The effect of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act on the size of outstanding debts in rural India

MGNREGA was introduced in India in 2005 with the aim to improve the livelihood of rural Indian households. In 2012-13, around 156 million rural Indian households had an outstanding personal debt; 85% of the amount of credit being disbursed was given to those households in the bottom income decile for ‘non-business’ related purposes. This paper uses nationally representative household data from the NSS EUS collected in 2004-05 and 2009-10 to look at the impact MGNREGA has had on the rural households’ ability to repay outstanding debt. Results suggests that MGNREGA reduced the size of the outstanding debts for vulnerable households

Losing the plot: the impact of urban agriculture on household food expenditure and dietary diversity in sub-Saharan African countries

Urban agriculture (UA) is proposed as a solution to the social and economic challenges presented by cities by providing urban households with food and income using environmentally friendly food production techniques. To date, most analysis of UA has been based on single-city studies. This paper aims to contribute to the literature by using a cross-country approach and by analysing household level data from nine sub-Saharan countries—Burkina Faso (2014), Ethiopia (2013), Ghana (2009), Malawi (2013), Niger 2014, Nigeria (2012), Tanzania (2010) and Uganda (2013). This paper sets out to answer three questions; the first investigates which are the main characteristics of households engaged in urban agriculture; the second looks at the role played by UA in diversifying household diets and reducing household food expenditure; the third examines the heterogeneity in the impact of UA across the food expenditure distribution. Using an inverse-probability weighted regression adjustment method, the results show that households engaged in agriculture reduced expenditure on food and modified their food expenditure profile by spending more on protein rich food -nuts, legumes, fruits, dairy products, meat and poultry. The study also finds substantial variation on the impact of UA across the food expenditure distribution

Livestock and livelihoods in urban Niger

This article measures the magnitude of the role livestock activities play in urban Niger and identifies the main socioeconomic determinants for owning livestock in urban environments. Almost 40 percent of households in urban Niger own livestock, mainly as a source of additional income. Urban households are more likely to own small ruminants and poultry rather than large ruminants, as land and feed are not easily available in urban areas. Poorer households are more likely to rear livestock than households that are better off, even though wealthy dwellers own a higher number of animals. Male-headed households tend to have a higher number of animals than households headed by females. Owning livestock significantly contributes to the livelihood of poor households. The additional income plays a major role when such households face unexpected expenses. Tests using both descriptive and empirical data show that owning livestock does not constitute a source of animal food in the nutrition of members of these urban households. Understanding the role livestock activities play in the urban context will help local governments and development organizations better tailor, define, and address policies related to livestock ownership