Decentralization, agricultural services and determinants of input use in Nigeria:

Decentralization, agricultural services, Input use, household survey data, agricultural services, poor farmers, fertilizer use, government, modern inputs, unobserved heterogeneity,

Institutional change, rural services, and agricultural performance in Kyrgyzstan:

The institutional change in rural Kyrgyzstan during the transition period included farm reorganization, land reform, building markets, and community institutions. The land reform established private property rights to land, including the rights to transfer, exchange, sell, lease, and use the land as collateral for credit. These key features of Kyrgyzstan's agrarian transition are in sharp contrast with those of other transition countries in Central Asia. This paper reviews the process of institutional change in rural Kyrgyzstan, examines its impact on agricultural performance and discusses some remaining major institutional and policy constraints on agricultural growth in this country.Institutional change, Land reform, Agricultural growth, Rural services, Development strategies, Kyrgyzstan,

Decentralization and local public services in Ghana: Do geography and ethnic diversity matter?

"This paper explores disparities in local public service provision between decentralized districts in Ghana using district- and household-level data. The empirical results show that districts' geographic locations play a major role in shaping disparities in access to local public services in Ghana. Most importantly, the findings suggest that ethnic diversity has significant negative impact in determining access to local public services, including drinking water. This negative impact is significantly higher in rural areas. However, the negative impact of ethnic diversity in access to local public services (drinking water) decreases as average literacy level increases. The paper relates the results to literature and discusses policy implications of main findings." from authors' abstractDecentralization, Access to public services, Ethnic diversity, Geography, Development strategies,

Mountains, global food prices, and food security in the developing world

This study explores the differences between mountain and non-mountain countries in food security and its determinants. Econometric analysis shows that mountain regions are likely to have lower food security. The findings suggest that people in mountain countries are especially affected by external shocks such as surges in global food prices. The results of regression decomposition indicate that the disparity in food availability we observed between mountain and non-mountain countries can be explained by differences in population size, income, road density, and governance factors as well as by a differential impact of external price shocks. The direct impacts of geographic and agroecological factors seem rather limited.altitude, Developing countries, food security, global food prices, mountain regions,

Agricultural growth and investment options for poverty reduction in Nigeria

This study uses an economy-wide, dynamic computable general equilibrium (DCGE) model to analyze the ability of growth in various agricultural subsectors to accelerate overall economic growth and reduce poverty in Nigeria over the next years (2009-17). In addition, econometric methods are used to assess growth requirements in agricultural public spending and the relationship between public services and farmers’ use of modern technology. The DCGE model results show that if certain agricultural subsectors can reach the growth targets set by the Nigerian government, the country will see 9.5 percent annual growth in agriculture and 8.0 percent growth of GDP over the next years. The national poverty rate will fall to 30.8 percent by 2017, more than halving the 1996 poverty rate of 65.6 percent and thereby accomplishing the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG1). This report emphasizes that in designing an agricultural strategy and prioritizing growth, it is important to consider the following four factors at the subsectoral level: (i) the size of a given subsector in the economy; (ii) the growth-multiplier effects occurring through linkages of the subsector with the rest of the economy; (iii) the subsector-led poverty reduction-growth elasticity; and (iv) the market opportunities and price effects for individual agricultural products. In analyzing the public investments that would be required to support a 9.5 percent annual growth in agriculture, this study first estimates the growth elasticity of public investments using historical spending and agricultural total factor productivity (TFP) growth data. The results show that a 1 percent increase in agricultural spending is associated with a 0.24 percent annual increase in agricultural TFP. With such low elasticity, agricultural investments must grow at 23.8 percent annually to support a 9.5 percent increase in agriculture. However, if the spending efficiency can be improved by 70 percent, the required agricultural investment growth becomes 13.6 percent per year. The study also finds that investments outside agriculture benefit growth in the agricultural sector. Thus, assessments of required growth in agricultural spending should include the indirect effects of nonagricultural investments and emphasize the importance of improving the efficiency of agricultural investments. To further show that efficiency in agricultural spending is critically important to agricultural growth, this study utilizes household-level data to empirically show that access to agricultural services has a significantly positive effect on the use of modern agricultural inputs.Agricultural growth, agricultural investments, agricultural services, Development strategies, Dynamic Computable General Equilibrium (DCGE), low elasticity, market opportunities, Millennium Development Goals (MDG), modern agricultural inputs, nonagricultural investments, Poverty reduction, Public investments, Total factor productivity (TFP),

Decentralization, local government elections and voter turnout in Pakistan:

"Decentralization has the potential to improve the accountability of government and lead to a more efficient provision of public services. However, accountability requires broad groups of people to participate in local government. Thus, voter turnout at local government elections is an important component of government accountability. This study used survey data on the 2005 local government elections in Pakistan to analyze the impact of electoral mechanisms, the credibility of elections, and voters' socioeconomic characteristics on voter turnout. The rational-choice perspective is applied to develop the specifications of the empirical model. The empirical analysis is based on a series of standard and multilevel random-intercept logistic models. Our important findings reveal that (1) voter turnout is strongly associated with the personal and social gratifications people derive from voting; (2) the preference-matching ability of candidates for local government positions is marginal; and (3) the introduction of direct elections of the district nazims—a key position in local government—might improve electoral participation and thus create a precondition for better local government accountability. The findings also suggest that less educated people, farmers, and rural people are more likely to vote." Authors' AbstractDecentralization, local government elections, political participation, voter turnout, Public service provision, Governance,

Voice and Votes—Does Political Decentralisation Work for the Poor and for Women? Empirical Evidence from the 2005 Local Government Elections in Pakistan

Decentralisation is associated with the hope that “bringing government closer to the people” will improve the provision of public services by increasing people’s voice in decision-making, and by making the government more accountable to them. Decentralisation is also associated with the hope that disadvantaged groups of society, including the poor and women, will have better possibilities to exercise voice at the local level. Some countries have combined decentralisation with affirmative action, for example, by reserving seats in local councils for women and other disadvantaged groups. Yet the empirical evidence regarding the impacts of decentralisation has been mixed [Bardhan (2002); von Braun and Grote (2002); Jütting, et al. (2004); Steiner (2005)]. In many cases, political decentralisation has not been associated with fiscal and administrative decentralisation, thus limiting the scope of what local governments can actually do. Building capacity at the local level and overcoming coordination problems has been another challenge. Local elite capture has been identified as a major problem that can prevent positive effects of decentralisation for the poor, especially in societies with hierarchical power structures at the local level [Bardhan (2002)]. With regard to gender, there are concerns that decentralisation—even if associated with affirmative action—will not be sufficient to overcome gender-based discrimination. Again, the empirical evidence is mixed [ADB (2004)]. Chatthobadhay and Duflo (2004) found that that women who were elected as village leaders under the reservation policy in the Indian states of West Bengal and Rajastan invested more in those public goods that more closely linked to women’s concerns, such as drinking water. Baden (1999) showed that it depends on local power structures and on the availability and competition over resources whether or not women benefit from decentralisation. In view of the mixed results, important knowledge gaps remain regarding the possibilities to promote public service provision for the poor and for women through political decentralisation and associated affirmative action

Revisiting the Kaleidoscope Model for Policy Analysis and Exploring its Applicability to the Complex Agrifood Systems of Countries in Central and West Asia and North Africa: Methodological Guideline

Policies are critical to improving agrifood systems innovations and overall economic performance. While favorable policy decisions shape the incentives and actions of stakeholders, suboptimal policies could create bottlenecks and hinder development progress (Haggblade and Babu 2017; Resnick et al. 2018). Therefore, having an impact on policy decisions requires a good understanding of a given country’s underlying policy processes. Policies are, however, implemented by a range of stakeholders and bringing them together for action is often a challenge. The Kaleidoscope Model (KM) can be used to analyze policy and institutional constraints and key drivers of agrifood policy change in Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA). This research is being implemented by a team of researchers from CGIAR research centers ICARDA, IFPRI, and IWMI and in collaboration with international and national partners across CWANA countries

WP1: Innovations in partnerships, policies and platforms for the efficient, inclusive and climate resilient transformation of agrifood systems

From Fragility to Resilience in Central and West Asia and North Africa (F2R-CWANA) WP1: Innovations in partnerships, policies and platforms for the efficient, inclusive and climate resilient transformation of agrifood systems Inception Workshop – Morocco May 17, 202