was of little concern beyond the states bordering Nepal. Therefore, the goods traded over land across the border were accounted for only after 1964 in India. This difference illustrates the two countries' different perceptions of the treaty, trade, and evaluation of traded goods and levying of customs duties. Moreover, the trade is very lopsided in India's favor in the amount and the nature of the goods, as Nepal depends on imports from India to support and sustain its economy and the daily life of its people. However, Nepal exports only certain primary products and very few processed goods that India does not or cannot produce due to its own various constraints. Furthermore, exception

A Study on Agriculture and Migration of Nepal

Nepal is an agricultural country. Her economy is based on it and her most people depend on agriculture for their livelihood. But, despite the much efforts by government to develop the agriculture, it has not changed much for about half a century. Rather, the development efforts have resulted in environmental hazards and degradation of the daily life of the common people. Even the national parks aimed to conserve the forest and attract the tourists have end up in depriving the local people of their means of living. This, in addition to the population increase has caused the people to migrate in order to make their ends meet: migration from Northern hills to tarai region, the Southern plains in search of land and agriculture related jobs, and from rural areas through out the country to towns for various job opportunities. Neither the tarai nor the towns have enough capacity to absorb the immigrants. Thus, often the migrants wander from place to place and from job to job, creating additional problems to the already existing ones in each region. They have no choice but to encroach in the virgin forests in the tarai and to squatter and form slums in the towns, both of which could become a serious problem in the near future

Poverty and Food Insecurity in Nepal A Review

Nepal being the poorest country in the world, poverty remains one of the crucial development agenda in Nepal since it started its development effort in 1956. Therefore, this review paper analyzes the poverty and food insecurity in Nepal. Macro economic indicators of the country i.e., Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate and inflation rate shows that the country is historically a low growth country with inflation rate always higher than the GDP growth rate. Therefore, macroeconomic indicators are not in favorable condition to tackle the overarching problem of poverty incidence in the country. Since 1976/77, poverty incidence is in increasing trend in Nepal. It was only in 2003/04, some progress in reducing poverty was reported, which was mainly due to the significantly higher inflow of remittance compared to earlier years, rapid urbanization, and an increase in non-farm incomes. This resulted not only in the decline in proportion of population suffering from poverty but also decline in the absolute number of population suffering from poverty. However, such decline in incidence of poverty was achieved at the cost of increased inequality.The gini coefficient increased from 0.24 in the year 1984/85 to 0.41 in 2003/04. Imbalanced growth in rural and urban areas could be the reason for increase in gini coefficient. Reduction of poverty in urban areas remains always high compared to that of rural areas. Therefore, poverty incidence remains always the highest in Mid-western and Farwestern rural hills. Also, poverty and food insecurity is the highest among female headed household, dalit and ethnic communities, small landholding households, households engaged in laboring and agriculture. This is mainly due to unequal distribution of resources such as land, social discrepancy, and lack of access to basic social and economic structures. Government has been giving the fi rst priority to the reduction of poverty since eighth five year plan (1992). But the government’s programs are failed to reach the target population. For instance government programs represent less than 10% of the national food deficit. Therefore, besides in-depth analysis of poverty at household level in order to understand location specifi c problem of poverty and food insecurity, expansion of government programs focusing on targeted population is very critical in dealing with the problems of poverty and food insecurity.poverty; food-insecurity; socio-economics; inequality;