Women farmers’ participation in the agricultural research process: implications for agricultural sustainability in Ethiopia

Empowering women farmers to participate in agricultural research is a key strategy for sustainable agricultural development. Women empowerment has the potential to improve their roles in agricultural production while enhancing nutrition and food security. Although new agricultural development policies are focusing on improving women engagement in agriculture, there is limited literature on women empowerment in relation to agricultural research. This study used mixed methods to analyse women farmers’ participation in four stages of the agricultural research process – design, testing, dissemination, monitoring and evaluation. Two hundred and thirty individual interviews with women farmers and 16 focus group discussions with men and women farmers were conducted in four Woredas (districts) of Ethiopia. Quantitative data were analysed using binary and multivariate probit models. Qualitative data were analysed using line-by-line coding. The results showed that several empowerment indicator variables significantly (p?≤?.001) influenced women’s participation in different stages of agricultural research. Specifically, input in production decisions, autonomy in plot management, membership to farmer groups, and ability to speak in public enhanced women’s participation in different stages, in addition to access to information and extension services, education and land size. Cultural norms hindered women’s empowerment and engagement in research. To foster sustainable agriculture development, it’s important to integrate holistic and proactive gender perspectives into research strategies to increase women’s participation in farmer research groups, access information and knowledge, have voice and challenge constraining cultural norms and traditions.     

Does Schooling Promote Economic Growth?

Abstract: This paper revisits the debate on schooling and economic growth with particular reference to the case of sub‐Saharan Africa. Following the endogenous growth model developed by Lucas (1988) that considers human capital as one factor of production and schooling as a means of human capital accumulation, two results of schooling are explicitly stated: accumulation of privately owned and publicly owned human capital. By developing a growth estimating equation containing these two types of schooling results from the model and confronting it with empirical data, the hypothesis that schooling has got growth effect is tested. The analytic result suggests that in the indicated economies, for the period covered by the study (1966–2000), schooling that leads to accumulation of publicly owned human capital is associated with per capita income growth. Likewise, the analysis provides supporting evidence for the argument that primary schooling level is more associated with growth than other levels of schooling.     

Impacts of the Productive Safety Net Program in Ethiopia on livestock and tree holdings of rural households

We evaluated the impacts of the Ethiopian Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) on rural households' holdings of livestock and forest assets/trees. We found no indication that participation in PSNP induces households to disinvest in livestock or trees. In fact, households that participated in the program increased the number of trees planted, but there was no increase in their livestock holdings. We found no strong evidence that the PSNP protects livestock in times of shock. Shocks appear to lead households to disinvest in livestock, but not in trees. Our results suggest that there is increased forestry activity as a result of PSNP, and that improved credit access encourages households to increase their livestock holdings.     

The external water footprint of the Netherlands: Geographically-explicit quantification and impact assessment

This study quantifies the external water footprint of the Netherlands by partner country and import product and assesses the impact of this footprint by contrasting the geographically-explicit water footprint with water scarcity in the different parts of the world. The total water footprint of the Netherlands is estimated to be about 2300 m³/year/cap, of which 67% relates to the consumption of agricultural goods, 31% to the consumption of industrial goods, and 2% to domestic water use. The Dutch water footprint related to the consumption of agricultural goods, is composed as follows: 46% related to livestock products; 17% oil crops and oil from oil crops; 12% coffee, tea, cocoa and tobacco; 8% cereals and beer; 6% cotton products; 5% fruits; and 6% other agricultural products. About 11% of the water footprint of the Netherlands is internal and 89% is external. Only 44% of virtual-water import relates to products consumed in the Netherlands, thus constituting the external water footprint. For agricultural products this is 40% and for industrial products this is 60%. The remaining 56% of the virtual-water import to the Netherlands is re-exported. The impact of the external water footprint of Dutch consumers is highest in countries that experience serious water scarcity. Based on indicators for water scarcity the following eight countries have been identified as most seriously affected: China; India; Spain; Turkey; Pakistan; Sudan; South Africa; and Mexico. This study shows that Dutch consumption implies the use of water resources throughout the world, with significant impacts in water-scarce regions.     

Food versus fuel: examining tradeoffs in the allocation of biomass energy sources to domestic and productive uses in Ethiopia

Rural households in Ethiopia have limited options to meet their domestic energy needs because they lack access to modern fuels and technologies. Domestic use of certain fuel sources, such as cow dung, can hinder agricultural outcomes and productivity. This article explores the tradeoffs between domestic and productive uses of biomass energy sources in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia using a nonseparable farm household model where labor allocation to energy collection and farming are analyzed simultaneously. We estimate a system of five structural equations using three‐stage least squares and find that the use of dung as a domestic fuel source has negative implications for the value of harvested crops, while use of on‐farm fuelwood is associated with increased value of agricultural output. On‐farm production of fuelwood appears to increase the value of crop output and provide labor savings, by making fuelwood collection more convenient for households. Policy interventions to support the expansion of agroforestry and increase access to new energy‐efficient technologies are needed to ensure that agricultural productivity can be both increased and sustained.     

Agricultural water management and poverty in Ethiopia

The main focus of this article is to explore whether access to selected agricultural water management (AWM) technologies has led to significant reduction in poverty and, if they did so, to identify which technologies had higher impacts. In measuring impact we estimated the average treatment effect for the treated on crop income and measured the differences in consumption expenditures per adult equivalent of those with access and without access using matched data. The estimated average treatment effect was significant and amounted to USD 82 per season. Moreover, there was 24 less poverty incidence among users of AWM technologies compared to nonusers. All technologies were found to have significant poverty reducing impacts with micro dams, deep wells, river diversions, and ponds leading to 37%, 26%, 11%, and 9% reduction in poverty incidence compared to rainfed system. Finally, our study identified the most important correlates of poverty on the basis this we made the policy recommendations to build assets (AWM technologies, livestock, etc); to enhance human resource development and improve the functioning of labor markets for enhanced impact of AWM technologies on poverty.     

Home – tourism’s uncanny

We argue that home proper is tourism’s uncanny. Questions of home do not take centre stage in the discipline. Of course second homes have been explored in tourism studies. However, home proper has not been a subject worthy of philosophical/theoretical deliberations, analytical or methodological debates. Strange as it may seem, the discipline is home-less.     

Socioeconomic burden of trypanosomiasis: Evidence from crop and livestock production in Ethiopia

This paper estimates the impact of trypanosomiasis on crop-livestock production, economic loss and poverty in Ethiopia. We use unique panel data to estimate how the disease affects livestock deaths, production costs and crop production. We then use these estimates to evaluate the disease's total economic loss and its implications on poverty in the study districts and the country. Estimates of the fixed effect regression models indicate that trypanosomiasis increases the value of livestock deaths by 33% and production costs by 63%. Crop production decreases by 14% when trypanosomiasis and oxen death coexist. We estimate that the direct economic loss is about US$58,300 per annum in the study districts. The estimated countrywide economic loss is about US$94 million per annum. Had the government prevented this economic loss and invested it in social protection programmes, it could have lifted about 9000 people in the study districts and about 200,000 people in the country above the national poverty line per annum. These findings indicate that trypanosomiasis remains a major production constraint. Controlling the disease appears to be pro-poor, calling for more policy attention.