Improving the water productivity of livestock: an opportunity for poverty reductionLength: pp.57-65

LivestockProductivityWater requirementsPoverty

An Analysis of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Particular Focus on Ethiopia

This study offers an assessment of' Chinese FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa with a particular focus on Ethiopia. The research method employed in this study has both qualitative and quantitative features. The findings of the study are presumed to be of paramount importance by inducting policy direction for policy makers in sub-Saharan Africa regarding Chinese investment in the region. The findings demonstrated some 90% of China (Sino) - sub-Saharan African trade is based around natural resources: oil, ores and minerals (Mary- Françoise Renard, 2011). Of course, China has certainly been contributing to sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth, both in terms of trade and building of infrastructure. However, the Chinese exports of natural resources by themselves do not help sub-Saharan Africa because oil and mining are not labor intensive industries which even if natural resources may create economic growth in figures, does not necessarily translate into widespread job creations. In addition, large oil and mineral reserves can also distort the local currency, pushing up prices of other exports, such as agricultural and manufacturing products making them much harder to sell overseas. What makes the Chinese FDI unique in Ethiopia is almost 60% of these investments are concentrated in the manufacturing sector and infrastructural development, which is different from what happened in other African countries where the Chinese FDI is pretty much resource seeking (Alemayehu Geda and Atnafu G. Meskel, 2009). There are concerns related to China FDI in Ethiopia such as the dumping of low quality Chinese goods in Ethiopian markets, Chinese manufacture poor employees’ safety practices, the Chinese imports negative impact on domestic industries and Chinese investors’ involvements in corruption and other trade frauds. In conclusion, to realize the major benefits by reducing risks associated with this Chinese FDI in sub-Saharan Africa, countries must have appropriate policies and strategies including strong institutions arrangement.Keywords: FDI, Sub-Saharan Africa, Chinese FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa, China, Ethiopi

Fighting capital flight in Ethiopia

There exists no generally accepted definition of the term “capital flight”. For the purpose of this article capital flight refers to Illegal capital flight, also known as illicit financial flows, which disappear from any record in the country of origin. Moreover earnings on the stock of illegal capital flight outside of a country generally do not return to the country of origin. In this regard, capital flight is creating a serious development challenges for most African economies. Ethiopia is not exceptional for this impact. The analysis of this article led to two major findings. First, African countries have become increasingly indebted; they experienced large scale capital flight. According to studies a group of 33 SSA (Sub- Saharan Africa) countries has lost a total of $814 billion dollars from 1970 to 2010. This exceeds the amount of official development aid ($659 billion) and foreign direct investment ($306 billion) received by these countries. Oil-rich countries account for 72 percent of the total capital flight from the sub region ($591 billion). Secondly, an upcoming report by Global Financial Integrity 2009, finds that Ethiopia, which has a per-capita GDP of just US$365, lost US$11.7 billion to illicit financial outflows between 2000 and 2009. In 2009, illicit money leaving the economy totaled US$3.26 billion, which is double the amount in each of the two previous years. In conclusion, currently the impact of capital flight for Ethiopia economy is becoming very severe. So, Ethiopian government effort to promoting economic development must be go hand in hand with fighting capital flightKeywords: Capital Flight, Illicit Financial Flows, Global Financial Integrity, Africa, Ethiopi

Urbanization and Fertility Rates in Ethiopia

Fertility rates are important determinants of both overall population growth and demographic transitions from high to low age dependency ratios, which in turn have important consequences for economic growth, poverty reduction, and improved health and nutrition outcomes. Ethiopia currently has one of the highest fertility rates in the world, although there are marked differences between rural and urban fertility rates. This paper explores the drivers of rural and urban fertility rates, including systematic tests of differences in key determinants. This further allows us to project fertility rates into the future based on alternative urbanization, economic growth, and education scenarios. Finally, we link these alternative projections with existing estimates of the benefits of fertility reductions on economic growth, nutrition, and poverty reductio

Producer price and price transmission in a deregulated Ethiopian coffee market

Coffee producers in Ethiopia have historically received a very small share of the export price of green coffee. Reasons that are often mentioned are heavy government intervention and high marketing and processing costs. Prior to 1992, government regulation of the domestic coffee market in the form of fixed producer prices and the monopoly power of the Ethiopian Coffee Marketing Corporation put a substantial wedge between the producer price and the world price of coffee by imposing an implicit tax on producers. The domestic coffee marketing system in Ethiopia was liberalised after 1992, which was envisaged to have a positive effect on producer prices and price transmission signals from world markets to producers. This paper, with the help of Cointegration and Error-Correction Model (ECM), attempts to analyse its impact. As findings indicate, the reforms induced stronger long-run relationships among grower, wholesaler and exporter prices. The estimation of the ECM shows that the short-run transmission of price signals from world to domestic markets has improved, but has remained weak in both auction-to-world and producer-to-auction markets. This might be explained by the weak institutional arrangement coordinating the domestic coffee system and contract enforcement. In general, the domestic price adjusts more rapidly to world price changes today than it did prior to the reforms. However, there is an indication that negative price changes transmit much faster than positive ones.market deregulation, producer price, price transmission, price asymmetry,

Adult Mosquito Populations and Their Health Impact around and far from Dams in Tigray Region, Ethiopia

Malaria control program in Ethiopia has a history of more than 40 years, but still now, malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in Ethiopia. The objective of this study is to assess the impact of dam construction in the distribution of mosquito in intervention (dam nearby villages) and controlled (villages far from dam). Indoor adult mosquitoes were collected using 144 CDC light traps from 12 villages (6 from the intervention and 6 from the control villages) Community- based malaria parasitology was also done. Sampling was done in November 2005, December 2005, May 2006 and September 2006). A total of 1713 adult indoor mosquitoes were collected, of these, 1182 (69%) were Anopheles and 531 (31%) Culex. The prevalence of Anopheles was 45.77% in the intervention villages and 23.23% in the controlled villages (F p = 0.012). The prevalence of Anopheles increased twice in the intervention compared to the controlled villages. A total of 1436 children, 888 from intervention and 548 from control villages were examined for malaria parasitology. Only 57 children were found infected by Plasmodium species. Malaria prevalence rate was 3.97% (4.17% and 3.65% in intervention and control village, respectively)(x2 = 0.11, p= 0.7399). Among the 57 malaria positive cases in 32 (56.14%) we found P. vivax and in the 25 (43.86%) P. falciparum. We can tentatively conclude that the dams situated at 2000m and above do resulted two fold adult indoor mosquito, but do not seem to have resulted in a markedly higher incidence of malaria in the region. The study concludes that concerned authorities should take appropriate measures to improve health-care facilities for local communities when planning new irrigation schemes wherever they occur.Keywords: Anopheles, Culex, Dam, Intervention, Malari

Prevalence and Clinico-Pathology of Ketosis in Dairy Cows in Tigray Region of Ethiopia

An investigation to study the prevalence and clinico-pathology of ketosis in dairy cows was undertaken from November 2007 to May 2008 at Kalamino, Agazi and Mekelle University dairy farms in and around Mekelle town of Tigray region of Ethiopia. Recently- calved cows were screened for ketosis by subjecting urine and milk sample to strip (URS-10) and Rothera’s tests.An overall prevalence of 12.29% was recorded with highest prevalence  during January and February. Age-wise, the highest prevalence was noticed at 8-9 years of age (73.34%). Cows in their 4th lactation (46.67%) and those in 1-2 months (53.35%) of lactation had significantly higher prevalence (p< 0.005). The clinical observations in ketotic cows were  anorexia, refusal to take concentrate and decrease in milk yield. There was 30-100% decrease in milk yield in most of the cases. The body temperature, pulse and respiration rates were within normal range withdecreased rumen motility. Feces were scanty, mucoid and dry; and urine, breath and fresh milk had characteristic smell of acetone. Ketotic animals were treated with dextrose and insulin.Keywords: Dairy Cows, Ketosis, Prevalence, Mekelle, Ethiopia

RESULTS OF A FARM AND MARKET SURVEY FOR HMONG SPECIALTY CROP FARMERS IN THE MINNEAPOLIS, ST. PAUL METRO AREA

This report is part of a larger project, "Risk Management Education and Farm Management Development Program for Hmong Specialty Crop Farmers in the Minneapolis, St. Paul Metro Area," funded by the Risk Management Agency, U.S. Department of Agriculture. The project was designed to assist Hmong farmers in the Twin Cities area in improving their production and management practices so they are able to increase their economic viability and reduce their exposure to risk. As part of the overall project, 62 Hmong farmers and 69 customers at farmers markets were surveyed to determine the local specialty crop production and market conditions. The findings of these 2 surveys are contained in the report. The median size of the 62 farms surveyed farms was 3 acres. Forty-two percent of those farmers responding reported total farm product sales between $3,000 and$8,999. Few farmers indicated they were familiar with crop insurance programs. Sixty-eight percent of the 19 farmers responding (or 21% of the 62 surveyed) said they were familiar with multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI). Only 12% of the 50 farmers responding had bought crop insurance in 2002. The most frequently indicated needs for future education programs were production oriented: weed control, insect control, fertilization, and pesticide safety. All of the 69 customers surveyed regularly bought some kind of vegetables or herbs. Over half of the customers bought potatoes, snap beans, peppers, sweet corn, carrots, cucumbers, basil, and winter squash. Eighty-eight percent of customers indicated they typically spend between $10 and$29 on vegetables and herbs during each visit to a farmers' market.Crop Production/Industries,

Access and utilization of agricultural information by resettler farming households: the case of Metema Woreda, North Gondar, Ethiopia

The Government of Ethiopia has been implementing a resettlement program in Metema woreda in Amhara region since 2003. Previously in the Derge Regime, another resettlement program has been implemented in 1985 and voluntary settlers were in-migrating even before that. Extension service is mandated to assist them in order to improve the production and productivity of the farmers, enabling them to achieve food security and income generation. This study is aimed at assessing the new and previous settler farmers’ access to and utilization of agricultural information from the extension service and as well as to identify the influencing factors. A two stage random sampling technique was employed and in the first stage of sampling, three PAs were selected purposively and the respondents were stratified into new and previous settler categories. In the second stage, probability proportional to size sampling technique was applied to each stratum. Finally, 160 sample respondents were selected using simple random sampling technique and interviewed using pre-tested structured interview schedule. Fifteen percent of respondents were female headed households. Both primary and secondary data were collected and analyzed to understand various aspects of access and utilization of agricultural information of farmers. Qualitative data were used to supplement quantitative data. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis and Tobit model. Except from seasonal extension orientation and mass media, in all cases there was significant difference between new and previous settlers’ access to and utilization of agricultural information. In all extension methods, there were highly significant differences between male and female headed households in obtaining agricultural information, in the favor of males. The female headed respondents utilized the obtained information with comparable to male headed households. The agricultural information and support for utilization provided by the extension service were biased towards the previous settlers and males, and consequently the new settler farmers’ and female headed households agricultural information access and utilization was very limited. The survey finding reveals that the current extension service has limited responsiveness, gender sensitivity and poor potential of addressing farmers’ need. In the absence of responsive extension service that understands and addresses interests of various groups of farmers, the purpose of resettlement program would not be fulfilled. Result of the econometric model indicated that, settlement category, education level, settlement orientation, innovation proneness, production motivation, age of household head, frequency of market visiting and credit access had influence on the access to and utilization of agricultural information. The overall finding of the study underlined the importance of well organized agricultural information provision and supporting utilization of information through the delivery of credit and technologies based on the farmers’ problem and need. Institutionalized and genuine resettlement program information provision in the highland also required. Therefore, policy and development interventions should give emphasis to improvement of such institutional support system so as to enhance the production and productivity of agriculture and to achieve the desired poverty reduction strategy in the resettlement program