Agricultural Productivity Growth and Incidence of Poverty: An Experience from Africa

This study investigates the effects of agricultural productivity growth on poverty.  Using Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) data covering two decades (1971-2009) we determined the relationship between agricultural productivity and poverty. Malmquist Index Total Factor Productivity (TFP) was used as indicator of agricultural productivity while Human Development Index (HDI) was adopted as proxy for poverty. Further analysis was carried out to determine whether the performance of factor productivity is due to change in technology or technical efficiency. The result of Malmquist TFP index analysis showed that the average TFP growth over the period was found to be 0.2 percent per annum with large variation in growth rate across the sampled countries.  Twenty-two countries representing about 52% of the total sample experienced productivity growth and this is largely due to technological change.  Congo and Somalia experienced decline in growth and this may be attributed to the incidence of war and civil unrest which have adverse effect on growth.  Overall, the continent experienced improvement in technology with 2.1 percent upward shift in the production frontier and 1.8 percent decline in efficiency.  Regional comparison of agricultural productivity growth reveals that East, South and North Africa experienced growth of 3.3, 2.6 and 3.6 percent respectively.  There were declines in agricultural productivity in West and Southern Africa regions as a result of reduction in efficiency. The analysis of agricultural productivity growth on poverty shows a positive and significant relationship between indicators of the two variables.  Specifically, the result indicates that a unit increase in productivity growth will lead to 0.69 percent change in human development index and conversely poverty.  Further analysis revealed that the unit improvement in technological change will cause about 1.3 percent improvement in human development index. The study concludes that agricultural productivity growth is pro-poor and effective strategy to reduce poverty in Africa.  It is recommended that relevant policies to address the constraints to technology progress and efficiency should be promoted to improve productivity growth and reduce poverty. Key Words: Malmquist index, Total Factor Productivity, Technology, Efficiency, Agricultural Productivity, Poverty, Africa

The Analysis of Productivity Growth of Tuber Crops in Nigeria (1995-2006)

This study analyzed the productivity of Tuber crops in Nigeria from twenty states between the periods of 1995 -2006 using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate the total factor productivity (TFP) which was further decomposed to reveal the source of productivity growth over the reference period. Negative TFP growth was observed for all the tuber crops considered in the study on the average but an evidence of convergence in productivity level was observed when considering the starting TFP, majority of the states had low TFP (<0.6) but grew over the years by about 0.2 with Kaduna and Adamawa having the highest TFP for cocoyam and cassava respectively

Farmers’ strategies for adapting to climate change in Ogbomoso agricultural zone of Oyo state

The climate is changing and global mean temperatures have increased this is expected to have profound effects on food security. Long-term changes in climate will disproportionately affect tropical regions, meaning poor farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa will likely bear the brunt of adverse impacts. Adaptation plays an important role in reducing vulnerability to climate change and is therefore critical and of concern in developing countries, particularly in Africa where vulnerability is high because ability to adapt is low. This study examined farmers’ strategies for adapting to climate change in Ogbomoso agricultural zone of Oyo State of Nigeria. One hundred and fifty farmers were interviewed to obtain information from using a multistage sampling procedure. The results of the study showed that the types of climate change identified in the study area were delayed on-set of rainfall (38.0 percent), higher temperature (20.0 percent) and less rain (17.3 percent). The outcome of climate change were food shortage (41.3percent), decline in livestock yield (30.7 percent), decline in crop yield (28.7 percent) and death of livestock (16.0 percent). The identified actions taken to address climate change are growing a new crop (57.4 percent), adoption of drought tolerant/ resistance crop varieties (50.0 percent), diversification from crops to livestock production (40.7 percent) and using of new land management practices. The long-term improvement investments commonly adapted in the study area were tree planting/agroforestry, mulching/surface cover, improved fallowing and fallowing. The study concluded that household size, extension visits and non-farm income significantly impact on the various strategies used in adaptation to climate change

Technical Efficiency of Cassava - Based Cropping in Oyo State of Nigeria

This study examined the technical efficiency of cassava-based cropping in Oyo State of Nigeria. The population for the study consisted of all cassava-based farmers in Oyo State. Well structured questionnaire was used in collecting information from 253 cassava-based farmers in the study area. Multistage random sampling technique was employed. The study was analyzed, using descriptive statistics, stochastic frontier production and multiple regression analysis. The result of the Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function revealed that cassava cutting material was statistically significant and positive in all the zones. This implies that cuttings are positive factors that influence output in the study area. The coefficient of farm size was also found to be significant and positive in all the zones except in zone 4 where it was insignificant and negative. This implies that farm size was a significant and positive determinant of cassava output in these zones The estimated gamma parameter (γ) of 0.814 indicates that 81.4% of the total variation in cassava output was due to technical inefficiencies in the study area. The return to scale (RTS) was 0.54 in the study area. This indicates a positive decreasing return to scale and that cassava production was in stage II of the production region where resources and production were believed to be efficient. The mean technical efficiency for the study area was 0.542. The analyses of technical efficiency revealed that cassava-based farmers were not operating on the production frontier. Productivity improvements can be achieved by implementing policies, such as, improved farmers’ access to extension services and technical assistance, to ensure farmers used the existing technology more efficiently. This would make farmers operate more closely to the existing fr ontier