Policies for African seed enterprise development

The commercial seed sector has been slow to develop in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper examines the major impediments and identifies areas in which seed policies can be strengthened. Seed enterprise development has been hampered by regulatory frameworks that favor parastatal enterprises and that inhibit commercial innovation. In addition, government and donor projects provide large amounts of free or subsidized seed that further discourages seed enterprise development. In addition to regulatory reform and the curtailment of many seed distribution projects, there are other policy changes that need to be implemented. National agricultural research institutes need to invest more resources in promoting their varieties and helping to stimulate commercial seed production. Greater emphasis is required on regional strategies for public plant breeding and private seed marketing. National policies need to strengthen input marketing capacity and infrastructure. Finally, donors, governments and NGOs should shift from trying to encourage village-level commercial seed production and instead strengthen farmers’ capacities to assess new varieties and to be effective consumers of commercial inputs.     

The impact of economic reforms on R&D by the Indian seed industry

Declining support for public research and advances in technology and new forms of legal protection have induced more private agricultural research. In developing countries, this has sparked a debate about appropriate policies regarding private research. In this context, we examine empirically the consequences of reforms in India’s seed policies which loosened various restrictions on the private sector. The period since the reforms has shown a remarkable increase in R & D effort and an increase in the number of private technology suppliers . We argue these changes were largely due to policy reforms.     

Can food-for-work encourage agricultural production?

Food-for-work (FFW) is the most widely used type of public works program in Ethiopia through which a high share of the food aid is distributed. This paper assesses the impacts of FFW in Tigray, a chronically food insecure region in Ethiopia, in terms of relieving liquidity constraints and thereby improving input use in agriculture. A Heckman selection model on the adoption and intensity of fertilizer use demonstrated that FFW positively influenced the decision to adopt fertilizer and there was no evidence of disincentive effect.     

Pro-poor agricultural biotechnology: Can the international research system deliver the goods?

While global investment in agricultural research by the private sector is increasing with growth in developing country markets and the emergence of new technologies, complementary public sector investment is stagnating or declining in many developing countries. This review argues that the changing roles of the public and private sectors in generating new scientific knowledge may adversely affect the diffusion of explicitly pro-poor technologies—technologies that are simultaneously yield-enhancing and poverty-reducing. Comparing historical evidence from the Green Revolution with recent evidence from the emerging era of agricultural biotechnology, this review argues that a more pluralistic international system for agricultural research will be more responsive to poverty only if the strategic leadership role of the public sector is strengthened, certain research functions are reallocated to the private sector, and new policy and organizational mechanisms are used to stimulate pro-poor research in and for developing-country agriculture.     

Ten striking facts about agricultural input use in Sub-Saharan Africa

Conventional wisdom holds that Sub-Saharan African farmers use few modern inputs despite the fact that most poverty-reducing agricultural growth in the region is expected to come largely from expanded use of inputs that embody improved technologies, particularly improved seed, fertilizers and other agro-chemicals, machinery, and irrigation. Yet following several years of high food prices, concerted policy efforts to intensify fertilizer and hybrid seed use, and increased public and private investment in agriculture, how low is modern input use in Africa really? This article revisits Africa’s agricultural input landscape, exploiting the unique, recently collected, nationally representative, agriculturally intensive, and cross-country comparable Living Standard Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) covering six countries in the region (Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda). Using data from over 22,000 households and 62,000 agricultural plots, we offer ten potentially surprising facts about modern input use in Africa today.     

Regional trade,government policy and food security: Recent evidence from Zambia

Given heavy dependence on rainfed maize production, countries in East and Southern Africa must routinely cope with pronounced production and consumption volatility in their primary food staple. Typical policy responses include increased food aid flows, government commercial imports and stock releases, and tight controls on private sector trade. This paper examines recent evidence from Zambia, using a simple economic model to assess the likely impact of maize production shocks on the domestic maize price and on staple food consumption under alternative policy regimes. In addition to an array of public policy instruments, the analysis evaluates the impact of two key private sector responses in moderating food consumption volatility – private cross-border maize trade and consumer substitution of an alternate food staple (cassava) for maize. The analysis suggests that, given a favorable policy environment, private imports and increased cassava consumption together could fill roughly two-thirds of the maize consumption shortfall facing vulnerable households during drought years.     

The seed and agricultural biotechnology industries in India: An analysis of industry structure,competition, and policy options

Since the late 1980s, technological advances and policy reforms have created new opportunities for private-sector investment in India’s seed and agricultural biotechnology industries. These changes have had a significant impact on cotton yields and output in India, but less so for rice and wheat—the country’s main cereal staples—for which yield growth rates are tending toward stagnation. This analysis examines the structures of these industries, their potential effects on competition and innovation, and the policies that may improve both industry performance and the delivery of new productivity-enhancing technologies to India’s cereal production systems. Our findings suggest that more substantive policy reforms are needed to encourage further innovation, reduce regulatory uncertainty, and encourage firm- and industry-level growth, while continued public spending on agricultural research is needed to support technological change.     

Agriculture reform and food crisis in Syria: Impacts on poverty and inequality

The paper pursues a twofold objective. From a methodological viewpoint it shows how to carry out an impacts evaluation of exogenous shocks on poverty and inequality in a context characterised by out-of-equilibrium, poorly-adjusting markets, as it is the case in many developing countries, using a social accounting matrix framework. From an empirical viewpoint it provides an assessment of how the cereal price spikes of 2007–2008 and the global recession of 2008–2009 have impacted the welfare of Syrian households and how did they compound with the on-going agricultural sector liberalisation implemented by the Government of Syria since mid 1990s. This will contribute to shed some lights on the economic background behind the spreading of unrest across the country over the last couple of years or so.The results show that liberalisation impacts are very different and largely affected by the adopted budget closure rules. While reforms aiming at reducing agricultural market distortions (such as production subsidies and price support for strategic crops) could generally have a positive effect on growth, poverty and inequality, the elimination of food security interventions (such as food stamp schemes) determines an adverse distributional impact against rural household and an increase of poverty. The recent macroeconomic shocks (food price crisis and the global recession) determined a generalised poverty increase and showed an income distribution bias against rural households.Three fundamental policy implications can be drawn by this study. First, the liberalisation of agricultural sector shows a significant growth potential and is likely to determine positive effects on poverty through a generalised increase of incomes as well as public budget savings that could be used for pursuing other policy goals. Second, in the short-run there is a structural trade-off between equity improvements and poverty alleviation: the policy options that will more likely reduce absolute poverty show undesirable distributive biases (both on overall inequality and on rural households vis-à-vis urban households). Third, the reform should include a careful design of the use of budget savings, mainly to address equity goals that are likely to be generated, in the short-run, by liberalisation.     

Ethiopia: Food for work or food for relief

This article examines the aims, context and experience of food aid projects in Ethiopia. The major focus is a case study of an Ethiopian food-for-work project — the largest in sub-Saharan Africa — and favourable conclusions are drawn. Factors are identified which have made for this apparent success. Since one factor is local food shortage, consideration is also given to the proposition that the concept of ‘relief aid’ needs a wider definition than heretofore.     

Impact of modern agricultural technologies on smallholder welfare: Evidence from Tanzania and Ethiopia

This paper evaluates the potential impact of adoption of improved legume technologies on rural household welfare measured by consumption expenditure in rural Ethiopia and Tanzania. The study utilizes cross-sectional farm household level data collected in 2008 from a randomly selected sample of 1313 households (700 in Ethiopia and 613 in Tanzania). The causal impact of technology adoption is estimated by utilizing endogenous switching regression. This helps us estimate the true welfare effect of technology adoption by controlling for the role of selection problem on production and adoption decisions. Our analysis reveals that adoption of improved agricultural technologies has a significant positive impact consumption expenditure (in per adult equivalent terms) in rural Ethiopia and Tanzania. This confirms the potential role of technology adoption in improving rural household welfare as higher consumption expenditure from improved technologies translate into lower poverty, higher food security and greater ability to withstand risk. An analysis of the determinants of adoption highlighted inadequate local supply of seed, access to information and perception about the new cultivars as key constraints for technology adoption.     

Cereal marketing liberalization in Tanzania

There is considerable evidence that cereal market liberalization in Tanzania has been a success in spite of poor roads, shortage of capital and vehicles, and lack of market infrastructure and standardized measures. The legal status of the private sector is unclear, however, and public sector policies still favour a heavy official involvement in the marketing system. Farm-gate prices for maize fall off rapidly as one moves away from the primary marketing centres, but on-farm storage of maize poses farmers no insuperable difficulties. Successful implementation of liberalization calls for clarity and consistency in government policy, the reform of financial services, the sale of unused storage capacity to the private sector, the more active involvement of farmers in the liberalized system, the strengthening of extension services, and a policy for regulating interannual price variations.     

Farmer organization,collective action and market access in Meso-America

Farmer organization and collective action are often seen as key factors in enhancing farmers’ access to markets. Often, too little attention is directed at (a) the most appropriate types of organization; (b) whether organization makes less or more sense in the case of producers of an undifferentiated commodity or a higher value product; (c) whether the public or private sector is best placed to support farmer organizations; and (d) the conditions necessary for ensuring their economic viability. Research in Mexico and Central America explored these issues for commodity maize and high value vegetables, respectively. The benefits of farmer organization are more evident in the vegetable sector, characterized by high transaction costs associated with market access. However, horticultural farmer organizations in Honduras and El Salvador include less than 5% of total horticultural producers. This is possibly due to farmer organizations’ limited business skills and non-replicable organizational models. There is less incentive for maize farmers to organize to access output markets as the transaction costs are relatively low. The benefits of maize farmer organization are clearer when it comes to accessing inputs such as credit, seed and fertilizer. Farmer organization is a critical factor in making markets work for the poor, but the role and timing of public and private investment in these organizations is poorly understood.     

What is the intrinsic value of fertilizer? Experimental value elicitation and decomposition in the hill and terai regions of Nepal

We use Becker-DeGroot-Marshak value elicitation methods to derive the intrinsic value that farmers in Nepal place on fertilizers. Eliciting values under three distinct procurement scenarios, we are able to decompose the total intrinsic value of fertilizer into a willingness-to-pay (WTP) to travel to procure fertilizer, a WTP for assured fertilizer supplies, and a WTP for the productivity benefits of fertilizer. Disaggregating our sample according to location (hills versus terai), we are able to estimate differences in total intrinsic value as well as value components along these geographical dimensions. While farmers in the hills are generally willing to pay more for urea than their counterparts in the terai, the total amount they are willing to pay is, on average, less than the market price for urea. We explore heterogeneity in valuations and discuss the implications of our findings on fertilizer procurement and distribution policies, as well as direct support policies that the Nepal government may consider. While support policies such as subsidies may encourage increased utilization of fertilizers, policies that lower barriers to private sector entry and increase the density of fertilizer retailers could also increase fertilizer utilization.     

Private and public milk standards in Argentina and Brazil

This article focuses on the development of public and private standards for milk as an input to the dairy processing sector in Argentina and Brazil. From 1950 to 1990, the dominant trend was the development of public standards for basic safety and hygiene of milk. These induced the incipient modernization of dairy farming, post harvest, and processing technologies, even though implementation of the regulations was only partial. The dairy sectors were liberalized and privatized circa 1990. This spurred the rapid rise of private standards set by large processors over the 1990s and into the 2000s. These standards are much more stringent than public standards, and induced rapid concentration at the processing and farm levels due to stiff investment requirements. In Brazil, private standards were set mainly to drive down costs in the supply chain in order to reduce the consumer prices in the mass commodities market. In Argentina, private standards were used to develop quality differentiation in the product market. In both countries, in the 2000s a debate has emerged on new roles and approaches for public standards.     

Competitiveness and technical efficiency: Determinants in the groundnut oil sector of India

India imports about half of its domestic consumption needs of edible oils. Groundnuts are a major source of edible oils in India. One of the central problems of groundnut production and processing is huge inefficiencies due to an uncertain production environment owing to rainfed cultivation, the low resource base of smallholder farmers and processors, and the low adoption rates of improved technology. This paper addresses critical issues that impair the groundnut sector’s international competitiveness and efficiency. The paper uses primary data collected from Indian farmers and processors of groundnuts to measure efficiency, and it suggests policies for reducing yield gaps and increasing efficiency. Specific policies suggested from the study are (a) the harnessing of improved varieties with attributes like drought tolerance, high oil content, high productivity for large-scale seed multiplication and distribution by public and private agencies; (b) viable village seed banks and seed networks through cycles of post-rainy season seed multiplication to meet the seed requirements in the rainy season and vice versa; (c) adoption of low-cost technologies to increase profitability and reduce risk; (d) oilseed clusters to facilitate scale and scope economies in processing units; and (e) capital subsidies to accelerate technological upgrading to shed inefficiency in the processing sector. The expected gains in efficiency in the production and processing of oilseeds are expected to result in producer and consumer gains which would justify the proposed incentives for seeds and for technological upgrading in the processing sector.     

Egypt: Food security and food aid

This article examines the multifaceted notions of food security and food aid through a case-study of a rather exceptional country in political terms - Egypt. Egypt has achieved a high degree of food security with lessened reliance on domestic production and has become one of the largest recipients of cereal food aid. The analysis considers significant questions about the interdependence of food security and food aid, the maintainability of an externally dependent food system, its implicit resource costs and its internal distribution and equity impact.     

Challenges of the maize seed industry in eastern and southern Africa: A compelling case for private–public intervention to promote growth

Following the liberalization and restructuring of the seed sector, the maize seed industry in eastern and southern Africa has witnessed a proliferation of private seed companies. Whereas the total number of registered maize seed companies in major maize producing countries increased four-fold between 1997 and 2007, the quantity of seed marketed barely doubled suggesting that the seed production and deployment environment is less than perfect.     

Transferring hybrid maize technology : The role of the private sector

Developing countries have tried a variety of policies concerning new technology as a source of agricultural growth; there is still much debate on which is the most efficient. More study of private methods of technology transfer is needed. This article presents some preliminary statistical tests of the relationships among seed imports, private research, public research and yield. Seed imports and private research are found to be important potential sources of improved technology. Countries which restrict imports and activities by multinational seed companies may impose costs on their farmers and consumers in terms of foregone productivity.     

World population and food supply: can food production keep pace with population growth in the next half-century?

Criteria for assessing the adequacy of a national average diet are proposed, and the global average cereal production per capita needed to provide an adequate average diet is calculated. The technical feasibility of maintaining global food production per capita up to the year 2050 is assessed. The required input of nitrogen fertilizer is estimated and the water supply in relation to crop evapotranspiration is discussed. It is shown that maintenance of the present global cereal production per capita would be accompanied by a moderate increase in grain consumption per capita in the less-developed countries, but that this will involve a major increase in the net import of grain from the more-developed countries. Achievement of a satisfactory average diet in the less-developed countries as a whole cannot be achieved until the population of this group of countries has declined to a level substantially below its future peak.