Economic Analysis of Jatropha Bio-diesel Production in Sri Lanka

There has been an increasing trend in investments in renewable energy sources in the recent years. This study assesses the economic and financial feasibility of Jatropha production in Sri Lanka under the prevailing policy regime. The nominal protection coefficient and effective protection coefficients were employed to gauge the level of protection for bio-diesel production using Jatropha in Sri Lanka. The cost benefit analysis was performed to assess the feasibility of Jatropha bio-diesel production in Sri Lanka. The conventional measures like NPV, BCR, and IRR were used in financial and economic terms. Nominal Rate of Protection (NPR) was calculated by dividing the local Jatropha bio-diesel price by the border price of biodiesel. The NPR for Bio-diesel implies that nearly 47% of protection at local market level. Effective Protection Rate (EPR) for seed production is 90%, for oil extraction and bio diesel processing it is 128%. Implication of this is that the producers will be protected and they receive returns 47% greater than what they would have received under free market conditions for Jatropha cultivation. Except for the benchmark situation, all other considered scenarios produce a favourable NPV, BCR and IRR for Jatropha bio-diesel production. Economic benefits due to CO2 reduction were also considered in the analysis.KEYWORDS:Cost benefit Analysis, Jatropha Biodiesel, Protection Coefficien

Gender and Intra Household Allocation of Remittances: Evidence from Estate Sector of Sri Lanka

AbstractUsing a nationally representative data set, we examine whether the individuals’ bargaining power within households affect how remittances are allocated or spent in estate households in Sri Lanka. Using the gender of the household head as a proxy for household bargaining power, separate fractional logit models were estimated within the Engle’s Curve framework for male headed and female headed households to examine the intra household bargaining on decision making on resource allocation. The results suggest that international remittances contribute to reduce food expenditure in female headed households while male headed households invest more in housing. The results further reveal that internal remittances are a major determinant of expenditures for food, communication, entertainment, non-durables, transport and ad hoc purchases of male headed households. Remitters also have a significant contribution over the allocation of resources. The contribution by them for the food expenditure share decreases while their presence as a migrant to the household increases the expenditure for education, housing, health, consumer goods, durables and expenditure for ad hoc purchases, entertainment and transport. Overall, the study concludes that remitter has a greater say over the allocation of household resources while household head play a significant role in allocating remittances on food and housing.Keywords: Fractional Logit Model, Gender, Household Expenditure, Intra Household Bargaining, Remittance

Silicon Supplementation by Rice Hull Leachate on the Growth, Yield, Fruit Parameters and Anthracnose Disease Resistance of Capsicum ‘MuriaF1’

Silicon has prooven beneficial in growth, yield and disease resistance of plants. Currently, the differentchemical sources; sodium silicate, potassium silicate and calcium silicate have been used to supply Si forplants. However, rice hull is one of the natural sources of Si which has not properly utilized. It has beenreported that 5 g of rice hull leach 40 ppm of soluble Si in a week of soaking period. Thus, this research wasconducted to investigate the effect of rice hull leachate as a Si source, on growth, yield and fruit parametersand also disease resistance of hydroponically grown Capsicum annum L. ‘Muria F1’. Leaching studies wereconducted to determine the optimum level of Si leached by rice hull, by soaking them in different time periods(days). This leachate was incorporated to the plants grown in hydroponic media supplemented with twodifferent nutrient solutions i.e Nutrient formula (NF) and Albert solution.The growth, yield and fruit qualityparameters were measured and the resistance against anthracnose disease was assessed by artificialinoculation of fruits with Colletotrichum gloeosporioides and measuring the lesion area. Capsicum plantsgrown in rice hull leachate with either nutrient solution showed significant increase in, shoot length (>12%),number of leaves (>27%), leaf area (>42%) fruit length (>12%), fruit fresh weight (>37%) and yield(>44%) and also a significant reduction of anthracnose disease (>43%) compared to control. The resultsrevealed that rice hull leachate could be used as a low cost silicon source in hydroponic media to enhanceperformance of Capsicum cv. Muria F1.Keywords: Rice hull, Capsicum annum L., silicon, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, hydroponic

Intra-household allocation of calories among low income households in Sri Lanka : impact of female sources of income

Project number related to IDRC support could not be determine

Household Energy Consumption Patterns in Sri Lanka

This study examines the pattern of household energy consumption among urban, rural and estate sectors, over time and across income groups in Sri Lanka. The ‘energy ladder’ hypothesis was tested and Engle functions were estimated using Consumer Finances and Socio Economic Survey data from 1978/79 to 2003/04. Results reveal that the energy ladder hypothesis holds for Sri Lanka and the country as a whole is moving towards modern fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and electricity. The urban sector proceeds much faster than the rural sector. Engle functions estimated for individual fuels and for different sectors reveal that the budget elasticity values were negative for firewood and kerosene, in the urban and estate sectors, indicating that they are inferior goods. LPG and electricity had positive budget elasticities indicating that they are normal goods. Budget elasticities estimated for the estate sector were insignificant eliciting that factors other than income influence the fuel consumption decisions

Impact of Potato Trade Liberalisation on Soil Erosion: A Multi Period Market Simulation Model

This study quantifies the welfare changes in potato trade liberalisation in Sri Lanka incorporating long-term social cost of soil erosion into a multi-period market simulation model. Seven alternative crops were considered for studying long-term land use changes induced by potato trade liberalisation. On-site cost of soil erosion was incorporated in the model through a dynamic soil depth crop yield function and cumulative off-site costs were deducted in calculating net welfare changes associated with land use changes induced by potato trade liberalisation. The results show that gain in consumer surplus is much higher than loss in producer surplus, government revenue and environmental cost. Thus, findings show that trade liberalisation is welfare improving. With regard to the impact of trade liberalisation on environment, the findings are however, non-conclusive. Depending on the empirical setting, trade liberalisation may induce environmentally friendly or unfriendly land use changes. Some environmental policies may be necessary in conjunction with trade liberalisation as it may not necessarily induce environmentally friendly land use changes