Thom Jayne, University Foundation Professor of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Michigan State University and Flagship 2 co-leader, conducted the first of the PIM Monthly Webinars on May 23. Thom presented on the topic of the rise of medium-scale farms in Africa and discussed causes and consequences of changing farm size distributions. See abstract and watch the webinar recording.
The new book Structural Change, Fundamentals, and Growth: A Framework and Case Studies edited by Margaret McMillan, Dani Rodrik, and Claudia Sepúlveda examines dynamics of developing countries' economic growth. The sample for case studies includes Brazil, India, Viet Nam and four African countries—Botswana, Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia. This volume is the outcome of a project funded by The World Bank Knowledge for Change Program and supported by the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM). Visit the book launch event page on May 11 at IFPRI for presentations and video and read blog by Margaret McMillan to learn more about this work and its findings.
Tewodaj Mogues and Samuel Benin, as well as PIM Director Karen Brooks, contributed to the new World Bank Africa regional flagship study, Reaping Richer Returns: Public Spending Priorities for Africa Agriculture Productivity Growth. The study explores how effective, efficient, and climate resilient public spending in and for agriculture can be the foundation for transformation and reducing poverty in Africa south of the Sahara. (More about the project here)
Flagship 2 team managing IFPRI's Central Asia Program co-organized The International Conference on Agriculture, Food Security, and Nutrition in Eurasia held in Moscow, Russia, on May 26. The conference was organized by the Eurasian Center for Food Security of the Moscow State University, IFPRI, the World Bank, and two IFPRI-led CGIAR research programs: Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) and Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) with financial support from the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. Read more about the conference in this blog.
Flagship 2 researchers participated in the Annual World Bank Conference on Africa on June 1-2, 2017 at UC Berkeley, CA. Sam Benin presented his work on Returns to public agricultural spending in the cocoa and noncocoa subsectors of Ghana. Katrina Kosec made a presentation of her work with Hosaena Ghebru, Brian Holtemeyer, Valerie Mueller, and Emily Schmidt on The Effect of Land Inheritance on Youth Employment and Migration Decisions: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia.
In her blog Harnessing information to improve public services for the rural poor: What are the possibilities, and what are the limits? Katrina Kosec summarizes the discussion during the workshop on the role of information services in improving rural services and governance held at IFPRI on April 7. The workshop was jointly organized by IFPRI’s Strengthening Institutions and Governance (SIG) group and PIM (video recording available).
Chance Mwabutwa (IFPRI Malawi Strategy Support Program (MaSSP)) prepared a policy memorandum analysing the 2017/2018 agricultural budget of Malawi. The memo was prepared at the request of the Department of Agricultural Planning Services of the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development (MoAIWD) of Malawi. This MaSSP blog summarizes the main findings of the analysis.
The recent MaSSP technical report, prepared by Catherine Ragasa and Chiyu Niu in response to the request by the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development (MoAIWD) provides an assessment of the state of agricultural extension and advisory services in Malawi. Read more in this blog and this interview inspired by the MaSSP extension work.
The results of the study on public services and decentralized transfer systems in Tanzania (by David K. Evans, Brian Holtemeyer, and Katrina Kosec) co-funded by PIM in Phase 1 were published in the recent issue of the World Bank Economic Review. Read more about the Tanzania cash transfer project here.
Abay, Kibrom A.; Blalock, Garrick; and Berhane, Guush. 2017. Locus of control and technology adoption in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Ethiopia. Presented at CSAE Conference 2017: Economic Development in Africa. St Catherine's College, Oxford, March 19-21, 2017. https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=CSAE2017&paper_id=846
Abay, Kibrom A.; Berhane, Guush; and Assefa, Thomas Woldu. 2017. Locus of control, hyperbolic preferences, and demand for commitment and savings: Evidence from rural Ethiopia. Presented at CSAE Conference 2017: Economic Development in Africa. St Catherine's College, Oxford, March 19-21, 2017. https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=CSAE2017&paper_id=644
Abay, Kibrom A.; Koru, Bethlehem; Abate, Gashaw T.; and Berhane, Guush. 2017. Synopsis: How should rural financial cooperatives be best organized? Evidence from Ethiopia. ESSP II Research Note 66. Washington, D.C. and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131189
Ahmed, Akhter U. 2017. Patterns of farm mechanisation in Bangladesh. In Rural mechanisation: A driver in agricultural change and rural development. Mandal, M. A. Sattar; Biggs, Stephen D.; and Justice, Scott E. (Eds.) Chapter 5. Pp. 119-134. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM). https://inm.org.bd/inm-published-a-new-book-on-rural-mechanisation/
Andam, Kwaw S.; Tschirley, David; Asante, Seth; Al-Hassan, Ramatu M.; and Diao, Xinshen. 2017. Observing Ghana’s food system transformation through an assessment of processed food retail in four major cities. Presented at CSAE Conference 2017: Economic Development in Africa. St Catherine's College, Oxford, March 19-21, 2017. https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=CSAE2017&paper_id=888
Babu, Suresh Chandra; Oyedipe, E.O.; Ajakaiye, and Olusanya; Ajoni, K. 2017. Strategies for restructuring the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria: Process, opportunities, and lessons. NSSP Working Paper 41. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131230
Bachewe, Fantu Nisrane; Hirvonen, Kalle; Minten, Bart; and Yimer, Feiruz. 2017. The rising costs of nutritious foods in Ethiopia. ESSP II Research Note 67. Washington, D.C.; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Ethiopia Development Research Institute (EDRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131234
Bell, Andrew R.; Ward, Patrick S.; Ashfaq, Muhammad; and Davies, Stephen. 2017. Can agricultural aspirations influence preferences for new technologies? IFPRI Discussion Paper 1636. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131156
Debnath, Deepayan; Babu, Suresh Chandra; Ghosh, Parijat; and Helmer, Michael. 2017. Impact of India’s National Food Security Act on domestic and international rice markets. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1635. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131151
Diao, Xinshen. 2017. The role of foreign aid in the fast-growing Rwandan economy: Assessing growth alternatives. In Foreign Capital Flows and Economic Development in Africa, eds. Evelyn Wamboye and Esubalew Alehegn Tiruneh. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan US. Part VI: Pp 351-373. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53496-5_16
Diao, Xinshen and Silver, Jed. 2017. A spatial analysis of youth livelihoods and rural transformation in Ghana. GSSP Policy Note 12. Washington, D.C. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131315
Ecker, Olivier; Van Asselt, Joanna. 2017. Food and nutrition security in transforming Ghana: A descriptive analysis of national trends and regional patterns. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1650. Washington, D.C. https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131319
Evans, David K.; Holtemeyer, Brian; and Kosec, Katrina. Cash transfers and health: Evidence from Tanzania. World Bank Economic Review. Article in press. First published online April 6, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhx001
Gupta, Sunipa Das; Minten, Bart; Rao, N. Chandrasekhara; and Reardon, Thomas. The rapid diffusion of herbicides in farming in India: Patterns, determinants, and effects on labor productivity. The European Journal of Development Research. Article in Press. First published online on May 31, 2017.
Hoddinott, John F. and Mekasha, Tseday J. 2017. Social protection, household size and its determinants: Evidence from Ethiopia. ESSP Working Paper 107. Washington, D.C. and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Ethiopia Development Research Institute (EDRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131235
Kanbur, Ravi; Wang, Yue; and Zhang, Xiaobo. 2017. The great Chinese inequality turnaround. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1637. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131158
Kosec, Katrina; Ghebru, Hosaena; Holtemeyer, Brian; Mueller, Valerie; and Schmidt, Emily. 2017. The effect of land inheritance on youth employment and migration decisions: Evidence from rural Ethiopia. Washington, D.C. and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131116
Kosec, Katrina; and Mo, Cecilia Hyunjung. 2017. Aspirations and the role of social protection: evidence from a natural disaster in rural Pakistan. World Development. Available online 29 April 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2017.03.039
Mandal, M. A. Sattar, ed.; Biggs, Stephen D., ed.; Justice, Scott E., ed. 2017. Rural mechanisation: A driver in agricultural change and rural development. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM). https://inm.org.bd/inm-published-a-new-book-on-rural-mechanisation/
McMillan, Margaret S., ed.; Rodrik, Dani, ed.; and Sepúlveda, Claudia, ed. 2017. Structural change, fundamentals, and growth: A framework and case studies: Synopsis. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://dx.doi.org/10.2499/9780896292147 (Book chapters available here)
Mwabutwa, Chance. 2017. Tracking agricultural spending when government structures and accounting systems change: the case of Malawi. African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Vol. 12 No 2. (June 2017) https://www.afjare.org/resources/issues/vol_12_no2/2.%20Mwabutwa%20Pauw.pdf
Mwabutwa, Chance. 2017. Localized public investment and agricultural performance in Malawi: Synopsis. MaSSP Policy Note 27. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131141
Perrihan, Al-Riffai; Breisinger, Clemens; Mondal, Md. Hossain Alam; Ringler, Claudia; Wiebelt, Manfred; and Zhu, Tingju. 2017. Linking the economics of water, energy, and food: A nexus modeling approach. Egypt SSP Working Paper 4. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131154 (WLE and PIM (as part of the Egypt Strategy Support Program))
Ragasa, C., Chapoto, A. 2017. Moving in the right direction? The role of price subsidies in fertilizer use and maize productivity in Ghana. Food Security 9(2): 329-353. https://doi.org/doi:10.1007/s12571-017-0661-7
Ragasa, Catherine; and Chapoto, Anthony. 2017. Limits to green revolution in rice in Africa: The case of Ghana. Land Use Policy 66: 304-321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.04.052
Ragasa, Catherine; Lambrecht, Isabel; and Kufoalor, Doreen S. 2017. Limitations of contract farming as a pro-poor strategy: The case of maize outgrower schemes in upper West Ghana. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1626. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131117
Ragasa, C., S. Thornsbury, and S. Joshi. 2017. Dynamics of EU Food Safety Certification: A Survival Analysis of Firm Decisions, Agricultural and Food Economics 5:11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40100-017-0080-2 (also related to the work of Flagship 3)
Ragasa, C., and J. Ulimwengu. 2017. Challenges in rebuilding agricultural extension system in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Chapter 3, in McNamara, P. and A. Moore (eds). Building Agricultural Extension Capacity in Post-Conflict Settings. CABI, UK. https://www.cabi.org/bookshop/book/9781786390592
Rao, P. Parthasarathy; Babu, Suresh Chandra; Weerahewa, Jeevika; and Joshi, Pramod Kumar. 2017. Agricultural transformation in Sri Lanka: policy implications and way forward. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); New Delhi, India. https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15738coll2/id/131227/rec/1
Tang, Xiaoyang. 2017. Chinese investment in Ghana’s manufacturing sector. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1628. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131119
Thapa, Ganesh; Kumar, Anjani; and Joshi, Pramod Kumar. 2017. Agricultural diversification in Nepal: Status, determinants, and its impact on rural poverty. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1634. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll2/id/131153
Zhang, Xin; Zhang, Xiaobo; and Chen, Xi. Happiness in the air: How does a dirty sky affect mental health and subjective well-being? Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. Article in press. First published online April 5, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2017.04.001
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