Multi-factor agricultural productivity and convergence in Botswana, 1981-96

This paper calculates multi-lateral Malmquist multi-factor productivity (MFP) indices for agriculture in the eighteen regions and the commercial sector of Botswana from 1981 to 1996. The Malmquist is appropriate because prices do really exist for major inputs such as land and labour. The small size of the cross section is overcome by using the sequential version of the Malmquist, which accumulates the annual data, so increasing the stability of the frontier. The regional MFPs are the natural peer group for producing a national MFP, so the problem of choosing peers, in earlier work on international comparisons does not arise. The results show that the national MFP grew at an average rate 1.57% per annum. However, disaggregation by enterprise shows that the livestock MFP declined at a rate of 0.34% per annum while that for crops grew at 3.37% per annum. Decomposition of the Malmquist shows that there was positive technological change combined with decreasing efficiency. Comparisons of the regional results show a very clear pattern whereby the advantaged regions are able to exploit new technologies whereas the resource poor, geographically disadvantaged areas have been stagnant and have thereby fallen further and further behind the best practice frontier.Productivity Analysis,

Is African agriculture converging? Evidence from a panel of crop yields

Crop Production/Industries,

THE RATE OF RETURN ON EXPENDITURES OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COUNCIL (ARC)

All the rate of return estimates, regardless of methodology or the level of aggregation, are entirely consistent and logical. The returns show that the ARC has been extremely successful economically and has followed a sound strategy of exploiting spillovers from foreign R&D systems. However, there must be a strong socio-economic component to the ARC's efforts if it is to reach the disadvantaged.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Quality Assessment of Rain and Storm Water Runoff for Nairobi City Industrial and Sub-Urban Areas

ABSTRACT Nairobi like most cities in the world is faced with water shortages because all the surface water sources have been tapped and the ground water overexploited, yet the water demand continues to rise as the population grows. The city must therefore seek alternative means of water supply. One of the promising sources is rainwater harvesting, which has successfully been adopted to supply water in many other cities. However, there is a concern about the quality of the rainwater falling through a heavily industrialized city atmosphere and flowing over polluted grounds. There is need to determine the quality of rainwater and the resulting storm water so as to make a decision on the best application or treatment of the water. The purpose of the study was therefore to determine the physical and chemical properties of rain and storm water runoff in sub-urban and industrial settings in Nairobi. Two sites were indentified namely Upper Kabete Campus (heavily vegetated agricultural suburb), and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (heavily industrialized area of the city) to assess the water quality of rainwater received and storm water runoff exiting to drains. Water samples were collected directly from falling rain and also from runoff water at the sites for laboratory analysis. The samples were analyzed for water quality parameters namely pH, alkalinity, hardness, total dissolved solids, chlorides, calcium, nitrates, iron. The results from the two sites were compared statistically. It was found that the quality of rain water does not differ significantly in physiochemical parameters at 0.05 significant levels between the sub-urban and industrial setting. The falling rainwater was only slightly above the WHO requirements and required only modest treatment whole the storm water was significantly above the WHO limits and either need treatment or may be used for non potable application. Results of the study are useful in addressing challenges of water quality partly by encouraging use of rain and storm water for non portable uses and preserving the limited treated water for essential household uses

A Participatory Approach to Assessing the Climate-Smartness of Agricultural Interventions: The Lushoto Case

The concept of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is gaining momentum across the globe. However, it is not specific on what should be covered under its three pillars—productivity, resilience and mitigation. Consequently, CSA encompasses many different agricultural practices/technologies, making it difficult to prioritise CSA objectives. Firstly, there is a lack of clear and workable criteria as well as methods for assessing the climate-smartness of interventions. Secondly, little information exists about the impact of the various interventions already promoted as CSA, especially in the developing world. Finally, CSA prioritisation does not take into account stakeholders’ perspectives to ensure that the interventions are applicable, suitable and of high adoption-potential. Here, we describe a new participatory protocol for assessing the climate-smartness of agricultural interventions in smallholder practices. This identifies farm-level indicators (and indices) for the food security and adaptation pillars of CSA. It also supports the participatory scoring of indicators, enabling baseline and future assessments of climate-smartness to be made. The protocol was tested among 72 farmers implementing a variety of CSA interventions in the climate-smart village of Lushoto, Tanzania. Farmers especially valued interventions that improved soil fertility and structure, reduced surface runoff, and reclaimed degraded land due to the positive impacts on yield and off-season crop agriculture. Mostly, the CSA interventions increased animal production, food production, consumption and income. The protocol is easy to adapt to different regions and farming systems and allows for the better prioritisation of interventions. But we recommend that CSA is adopted as part of a monitoring, evaluation and learning process

The Comparative Economics of Catch-Up in Output per worker, total factor productivity and technological gain in Sub-Saharan Africa

After investigating the effect of external financial flows on total factor productivity and technological gain, we use the beta catch-up and sigma convergence to compare dispersions in output per worker, total factor productivity and technological gain in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for the years 1980-2010. The comparative evidence is articulated with income levels, years of schooling, and health factors. We find; first, a positive association between foreign direct investment, trade openness, foreign aid, remittances and total factor productivity. However, when foreign direct investment is interacted with schooling, it is direct effect becomes negative on total factor productivity. Second, beta catch-up is between19.22% and 19.70% per annum with corresponding time to full catch-up of 25.38 years and 26.01 years respectively. Third, we find sigma-convergence among low-income nations and upper-middle income nations separately, but not for the entire sample together. Fourth, schooling in SSA is not yet a significant source of technology, but it can make external financial inflows more effective. Policies to induce external financial flows are not enough for development if absorptive capacity is low. More policy implications are discussed

Productivity in African agriculture Measuring and explaining growth

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