Poverty, Resource Scarcity and Incentives for Soil and Water Conservation: Analysis of Interactions with a Bio-economic Model

The paper examines the interlinkages between population pressure and poverty, possible impacts on household welfare and land management, and the consequent pathways of development in a low potential rural economy. A dynamic non-separable bio-economic model, calibrated using data from the Ethiopian highlands, is used to trace key relationships between population pressure, poverty and soil fertility management in smallholder agriculture characterized by high levels of soil degradation. Farm households maximize their discounted utility over the planning horizon. Land, labor and credit markets are imperfect. Hence, production, consumption and investment decisions are jointly determined in each period. The level of soil degradation is endogenous and has feedback effects on the stock and quality of the resource base. This may in turn influence land management choices. Under high population pressure, land becomes dearer relative to labor. This is likely to induce conservation investments, especially when conservation technologies do not take land out of production. When markets are imperfect, poverty in vital assets (e.g., oxen and labor) limits the ability or the willingness to invest in conservation and may lead to a less sustainable pathway. Boserup-type responses are more likely when (privately) profitable technologies exist and market imperfections do not limit farm-households' investment options.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Anthony D'Avray (ed. and annotated in collaboration with Richard Pankhurst): The Nakfa Documents. The despatches, memoranda, reports and correspondence describing and explaining the Stories of the Feudal Societies of the Red Sea Littoral from the Christi

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Bairu Tafla (ed. and trans.): Ethiopian Records of the Menilek Era: Selected Amharic Documents from the Nachlaß of Alfred Ilg, 1884–1900

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Yohannes II (r. May 10, 1769 – October 15, 1769)

The knowledge of the reign of Yohannes II (r. May 10, 1769–October 15, 1769) is so far based on a brief account in Bruce’s book. This account, however, contains errors (that Yohannes II was poisoned to death). This paper brings to light an Ethiopian document (a brief contemporary chronicle) on the short-lived reign of this man. It is published with a translation and annotation.On the basis of a careful examination of the chronicle and the other fragmentary information we obtain from Salt, we conclude in this paper that firstly Yohannes was not poisoned to death (he rather died a natural death) and secondly the story of the amputation of his arm by Bekfa should at best be treated with caution because there is evidence that throws doubt on its veracity

In memoriam Richard Pankhurst (1927–2017)

Obituar

Uoldelul Chelati Dirar and Gianni Dore: Carte Coloniali. I documenti italiani del Fondo Ellero

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Policy analysis for sustainable land management and food security in Ethiopia: a bioeconomic model with market imperfections

"Policy Analysis for Sustainable Land Management and Food Security in Ethiopia presents a bioeconomic model of this less- favored area in the Ethiopian highlands. The main reason for selecting this case study area is the unique availability of both biophysical and socioeconomic data covering a period of 15 to 20 years.The data provides a valuable opportunity to analyze the relationships between population pressure, poverty, and land degradation and to test policies for reducing vulnerability and improving sustainable management of the resource base.... Our analysis of the Andit Tid watershed community should be useful to policymakers and others seeking to reduce poverty and improve land management in Ethiopia and other countries where such problems are severe. Beyond this, the bioeconomic modeling approach used in this study can be usefully adapted and applied in many other settings." from TextBioeconomic modeling, Poverty alleviation,

Adoption and Impact of Improved Groundnut Varieties on Rural Poverty: Evidence from Rural Uganda

This paper evaluates the ex-post impact of adopting improved groundnut varieties on crop income and rural poverty in rural Uganda. The study utilizes cross-sectional farm household data collected in 2006 in seven districts of Uganda. We estimated the average adoption premium using propensity score matching (PSM), poverty dominance analysis tests, and a linear regression model to check robustness of results. Poverty dominance analysis tests and linear regression estimates are based on matched observations of adopters and non-adopters obtained from the PSM. This helped us estimate the true welfare effect of technology adoption by controlling for the role of selection problem on production and adoption decisions. Furthermore, we checked covariate balancing with a standardized bias measure and sensitivity of the estimated adoption effect to unobserved selection bias, using the Rosenbaum bounds procedure. The paper computes income-based poverty measures and investigates their sensitivity to the use of different poverty lines. We found that adoption of improved groundnut technologies has a significant positive impact on crop income and poverty reduction. These results are not sensitive to unobserved selection bias; therefore, we can be confident that the estimated adoption effect indicates a pure effect of improved groundnut technology adoption.groundnut technology adoption, crop income, poverty alleviation, propensity score matching, switching regression, stochastic dominance, Rosenbaum bounds, Uganda

Rural institutions and producer organizations in imperfect markets: experiences from producer marketing groups in semi-arid eastern Kenya

"Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have liberalized markets to improve efficiency and enhance market linkages for smallholder farmers. The expected positive response by the private sector in areas with limited market infrastructure has however been disappointing. The functioning of markets is constrained by high transaction costs and coordination problems along the production-to-consumption value chain. New kinds of institutional arrangements are needed to reduce these costs and fill the vacuum left when governments withdrew from markets in the era of structural adjustments. One of these institutional innovations has been the strengthening of producer organizations and formation of collective marketing groups as instruments to remedy pervasive market failures in rural economies. The analysis presented here with a case study from eastern Kenya has shown that while collective action – embodied in Producer Marketing Groups (PMGs) – is feasible and useful, external shocks and structural constraints that limit the volume of trade and access to capital and information require investments in complementary institutions and coordination mechanisms to exploit scale economies. The effectiveness of PMGs was determined by the level of collective action in the form of increased participatory decision making, member contributions and initial start-up capital. Failure to pay on delivery, resulting from lack of capital credit, is a major constraint that stifles PMG competitiveness relative to other buyers. These findings call for interventions that improve governance and participation; mechanisms for improving access to operating capital; and effective strategies for risk management and enhancing the business skills of the PMGs." Author's AbstractMarket imperfections, Transaction costs, Farmer organizations, Institutions, Collective action, Semi-arid tropics, Kenya, East Africa,

Community watershed management in semi-arid India: The state of collective action and its effects on natural resources and rural livelihoods

"Spatial and temporal attributes of watersheds and the associated market failures that accelerate degradation of agricultural and environmental resources require innovative institutional arrangements for coordinating use and management of resources. Effective collective action (CA) allows smallholder farmers to jointly invest in management practices that provide collective benefits in terms of economic and sustainability gains. The Government of India takes integrated watershed management (IWM) as a key strategy for improving productivity and livelihoods in the rain-fed and drought-prone regions. This study investigates the institutional and policy issues that limit effective participation of people in community watershed programs and identifies key determinants for the degree of CA and its effectiveness in achieving economic and environmental outcomes. We use empirical data from a survey of 87 watershed communities in semi-arid Indian villages to identify a set of indicators of CA and its performance in attaining desired outcomes. Factor analysis is used to develop aggregate indices of CA and its effectiveness. Regression methods are then employed to test the effects of certain policy relevant variables and to determine the potential effects of CA in achieving desired poverty reduction and resource improvement outcomes. We find a positive and highly significant effect of CA on natural resource investments, but no evidence of its effects on household assets and poverty reduction outcomes. This may be attributable to longer gestation periods for realizing indirect effects from collective natural resource investments and the lack of institutional mechanisms to ensure equitable distribution of such gains across the community, including the landless and marginal farmers." authors' abstractCollective action, Institutions, Property rights, Watershed management, Poverty, Environmental impacts,