Promoting a strong seed sector in Sub-Saharan Africa:

"Given that Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest incidence of poverty and malnutrition in the world, the stagnation in per capita grain production there is worrisome. Since 1970, per capita grain production in Sub-Saharan Africa has declined more than 10 percent. Increasing the productivity of staple foodcrops will help poor farmers and consumers, and one of the most sustainable ways to expand food production in Sub-Saharan Africa is to generate new technologies—including staple seed varieties—that are adapted to the constraints of the continent's small-scale farmers. The region thus requires a cost-effective system of seed production and distribution to ensure that appropriate seeds are delivered to farmers. Both the private and public sectors have a role to play in developing the seed sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although the private sector can effectively carry out many seed production and distribution activities, for reasons discussed in this brief, private companies acting on their own will not develop and produce optimal amounts of appropriate seeds for Sub-Saharan Africa. Thus the public sector also has a role to play." from Author's textSeed systems, Private sector, Public sector,

Market Access and Rural Poverty in Tanzania

Economic reforms in Tanzania have resulted in low inflation and solid economic growth, but many observers question whether the standard of living of ordinary Tanzanians has improved. Furthermore, there is a strong suspicion that the benefits have been concentrated among the urban population and among rural households with good market access, leaving remote rural households behind. In this paper, we demonstrate a new approach to measuring poverty trends over time. First, the relationship between poverty and household characteristics is estimated using household budget survey data. Second, this relationship is applied to the same characteristics in Demographic and Health Surveys, four of which have been carried out in Tanzania. The results suggest that the headcount poverty rate has declined by almost 9 percentage points over 1991-2003. The percentagepoint decline has been similar in rural and urban areas. Although remote rural areas tend to be poorer than other rural areas, there is no evidence that remote areas have gained any less than other rural areas in terms of poverty reduction.poverty, market access, Tanzania, economic reforms, Food Security and Poverty, C0, I3, O1, Q13, R0,

Transmission of world food price changes to markets in Sub-Saharan Africa:

error correction model, food crisis, Food prices, Price transmission, Staple food,

INCOME DIVERSIFICATION AND POVERTY REDUCTION IN THE NORTHERN UPLANDS OF VIETNAM

In the context of the economic development, income diversification is sometimes defined as the process by which households switch from growing low-value staple food crops to growing a mix of food crops and higher-value commercial crops (crop diversification) and from farming to non-farm activities (non-farm diversification). The literature on income diversification has measured trends, identified determinants, and speculated on the constraints to diversification, but there has been relatively little analysis of the contribution of diversification to income growth. This paper uses household survey data from 1993 and 1998 to quantify the contribution of crop diversification and non-farm diversification to the growth of household income in the northern upland region of Vietnam. We find that rural incomes have increased substantially over this period, but non-farm income has increased at the same rate as farm income. Poor households are particularly dependent on crop income growth, while higher-income households rely more on non-farm diversification to increase their incomes. Crop diversification has made a non-negligible contribution to rising living standards in the northern uplands, but the contribution of yield growth is substantially greater. Crop income growth among poor households is based heavily on yield increases, while income growth among richer households is associated with area expansion and crop diversification. These results have implications for policies and investment to improve rural living standards.Food Security and Poverty,

Staple food prices in Tanzania

Prepared for the Comesa policy seminar on “Variation in staple food prices: Causes, consequence, and policy options”, Maputo, Mozambique, 25-26 January 2010 under the African Agricultural Marketing Project (AAMP)Tanzania, food security, food prices, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, International Relations/Trade, q11, q13, q18,

Are horticultural exports a replicable success story?: evidence from Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire

Kenyan horticultural exports are often cited as a success story in African agriculture. Fruit and vegetable exports from Côte 'Ivoire have received less attention, but the export value is similar to that of Kenya. This paper focuses on three questions. First, do the horticultural sectors of Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire constitute valid success stories? Second, what factors have contributed to the success (or lack thereof)? And third, to what degree can the success be replicated in other African countries? The paper finds that Kenyan horticultural exports are indeed a success story: horticulture has become the third largest earner of foreign exchange, more than half the exports are produced by smallholders, and smallholders gain from producing for the export market. At the same time, the total number of smallholders producing for export is relatively small, and trends in European retailing may shift the advantage to larger producers. Côte d'Ivoire is not as clearly a success story because the most of the exports are produced on large industrial estates and because growth has been uneven. Ivorian exports rely on preferential access to European markets relative to Latin American exporters, raising doubts about sustainability. Factors in the growth and success of horticultural exports include a realistic exchange rate, stable policies, a good investment climate, competitive international transport connections, institutional, and social links with markets in Europe, and continual experimentation with the market institutions to link farmers and exporters. Smallholder participation is encouraged by farmer training and extension schemes, investment in small-scale irrigation, and assistance in establishing links with exporters. Many of the lessons of Kenyan horticulture can be applied elsewhere in Africa. Indeed, Kenya faces increasing competition from neighboring countries trying to replicate its success. At the same time, market institutions take time to develop, and demand constraints probably prevent other African countries from achieving the same level of success as Kenya.

Rice market liberalization and poverty in Viet Nam:

Market liberalization, though an important element in economic reforms in developing countries in the past two decades, has been accused of harming the poor through higher food prices, layoffs in formerly state-owned enterprises, and the erosion of social safety net programs. Since the 1980s Viet Nam has relaxed a number of government controls over rice production and marketing, stimulating large increases in rice production. Yet the government retains control over rice exports and internal rice trade. Rice Market Liberalization and Poverty in Viet Nam, Research Report 114, analyzes whether further loosening of state controls in Viet Nam's rice markets would help or hurt the poor and draws lessons for other countries.Rice trade Vietnam., Poor Vietnam., Vietnam Economic policy., poverty, Production Economics, Trade liberalization., Vietnam, Viet Nam,

Poverty mapping with aggregate census data

Spatially disaggregated maps of the incidence of poverty can be constructed by combining household survey data and census data. In some cases, however, statistical authorities are reluctant, for reasons of confidentiality, to release household-level census data. This paper examines the loss in precision associated with using aggregated census data, such as village- or district-level means of the data. We show analytically that using aggregated census data will result in poverty rates that are biased downward (upward) if the rate is below (above) 50 percent and that the bias approaches zero as the poverty rate approaches zero, 50 percent, and 100 percent. Using data from Vietnam, we find that the average absolute error in estimating provincial poverty rates is about 2 percentage points if the data are aggregated to the enumeration-area level and around 3-4 percentage points if they are aggregated to the provincial level. Even census data aggregated to the provincial level perform reasonably well in ranking the 61 provinces by the incidence of poverty: the average absolute error in ranking is 0.92.

Fertilizer subsidies in Africa: Are vouchers the answer?

"In the 1970s and 1980s, most African countries sold fertilizer at subsidized prices through state-owned enterprises. In response to the fiscal cost and ineffective implementation of these subsidies, as well as pressure from international financial institutions, almost all of these countries liberalized their fertilizer markets to some degree as part of structural adjustment programs carried out in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Under these reforms, governments eliminated state monopolies on fertilizer distribution and phased out universal subsidies." from textFertilizers, subsidies,

Staple food prices in Malawi

Prepared for the Comesa policy seminar on “Variation in staple food prices: Causes, consequence, and policy options”, Maputo, Mozambique, 25-26 January 2010 under the African Agricultural Marketing Project (AAMP)Malawi, food security, food prices, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, International Relations/Trade, q11, q13, q18,