The political economy of progressive fiscal contracts in Africa and Latin America

Motivation How can poorer developing countries escape from the vicious circle in which, because the state is fragile, those countries cannot raise sufficient public revenue to be able to finance development, leading to the persistence of poverty and state fragility? We explore a new approach to this problem, which we call progressive fiscal contracts, in which government earmarks the proceeds of particular taxes to be spent on forms of expenditure which will have widespread benefits for lower income groups, such as health, education and social protection. Taxpayers are thus offered a contractual relationship with government (better‐targeted delivery of public services in return for tax payments) in place of a coercive one (simply being ordered to pay taxes, with nothing being offered in exchange). We seek to examine whether this kind of contractual approach offers a way forward for developing countries. Purpose Across five countries (Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Ghana and Zambia) between 2000 and 2015, we seek to find out whether tax yields have improved following the introduction of progressive fiscal contracts, whether conflict and poverty have declined, and whether there have been countervailing costs in terms of reduced efficiency. We also examine the experience of two countries (Brazil and Chile) where there is no formal ear‐marking but government has encouraged the public to think of particular taxes as being associated with particular forms of expenditure. Approach and methods We assess the impact of changes in tax yields, welfare indicators and conflict indicators by means of panel‐data regressions, tabular comparisons and, in Bolivia, qualitative interviews. Changes in efficiency are assessed through examination of changes in tax structure. Findings Across all of the countries surveyed, the introduction of progressive fiscal contracts has been associated with a reduction in headcount poverty between 2000 and 2015, and in Bolivia our qualitative evidence suggests that the relationship can be seen as a causal one. In three cases out of five (Ghana, Bolivia and Ecuador) tax yields have increased, and in two (Ecuador and Bolivia) there was a significant reduction in political violence. In the Latin American cases examined, but not the African ones, there was a shift from royalty‐based taxation to income‐based taxation of natural resources, suggesting the likelihood of an improvement in efficiency over the period in those countries only. In these cases, the stereotypical view that progressive fiscal contracts improve equity at the expense of efficiency is contradicted. Policy implications (or conclusions) ‘Progressive fiscal contracts’, which originated as a device for making tax payments more palatable by offering social benefits in return, show promise as an innovative strategy for boosting tax ratios, reducing political violence and reducing poverty, which deserves further exploration

A review of the landscape and approach for biofortification initiatives in Zimbabwe

Micronutrient deficiencies “hidden hunger” can result in stunting, blindness, mental retardation, learning disabilities, low work capacity, and even premature death. Biofortification is an agro-based intervention designed to increase the content of key micronutrients in staple crops in order to correct or prevent micronutrient deficiencies primarily among the rural poor who are vulnerable to “hidden hunger”. This paper summarises a review of the current issues and recommendations to scaling up biofortification initiatives in Zimbabwe. The biofortification initiatives; vitamin A orange maize, iron-zinc beans, zinc pearl millet and Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes (OFSP). Although, the country has the necessary policy frameworks and multi-sectoral platforms to accelerate the use of biofortified crops, the current initiatives are still in the pilot stage with fragmented efforts by stakeholders. This is the key challenge that will stale the efforts to scale up to national level. Interestingly, the government led food-based approach “dietary diversification” provides an opportunity to integrate and scaling up of biofortification initiatives in Zimbabwe. However, there is need for a comprehensive implementation plan within the existing policy and institutional frameworks. In this paper we raised some questions that will need to be addressed to enable successful scaling up of biofortification in the Zimbabwean context. Addressing these questions will help create a supportive policy framework and assist Zimbabwe to identify specific impact pathways for biofortification

The relationship between training farmers in agronomic practices and diet diversification: a case study from an intervention under the Scaling Up Nutrition programme in Zambia

BACKGROUND: Agricultural production systems are a sustainable way of providing nutritious and diversified foods especially among rural households in developing countries. Capacity building of farmers and extension workers through training on agricultural and nutrition-related topics is one of the ways to improvements in agricultural productivity. However, a few studies have shown there is a link between training in agronomic practices and crop diversification and the effect this relationship has on diet diversity. Therefore, this study was carried out in Zambia in four districts and within those districts intervention (N = 348) areas were compared to nonintervention sites (N = 194) using an individual household questionnaire to investigate the effectiveness of training sessions that were conducted under the Most 1000 Critical Days program, the scaling up of nutrition on farm production diversity and diet diversity at household level. RESULTS: The results show that there were significant differences in the proportion of farmer households that grew different types of crops (P < 0.001). The incorporation of legumes such as soybean, groundnut and beans into crop production may enrich household diets with essential macro- and micronutrients. Results further indicate that training on agronomic practices was associated with increased productivity and diversification of production and dietary intake. CONCLUSION: This study has shown that targeted interventions aimed at increasing food crop production and dietary diversity have the potential to improve food production and dietary diversity. These findings reinforce the premise that crop diversification has a positive correlation with diet quality. Similarly, training farmers on food production, processing and dietary diversification is critical not only in improving agronomic practices but also the diet of farmers