An Econometric Analysis of Policy Measures for Improving Food Security and Welfare in Developing Countries| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Dr. Christian Kuhlgatz | | Laufzeit: | 1.10.2007 - 31.12.2012 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | In Entwicklungsländern werden verschiedenste Politikmaßnahmen angewendet, um die Bevölkerung vor Hunger und Mangelernährung zu schützen. Das Ziel der vorliegenden kumulativen Arbeit ist es, den Beitrag der unterschiedlichen Politiken zur Verbesserung der Ernährungssicherheit herauszuarbeiten. Hierfür wird zunächst im ersten Beitrag der Arbeit ein neues mikroökonomisches Modell der Ernährungssicherheit entworfen, welches den Effekt der Budgetbeschränkung auf die Nährstoffzufuhr und die damit verbundenen Gesundheitsauswirkungen modelliert. Hierbei wird gezeigt, dass der Ernährungssicherheitsbegriff miteinschließt, dass simultan alle lebensnotwendigen Nährstoffe erschwinglich sein müssen. Vor diesem Hintergrund werden die in Entwicklungsländern verfolgten Strategien zur Verbesserung der Ernährungssicherung diskutiert. Im zweiten Beitrag wird am Beispiel des Ghanaischen Agrarsektors ein Fokus auf die oftmals verfolgte Strategie gelegt, lokale Einkommen mithilfe von Exportförderung zu stärken. Hierfür werden ökonometrische Verfahren genutzt, welche verzerrungsfreie Schätzergebnisse gewährleisten auch wenn Exportfruchtanbauer sich deutlich von anderen Landwirten unterscheiden. Die Resultate zeigen, dass der Zugriff auf finanzielle Ressourcen sowie die Vermittlungsrolle von staatlichen Unternehmen und Kooperativen förderlich für den Exportfruchtanbau sind. Exportfruchtanbau hat positive Auswirkungen auf den Lebensstandard der Farmhaushalte, allerdings ist dieser Effekt nichtlinear und kommt vor allem bei hoher Spezialisierung zum Tragen. Bei erheblichen Nahrungsmittelengpässen in armen Regionen wird oftmals das kontrovers diskutierte Mittel der Nahrungsmittelhilfe angewendet. In Anbetracht der Notwendigkeit eines schnellen und an der Bedürftigkeit ausgerichteten Handelns, analysieren der dritte und der vierte Beitrag dieser Arbeit unterschiedliche Aspekte der Nahrungsmittelhilfevergabe von Geberländern. Im dritten Beitrag werden die wesentlichen Determinanten der Nahrungsmittelhilfe der sechs größten Geber ermittelt. Ein besonderer Schwerpunkt dieses Beitrags liegt in der Koordinierung von Nahrungsmittelhilfe aus unterschiedlichen Geberquellen. Diesbezüglich wurde mithilfe einer Systemschätzung eine signifikante Interaktion zwischen allen Geberländern nachgewiesen. Zudem lieferten alle Geber vermehrt an ärmere Länder, ließen sich allerdings stark von den Liefermengen des Vorjahres prägen. Der vierte Beitrag erweitert die bisherigen Studien zur Nahrungsmittelhilfevergabe, indem er erstmals die Lieferung bedeutsamer Nährstoffe (Energie, Eisen, Vitamin A und Zink) untersucht. Darüber hinaus wird ein ökonometrisches Verfahren genutzt, das die nicht messbaren Unterschiede von Empfängerländern berücksichtigt und dabei unrealistisch restriktive Annahmen vermeidet. Die Resultate zeigen, dass der untersuchte Geber, die USA, trotz erkennbarer Managementprobleme und Einflüssen von Geberinteressen und Medien in der Lage ist, Nährstoffe gezielt an bedürftige Bevölkerungsgruppen zu liefern.
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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Auswirkung von boden- und wassererhaltenden Maßnahmen auf die landwirtschaftliche Produktivität und das Einkommen im Reisanbau in Nord-Ghana| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Dr. Liane Faltermeier | | Laufzeit: | 1.4.2004 - 28.2.2009 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Der Einsatz von Ertrag steigernden Anbautechniken, insbesondere von boden- und wassererhaltenden Maßnahmen, ist essentiell, um die landwirtschaftliche Produktivität in Ghana zu erhöhen. Im ersten Schritt untersucht die Studie die mikroökonomische Entscheidung über den Einsatz von verbesserten Boden- und Wassererhaltungmaßnahmen auf Haushaltsebene unter Risikoaversion. Besondere Berücksichtigung sollen dabei politik-relevante sozio-ökonomische Faktoren (Gesundheitszustand, Netzwerkaktivität) finden, um Politikempfehlungen zur Erreichung eines erhöhten Technologieeinsatzes abzuleiten. Von besonderem Interesse sind im zweiten Schritt die Auswirkung auf den Einsatz komplementärer Techniken (verbessertes Saatgut, Dünge- und Pflanzenschutzmittel). Dabei sollen auch die Eigenschaften der Techniken identifiziert werden, die eine Anwendung begünstigen. Um die mit den verschiedenen Techniken erreichte Produktivität zu untersuchen, wird aufgrund des selectivity-bias ein von Lee (1978) entwickelter endogenous-switching-regressionAnsatz verwendet. Damit kann Ertrag, Inputnachfrage und Einkommen für die verschiedenen Anwendergruppen verglichen und die Determinanten in den jeweiligen Gruppen bestimmt werden. Die Produktions- und Haushaltsdaten werden in der Guinea Savannah durch Interviews erhoben und qualitativ durch participatory-rural-appraisal (PRA) bewertet. Die Zusammenarbeit erfolgt mit dem Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI), Tamale sowie der University of Ghana, Legon, Accra.
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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Climate Change, Farm Productivity and Nutritional Status of Farm Households in Northern Nigeria| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Muhammad Baba Bello, M.Sc. | | Beginn: | 1.11.2011 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | At the core of the ongoing debate on the adverse effects of climate change in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there is the issue of food security. Food availability (and to some extent food access) is principally determined by agricultural productivity for most farming households. Agriculture is the mainstay of many SSA countries and the predominant form of economic activity in the rural areas where majority of the poor live. This region of the world is deemed most vulnerable to climate change, with poverty rates reaching as high as more than 40 percent of the entire population. In this part of Africa, millions of small-scale subsistent farmers cultivate less than one hectare of land, produce food crops in extremely challenging conditions. The production environment is characterized by a joint combination of low land productivity and harsh weather conditions. These result in very low yields and food insecurity. With low diversified economies and reliance on rainfed agriculture, SSAs development prospects have been closely associated with climate. However, a plethora of climate models have recently projected further reduction in agricultural productivity due to climate change by up to 50% by 2050, a scenario that might further severely constrain food availability and access. Ultimately, where the quantity of food is reduced, then so is intake of micronutrients. In addition, agricultural productivity is closely linked to farm profitability and low incomes generally limit access to food and health care, all of which affect nutritional status of farm households.
Therefore, as the debate on global climate change has moved from scientific circles to policy circles with nation-states more serious now than before in exploring a range of response strategies to deal with this complex phenomenon. One of the crucial inputs needed for policy formulation on mitigation and adaptation is information on the potential impacts of climate change on various climate-sensitive sectors. The impacts of climate change on agriculture are likely to be regionally distinct and highly heterogeneous spatially, requiring sophisticated understanding of causes and effects and careful design and dissemination of appropriate responses. Given the strategic economic position of Nigeria in the West African sub-region, this study aims to complement the existing literature on climate change by analysing the productive and nutritional implications of adaptation to climate change by traditional farm households in the drought-prone areas of Northern Nigerian. Impact of climate change on agriculture needs considerable attention in Nigeria, as they are closely linked to the food security and poverty status of a majority of the population.
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Consumer behaviour concerning functional foods| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Dr. Kai-Brit Bechtold | | Beginn: | 1.3.2009 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Functional foods as a marketing term was initiated in Japan in the late 1980s and is used to describe foods fortified with compounds or ingredients capable of generating health benefits. This concept has become more and more popular with consumers because of a growing awareness of the relation between healthiness, nutrition, and diet. Functional food ingredients include for example probiotics, prebiotics, vitamins, and minerals and are found in such diverse products as fermented milk and yoghurt, sports drinks, baby foods, sugar-free confectionery, and chewing gum. In Europe, Germany represents one of the most important countries within the functional food market. Although the market share of functional food is below 1% of the total food and drinks market, market estimations assume an increase of 5% in Europe until 2013. In Germany in the years 1999 and 2000 19% of all innovations in the total food and drinks market were traced back to functional foods. Furthermore, 20% of these functional food innovations have been functional dairy products. Hence, besides soft drinks dairy products play an important role with regard to functional food innovations. Due to this development it is of major interest for food policy and industry to investigate empirically demand, determinants of demand as well as consumers preferences and willingness to pay for functional dairy foods.
The study will conduct a survey in Germany where a stated choice experiment is used to examine acceptance of and willingness to pay for functional dairy products. Only a few authors have analysed willingness to pay for functional foods using choice experiments. None of the studies attempted to focus on dairy products even though the most active area within the functional foods market in Europe are probiotic dairy products, particularly, probiotic yoghurts and milks. The present study does not only contribute to the growing literature by employing the choice experiment methodology regarding the acceptance of functional foods, but it also pushes it to the next level applying it in the context of dairy products.
This study takes place within Food Chain Plus (FoCus) a project at the Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel which analyses the food supply chain along the entire process chain. FoCus integrates the preventive approach of food science research and it develops innovative concepts in relation to the food supply chain. There are four cooperative projects within FoCus: production of milk and efficiency of resources, feeding and animal health, genetic variability and functional milk compounds, evaluation of health effects and consumer behaviour.
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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Determinants of Coordination and Supply Chain Performance The Case of Fresh Milk Supply Chains in Kenia| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Dr. Eliud Abucheli Birachi | | Förderer: | DAAD | | Laufzeit: | 1.4.2004 - 31.8.2006 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Typical problems impacting the Kenyan agricultural sector ranging from unfavourable weather conditions, technical production skills, capital insufficiency to inadequate markets have been catalogued. The changes in the general macroeconomic environment such as opening up of the markets have also brought about newer challenges for the participants in the various sectors of the economy. The changes have impacted differently on the prices and quantities of various products for both producers and consumers. Whereas many production and or marketing based studies have been useful in identifying key solution areas, institutional and management aspects in the agricultural sector have not been adequately addressed. Based on the Transaction Cost Theory and the Supply Chain Management frameworks, this study assesses the coordination mechanisms employed in the milk industry, evaluates the link between the coordination mechanisms and the transaction costs and establishes the implications the coordination mechanisms have on the performance of the milk supply chains. Both primary and secondary data collection methods are used to collect data at three levels of the supply chain; the producer, processor and retailers stages of the supply chain. This study is expected to provide useful insights into ways and means of understanding how chain relations can be improved for the benefit of the entire supply chain members and especially the producers and the consumer of milk products.
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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Driving Forces of Rural Poverty and Distributional Change in Sub-Saharian Africa: The Cases of Burkina Faso, Ghana and Uganda| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Dr. Christiane El Jarbi | | Förderer: | DFG | | Laufzeit: | 1.10.2006 - 30.11.2009 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Driving forces of rural poverty and distributional change in Sub-Saharan Africa: The cases of Burkina Faso, Ghana and Uganda
The first of the eight Millennium Development Goals called out in 2000 aims, inter alia, at reducing the proportion of people living on less than 1$ a day by half until 2015 but most of the developing countries will not succeed in achieving this goal. Especially sub-Saharan Africa is in all likelihood going to fail. To better understand the correlation between changes in poverty and, for example, policies, climatic conditions, and peoples individual endowments and to be able to reveal international accordances and differences, case studies of three Sub-Saharan African countries, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Uganda, are to be analysed. Since most of the poverty emerges rather in rural regions than in urban areas the analysis basically aims at identifying the major driving forces of rural poverty and changes in distribution. Thereby, the analysis targets to identify macro as well as local and micro determinants of the households income and furthermore to detect possible linkages, especially between the micro and the macro level. In particular, the project plans to specify a comprehensive model of rural income generation accounting for the major constraints at the micro level as well as a macro model capturing the transmission of shocks and policies to the household level. Finally, the combination of both of the models in a micro-macro simulation will serve to quantify the impact of the main country-specific shocks and policy reforms on poverty and income distribution.
As this analysis is realised in collaboration with the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the University of Göttingen, the University of Kiel concentrates on dealing with the Living Standard Survey of Ghana, whereas special attention is turned to income diversification as the main area of research. Income diversification as a poverty alleviation tool is rampant in rural areas either as a chance to manage risk ex ante or to serve as an ex post coping strategy. The aim of this research is to analyse the incidence and the composition of income diversification and to derive suitable hypotheses to examine potential constraints and advantages influencing the poors decision behaviour in respect of different income sources. Constraints like limited access to education or medical care as well as incomplete financial markets possess the potential to negatively influence the income generation process. Thereby, based on the findings of the study, main fields for future policies and programmes are to be detected in order to improve living conditions in rural Ghana.
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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Economic valuation of phenotypic cattle trait preferences in trypanosomosis prevalent production systems of Eastern Africa: Implications for sustainable cattle breeding programs| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Emily Awuor Ouma, M.Sc. | | Förderer: | ETH Zürich, Schweiz | Mitwirkende
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| International Livestock Research Institute ILRI, Nairobi, Kenia | | Laufzeit: | 1.11.2004 - 31.5.2007 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | There is an urgent need to improve livestock productivity in subSaharan Africa in order to keep pace with expected increases in demand for meat and milk. Breed improvement provides key entry points for increasing productivity in cattle populations especially those susceptible to animal diseases such as trypanosomosis. However, there are tendencies for breed improvement programs to focus on single, market driven traits such as milk or meat production in isolation of broader livestock system functions and constraints. Some of the benefits and traits realized from livestock production systems do not have market values. Consequently, relying solely on market-driven traits potentially leads to genotypes not well adapted to the environment and not capable of performing the multiple roles that cattle assume in production systems of developing countries. The broad objective of the study is to assess the contribution of economic valuation of cattle keepers trait preferences for design of sustainable cattle breeding programs in pastoral and crop-livestock systems in selected sites in Eastern Africa. This project is being carried out together with the Statistical Animal Genetics group of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich.
Ökonomische Bewertung der Viehmerkmalspräferenzen von Kleinbauern in Ostafrika zum Design von Zuchtprogrammen im Kontext der Trypanotoleranz
In der Sub-Sahara besteht dringender Bedarf, die Produktivität der Tierhaltung zu erhöhen, um die steigende Nachfrage nach Fleisch und Milch zu befriedigen. Zuchtverbesserung stellt einen Hauptausgangspunkt zur Verbesserung der Produktivität von Rindern dar, insbesondere bei Anfälligkeit für Trypanosomosis. Dennoch ist bei der Verbesserung der Zuchtprogramme die Tendenz festzustellen, dass isoliert auf einzelne, marktbestimmte Eigenschaften wie Milch oder Fleischproduktion fokussiert wird, ohne weitere Funktionen und Beschränkungen der Tierhaltung zu berücksichtigen. Einige Nutzen stiftende Aspekte und Merkmale der Tierpro-duktion haben keinen Marktwert. Infolgedessen führt die alleinige Berücksichtigung von marktbestimmten Merkmalen möglicherweise zu Genotypen, die nicht allzu gut an die Um-weltbedingungen angepasst sind und nicht in der Lage sind, die vielfältigen Funktionen zu erfüllen, die den Rindern von den Kleinbauern zugedacht werden. Es gibt wenig Belege und Informationen über Tierzuchtprogramme, die die Prioritäten nach den Präferenzen der Rin-derhalter setzen, obwohl deren Mitwirkung zu der Entwicklung von geeigneten Zuchtpro-grammen betragen kann. Die vorliegende Studie hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, diese Lücke zu schließen, indem sie die ökonomischen Werte für die verschiedenen Rindereigenschaften in verschiedenen Produktionssystemen in Ostafrika herleitet. Dabei soll besonders die Präferenz für Trypanotoleranz, die durch Zuchtprogramme eingeführt werden kann, die sich resistente Genotypen zu Nutze machen, relativ zu anderen Merkmalen berücksichtigt werden. Darüber hinaus versucht die Studie die verschiedenen Wege zu beurteilen, über die Rinderhalter Zu-gang zu genetisch verbessertem Tierbestand bekommen können, die ihren Merkmalspräferenzen entsprechen.
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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Economic Valuation of the Preferred Traits of Indigenous Cattle in Ethiopia| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Girma Tesfahun Kassie, M.Sc. | | Laufzeit: | 1.4.2007 - 28.2.2008 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Economic Valuation of the Preferred Traits of Indigenous Cattle in Ethiopia
The massive efforts over the last five decades to introduce exotic cattle genotypes, merely for improving the commercially important milk and meat outputs, show that conservation of the indigenous animal genetic resources has not been a priority in Ethiopia. Cattle are, however, kept for a multiple of functions in rural Ethiopia. Cattle keepers and buyers consider different phenotypic characteristics, related to the functions they want to obtain, in identifying the animals they keep and/or buy. These considerations reflect the preferences of these keepers and buyers who essentially determine the structure of the cattle population. Improvement and genetic conservation of the cattle population should, therefore, start from identifying, prioritizing and economic valuation of the preferred traits of the animals. This research is designed to contribute in identifying the preferences of cattle producers and consumers, estimating the relative economic values of the preferred traits of cattle, identifying market opportunities, identifying policy options, and in developing a framework for community based management of indigenous cattle genetic resources. The research focuses on central Ethiopia and on mixed crop livestock semi-subsistence production systems.
Researcher: Girma Tesfahun Kassie
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai
Co-Advisor: Prof. Dr. Clemens Wollny
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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Economies of Scale im Haushaltskonsum aufgrund von Produktdifferenzierung| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Silke Schmitz, M.Sc. | | Laufzeit: | 1.10.2004 - 30.9.2007 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Die deutsche Ernährungswirtschaft ist gekennzeichnet durch ein breit gefächertes Angebot unterschiedlichster Produkte. Um hier dauerhaften Unternehmenserfolg und wachstum garantieren zu können, gelten Prozess- und Produktinnovationen sowie eine erfolgreiche Pro-duktdifferenzierung vom Wettbewerb als zentrale Strategien in der Unternehmensführung. Als eine Form der Produktdifferenzierung gilt das Angebot unterschiedlicher Mengen zu unterschiedlichen Preisen durch die Produktion variierender Verpackungsgrößen durch ein und denselben Hersteller. Ziel der Untersuchung ist es, die Relevanz der Differenzierungsstrategie der Preisdiskriminierung 2. Grades auf dem deutschen Nahrungs- und Genussmittelmarkt zu analysieren, insbesondere die Bedeutsamkeit des Angebots unterschiedlicher Verpackungsgrößen durch ein und denselben Hersteller in den unterschiedlichen Produktbereichen der Ernährungswirtschaft herauszustellen. Darüber hinaus soll eine Analyse der einflussnehmenden Variablen Aufschluss darüber geben, welche Faktoren das Angebot unterschiedlicher Verpackungsgrößen determiniert. Ein besonderer Fokus soll hierbei auf die Variable der Haushaltsgröße gelegt werden. Durch die Abgabe unterschiedlicher Produktmengen zu variierenden Preisen haben große Haushalte die Möglichkeit, Economies of Scale im Haushaltskonsum zu realisieren. Hierdurch würde es mit steigender Haushaltsgröße zu einer Reduktion der Nahrungsmittelausgaben pro Kopf kommen. Dieser Zusammenhang wurde bereits mehrfach in der Literatur belegt, jedoch nur selten auf das Phänomen der direkten Economies of Scale im Haushaltskonsum zurückgeführt. Diesbezüglich soll in einem zweiten Schritt ermittelt werden, ob mit steigender Haushaltsgröße die Nahrungsmittelausgaben pro Kopf aufgrund von geringeren Preisen pro gekaufter Einheit sinken.
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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Food Aid Allocation Policies: Donor Coordination and Responsiveness to the Needs of Recipient Countries| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Dr. Christian Kuhlgatz | | Beginn: | 1.9.2007 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Food aid is considered as the most direct instrument for fighting hunger and malnutrition in developing countries. However, this policy instrument has been continuously criticized as being misallocated due to non-humanitarian donor interests. While dramatically risen food prices have imposed additional pressure on net-food-buying households over the past years, food aid deliveries have almost continuously declined since 1999 to a record low of 5.9 million tons in 2007. Against this background, there are many recent pleas for more effective use of food aid resources. Food aid has also been a contentious issue at the Doha Round, where developing countries called for binding commitments from donors to ensure that aid flows actually respond to recipients demand.
The present study adds new empirical evidence to this controversial debate by investigating whether global food aid as well as food aid of the main five donor countries (USA, European Community Aid, EU Member States Aid, Canada, Japan and Australia) actually have been targeted to those countries most in need. Furthermore, this study analyzes to what extent geopolitical donor interests influence aid allocation and, for the first time, sheds light on the aid coordination behaviour of donor countries. Therefore, annual data are analyzed that include 151 recipients and cover a period from 1972 to 2004.
For estimating the overall performance of globally aggregated food aid, a censored least absolute deviation (CLAD) model is employed. This semi-parametric approach ensures consistent estimates for a wide class of error distributions and in the presence of heteroscedasticity. The empirical results indicate that global food aid is significantly targeted to poorer countries, as well as countries facing temporary food crises, sudden natural disasters and conflicts. In contrast, no significant responsiveness to food availability levels and gradual natural disasters is found in global food aid.
Food aid flows of the main donor countries are simultaneously estimated by employing a multivariate Tobit model. This specification yields more efficient estimates than a single equation approach due to allowing correlation between the error terms of each donor equation. The estimated correlation coefficients suggest that all donors significantly cooperate with each other: food aid shipments of other donors are generally treated as complements. The analyzed donor countries differ considerably in their response to the various need indicators, but have in common that they significantly target their food aid shipments to poorer countries. While highly significant persistence is found in each donors as well as global food aid allocation, variables representing donor interests (political freedom and civil liberties index, geographic proximity to donor) were generally insignificant at conventional levels.
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HIV/AIDS in rural sub-Saharan Africa| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Toman Omar Mahmoud | | Laufzeit: | 1.12.2006 - 31.7.2010 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | HIV/AIDS in rural sub-Saharan Africa
Large parts of sub-Saharan Africa have long been trapped in the vicious circle of poverty and ill-health. The arrival of HIV/AIDS, however, has aggravated the situation in an unprecedented way. As the epidemic hits adults at the peak of their productivity and earning capacity, it disables and kills the persons on whom families rely for their very survival. Due to incomplete or missing credit and insurance markets, households have developed several strategies, including the reallocation of labour and the sale of assets, to cope with these shocks. Nonetheless, these strategies are likely to reduce the long-run income-generating capacity of affected households. In addition, given the nature of transmission, households are quite likely to experience multiple deaths, which additionally compromises the households ability to cope. Given that most African households are located in rural areas and base their income-generating activities on agriculture, this project has a strict focus on the impact of HIV/AIDS on rural livelihoods. HIV/AIDS has been found to have profound effects on subsistence agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. These include the sale or slaughter of livestock, reductions in the area of cultivated land, and less crop diversity as cultivation is shifted to less labour-intensive and less nutritious crops. Against this backdrop, this project aims to analyse the following set of questions.
What is the impact of HIV/AIDS on the rural distribution of income?
To what extent can HIV/AIDS-induced changes in subsistence agricultural production systems be linked to the food and nutritional outcomes of affected households?
How is the intra-household allocation of resources affected by HIV/AIDS?
To answer these questions, LSMS survey data from the Kagera district in Tanzania are used.
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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Impact of agricultural technology and market access on the welfare of rice producing households in Nigeria| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Taiwo Osun, M.Sc. | | Beginn: | 1.4.2011 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | The roles of Green Revolution in increasing food production, poverty reduction and fostering overall economic development in Asian and Latin America and countries are well documented in literature. Green Revolution which started in Mexico in the 1940s had its roots in the adoption of agricultural technologies specifically; high yielding varieties (HYV), irrigation and chemical inputs Agricultural technologies can have both direct and indirect effects. The direct effects of adoption of improved technology include productivity gains and lower per unit costs of production, which can raise incomes of producers. Indirect effects include lower food prices, increased employment and wages for farm labour and production of cheap raw materials required for rapid industrialization However, quantitative evidence of the impact of agricultural technology on rural households welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa is thin because only few empirical studies have been done hitherto. Rice is an important food crop whose popularity and consumption have been on a steady increase in Nigeria in the last four decades. Its consumption has risen tremendously as a result of the accelerating population growth, rapid urbanisation and changing family occupational structure. Available data show that, out of about 5 million tons of rice consumed annually, only 3 million tons are produced locally. The balance of 2 million tons is imported into the country . In a bid to close the gap between rice demand and supply, Nigerian government has implemented different policies, in order to encourage local production. Rice cultivation therefore offers a means of employment to many Nigerian smallholder farmers. Nevertheless, low productivity and low returns on farming are disincentive to rice production in the country. The growth being recorded in domestic production is largely due to area expansion. The average yield of rice in Nigeria is very low (currently 1.8 tons/ha), compared to 9.42 tons/ha in Egypt, 7.54 tons/ha in the USA and 6.55 tons/ha in Japan (FAOSTAT). In the 1990s, the African Rice Center (formerly WARDA) developed the New Rice for Africa (NERICA) varieties, which are inter-specific crosses between the Oryza sativa high yielding varieties from Asia and the locally adapted multi-stress resistant Oryza glaberrina African rice species. NERICA varieties have higher yield potentials, are highly responsive in low input and rain-fed agricultural systems and have short growth cycle. These improved rice varieties are also resistant to African pests and diseases, have higher protein, better taste, and better quality. Although the NERICA varieties have been widely promoted in Nigeria, its dissemination is limited, necessitating a need for studies to understand the adoption behavior and the contribution of NERICA technology to productivity, income and poverty reduction amongst the rice producing households. Increased agricultural productivity is expected to lower per unit cost of production and thus increases the income of the producers. Since increased income generation is essential in poverty reduction, an understanding of the contribution of high yielding varieties to profitability of rice farming enterprise is highly relevant in this study. Furthermore, assessing the economic benefits of adoption the new technology by comparing profit efficiencies of adopters and non-adopters is important, since the rice producers are market-oriented than subsistence Rice postharvest processing in Nigeria is dominated by cottage and small scale processors, whose activities are grossly undermined by low technology, infrastructural and institutional factors. Consequently locally produced rice is less preferred to imported rice because of poor grain quality. To address issues associated with grain quality, the private sector was encouraged to establish high technology rice mills to buy and process rice into better quality. This provides farmers with good opportunities in industrial market participation in contrast to the traditional practice of selling to the middle men at the farm gate. There is vast empirical evidence that show that smallholder farmers involved in industrial market participation and contract farming realize greater net earnings per ha or per kg of the produce marketed compared to the non participants Participants also have better opportunities such as access to credit from the buyers and the assurance of market to sell their crops after production when compared to farmers selling their products in traditional channels However, the welfare effects of industrial marketing participation in Nigeria has received less attention. This study therefore also examines the impact of industrial market participation on the welfare of the rice producing households in Nigeria
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Impact of Land Tenure Arrangements, Bt Cotton Adoption and Market Participation on Welfare of Farm Households in Rural Pakistan| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Dr. Akhter Ali | | Laufzeit: | 1.1.2006 - 31.7.2010 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Pakistan is the fourth largest cotton producing country in the world after China, USA and India. Cotton and cotton products contribute about 3.2 percent to GDP and 60-65 % to foreign exchange earnings of the country. Cotton production supports millions of farm families in Pakistan. Recently genetically modified (Bt) cotton varieties are grown by farmers in Pakistan. Due to highly skewed land distribution pattern in Pakistan, one third of the farmers are tenant farmers. Tenant farmers have few land rights and very less resources. Literature on farmers market participation is mostly missing in the past, particularly in Pakistan. In this dissertation three important aspects of cotton production and marketing are focused, i.e. adoption and impact of Bt cotton, land rights influence on farmers decision to invest in land improvement measures and efficiency level, and cotton farmers market participation.
For the study, cross sectional data set of 325 cotton farmers was collected in 2007 from seven highest cotton producing districts in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The study estimated the adoption and impact of Bt cotton on household welfare by employing the propensity score matching approach. Land rights influence on farmers decision to invest in land improvement measures is estimated by employing the multivariate Tobit model, while cotton producers technical, allocative and economic efficiency are estimated by employing translog profit and cost frontier models. For the cotton marketing analysis, propensity score matching approach is employed for cotton net returns.
The results regarding adoption and impact of genetically modified cotton indicate that adopters of Bt cotton technology are getting 50-60 kg per acre higher yields, while the average households incomes are higher by rupees 16500-17000. The demand for pesticide is lower among adopter household in the range of 0.62-0.68 litres per acre. The probability of adopters being poor is found to be lower by about 13.5-14.3 percent, relative to non-adopters. The land rights results indicate that owner cultivated lands exhibit the higher levels of technical, allocative and economic efficiency compared to fixed-renters and sharecroppers. The results of farmers market participation indicate that net returns are positive and significant for the farmers selling at market compared to farmers selling at farm gate.
The present study provides important policy implications. Since Bt cotton adoption have positive and significant impact among cotton growers, particularly targeting the small scale farmers with the new agricultural technology can help them a way out of poverty. Policies in this direction include increasing cotton farmers access to information to reduce uncertainty about new technologies and formal credit for them to overcome the liquidity constraints. Since owners are technically, allocativelly and economically more efficient as compare to tenants, hence tenants should be provided land rights through land reforms. Similarly, regarding farmers market participation, small-scale farmers can be linked to the markets by investing in human capital, improving the village infrastructure and readdressing the formal credit programme.
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Impact, Efficiency and Environmental Potential of Conservation Agriculture in Zambia; Insight from the Conservation Farming Unit of Zambia| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Dr. Abdul Nafeo Abdulai | | Beginn: | 1.10.2012 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Over 117 million hectares of agricultural land the world over is cultivated in line with Conservation Agriculture (CA). This is a system of planting crops into untilled soil by opening a narrow slot, trench or band only of sufficient width and depth to obtain proper seed coverage. CA is becoming a growing movement in Eastern and Southern Africa, with numerous activities and promotion programs by government agencies and civil society alike. The FAO reports that twelve countries in Africa including Zambia have been identified as CA focal points. The CA technology implemented by the Zambian Conservation Farming Unit (CFU) since 1996 is gaining prominence in Africa and currently practiced in Zambia, Tanzania, Senegal, Malawi, Kenya, Mozambique and Ghana. This study seeks to explore the overall CA technology in line with the CFU technology.
The primary objective of the study is to assess the impact, efficiency and environmental potential of CA in Zambia. Specifically to;
Assess adoption and intensity of adoption of CA in Zambia
Assess technical efficiency of CA in Zambia
Assess the cost efficiency of CA in Zambia
Assess environmental potential of CA in Zambia
Evaluate sustainability of CA in Zambia
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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Impacts of Policy Reforms on Price Transmission and Price Volatility in the Coffee Markets: Evidence from Zambia and Tanzania| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Rhoda Mofya-Mukuka, MSBS | | Laufzeit: | 1.1.2009 - 14.7.2011 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Price is the most critical factor in determining the way markets function. In a perfect market a price shock is transmitted to other vertically or horizontally connected markets within a given period of time. However, when markets do not function perfectly the speed and the magnitude of price transmission may be hampered. State controlled agricultural commodity markets prevent efficient price transmission, as a result, producer prices cannot not reflect world prices. Many developing countries have implemented measures to improve price transmission through agricultural market liberalisation policies and providing incentives for farmers. However, instead of prices being transmitted symmetrically, monopoly or oligopoly markets, government policies and high transaction costs may lead to asymmetric price transmission. The lead firms in commodity value chains tend to become reluctant to pass on prices that squeeze their margins. As a result, producers may not benefit from consumer price increases and similarly, consumers may not benefit from producer price decreases.
This study takes a look at these issues in the analysis of coffee producer prices for Zambia and Tanzania. Coffee is an important export commodity in both of these countries and contributes significantly to the creation of foreign exchange and employment even if the total production is relatively low. Both countries have liberalised their coffee markets during the economic reforms of the late 1990s to differing extents. The effects of these reforms on coffee price transmission, price volatility and on coffee supply response are examined in this study.
This dissertation consists of four papers that investigate various aspects of coffee markets for Zambia and Tanzania. First, the study investigates coffee value chains in both countries, paying attention to the governance structure and its implications for producer prices. Second, price transmission between coffee world prices and producers prices in Tanzania and Zambia is examined. The third paper examines price volatility in both countries and assesses the impacts of trade liberalisation policies on price volatility. The fourth paper analyses coffee supply response to coffee prices in Zambia.
Results for Zambia indicate improved price transmission after the implementation of economic reforms. As expected, the transmission is asymmetric where price decreases are passed on quicker than price increases. In the case of Tanzania, results do not show any improvements after the economic reforms. Similar results are obtained from the volatility study where economic reforms led to an increase in coffee price volatility in Zambia, with negative shocks inducing more volatile prices than positive shocks. However, in Tanzania the inconsistent market reforms have had no significant effects on coffee price volatility. The collapse of the International Coffee Agreement (ICA) in 1989, which brought to an end a regulated international coffee market, had no significant effect on coffee price volatility in either country, but increased the volatility of international coffee prices. The study of coffee supply response for Zambia shows that, in the long-run, coffee prices do not have significant effect on supply. On the other hand a stronger local currency does not favour coffee supply. The prices of maize, the main competing crop also has a negative effect on coffee supply. The economic reforms had a positive effect on coffee supply. In the short-run, coffee supply response changes are only significant for price decreases, indicating that coffee supply falls faster than it rises with respect to price changes.
These findings have important policy implications as they reveal a short and efficient value chain and governance structure that enables the producers to receive larger shares of the final coffee price. In addition, the results discuss favourable policies for improving transmission from world markets to producer prices over the post economic reform period although the transmission remains asymmetric. An efficient price transmission may work to the disadvantage of the growers in the short-run as prices become exposed to volatile world prices, but in the long-run, it may yield the desired outcome. The findings also show the importance of high and stable prices and a stable currency for increased coffee supply.
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Income Diversification and Household Welfare Empirical Evidence for Ghana| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Dr. Christiane El Jarbi | | Laufzeit: | 1.7.2007 - 31.5.2010 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Since about 65% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa lives in rural areas, poverty remains primarily a rural burden. Due to the strong dependency on agricultural production mainly the rural population is affected by income shortfalls because of harvest failures, illness or death of livestock or a family member, and economic shocks causing food price variability. To cope with this situation, households are deriving several strategies to spread these risks and smooth their income. One of these strategies is the participation in nonfarm employment due to its independency on agricultural risks, but researchers have already indicated that households may face various entry barriers to the nonfarm sector.
The main objective of the study is therefore to assess whether nonfarm employment is a viable strategy to reduce poverty. Additionally, it is investigated first, whether nonfarm activities can serve as a risk-coping strategy and what entry barriers households willing to engage in the nonfarm sector are confronted with. For this purpose, hypotheses concerning nonfarm employment in general and the households perception of a risky environment are derived from the literature and investigated by a quantile regression implementing the CLAD estimator. The study indicates that households perceiving their environment as risky expand their extent of nonfarm employment, whereas the endowment with valuable physical capital seems to serve as a risk-coping strategy on its own. The most important entry barriers revealed by the Heckman two-stage method are the educational level of the household head as well as the households amount of savings. Starting a small business often requires start-up capital and therefore, households without sufficient financial capital are excluded from these nonfarm income sources. Additionally, due to the poor availability of nonfarm activities in rural areas, households living in rural areas are less likely to participate in the nonfarm sector, but with increasing remoteness, the participation probability enhances.
In the last stage of the study, the causal effects of participation in nonfarm employment on the households wealth as well as poverty status are examined utilising the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method. This method allows the comparison of households participating in the nonfarm sector with non-participants to investigate the average treatment effect on the treated. To better understand different efficiency levels the PSM is implemented for several subsamples. The empirical results show that especially female headed households and households living in rural areas are the main beneficiaries from nonfarm employment. The participation in nonfarm activities not only increases the households per-head expenditures, but also has the potential to reduce and even eliminate poverty.
To conclude, the engagement of rural households in Ghana in nonfarm employment is a viable strategy to spread income risk and significantly improve their economic situation. Policy makers are recommended to remove entry barriers to the nonfarm sector mainly by improving the quality of schooling and the enrolment ratio as well as the access to microcredits. Moreover, females and the rural population should be the main target group.
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Interactive effects of government regulation and farmers' production behavior on agro-products safety in china| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Wanglin Ma, M.Sc. | | Beginn: | 1.10.2012 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | In recent years, the issue of agro-products safety in China has become the focus of public attention due to the continual recurrence of agro-products safety scandals. Meanwhile, with an increasing demand for safe agro-products and rising pressure on the export trade barriers, Chinas agro-products face significant challenges in responding to the rapidly changing global agri-business environment in order to satisfy the domestic and foreign market demand due to failing to meet rigorous agro-products safety standards.
Numerous studies have documented the issue of agro-products safety from aspects of farmers production behavior and government regulation. However, most of them are studied separately rather than as a whole. Some have examined empirically that farmers production behaviors have direct influence on agro-products safety due to the abuse or wrong use of agricultural inputs such as pesticides, chemical fertilizers and herbicides, and then put forward corresponding proposals which can promote safe agro-products production. On the other hand, studies examining the impacts of government regulation implementation on agro-products safety have focused on the maximizing public benefits and efficiency of its function. However, there are scarce domestic literatures considering the issue of agro-products from the aspect of government regulation and farmers production behavior as a whole.
Although many specific solutions to the issue of agro-products safety have been brought forward, agro-products safety will not be completely controlled if essence to the issue of agro-product safety is not accurately grasped. Strengthening agro-products from production and processing to consumption can effectively control agro-products safety, but it needs government regulation. Therefore, from a new perspective, this research will examine the interactive effects of government regulation and farmers production behavior on agro-product safety in China.
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Issues Related to Microfinance: Sustainability and Impact Evaluation| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Sohail Makhdum, M.Sc. | | Beginn: | 1.7.2011 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services. More broadly, it is a movement whose object is "a world in which as many poor and near-poor households as possible have permanent access to an appropriate range of high quality financial services, including not just credit but also savings, insurance, and fund transfers."
By 2015 it is expected that institutional and individual investments in microfinance will rise sharply to around USD 20 bn. Globally it is estimated that over 10,000 MFIs exist in the form of Credit Unions, NGOs, Cooperatives, Government Agencies, Private and Commercial banks and various permutations of these forms.
MFIs face a double challenge: not only do they have to provide financial services to the poor, but they also have to cover their cost to avoid bankruptcy and consequently MFIs mainly depend on subsidies. The MIX 2006 benchmark data set of 704 MFIs reveals that 41% are not financially sustainable and rely on donor support to keep afloat. Hence a deeper understanding of the true costs associated with subsidization of microfinance to the society, the determinants of subsidies and its impact on the financial and social efficiency of microfinance are required in order to evaluate the role of subsidies in the performance of the MFIs.
Very few have focused the sustainability and measuring the performance of MFIs. In order to cover this gap this study will contribute to scarce empirical literature.
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Maize adoption and biodiversity conservation in Mexico| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Javier Becerril Garcia, M.Sc. | | Förderer: | CONACyT Spanien | | Laufzeit: | 1.9.2005 - 28.2.2008 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Conservation of Crop Genetic Resources (CGR) is considered an important component of sustainable agricultural development. And by the other side approximately 24 millions of Mexican inhabitants (rural & urban areas) have problem to access food supply and poverty conditions. Their high rate of demographic growth demand a long-term effort aimed at improving their productivity and income. The incorporation of new technologies into existing maize production systems should help achieve these goals, reduce poverty characteristics and maize production vulnerability.
Explore the adopters and non-adopters socioeconomic characteristics and the factors that influenced to small-farmers adoption is essential, because the non-adopter conserve maize biodiversity de-facto and the adopter of MVs and technology package may be cause erosion of maize biodiversity (mono-cropped) and pollution, but, the adopter improve food security, increase crop yield and food supply. The research questions are: What are the determinants for the decision whether or not to plant a Modern Variety? What factors influenced their choice? What Agricultural Policy Reforms affect the choices of small-farmer decisions? What is the probability to switch from Traditional to Modern Varieties?
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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Nutritional Status in Developing Countries| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Anna Heller, M.Sc. | | Beginn: | 1.4.2010 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Ein weit verbreitetes Vorurteil über Entwicklungsländer beinhaltet Menschen, die ausschließlich in Hunger und Armut leben müssen. Ebenso wurde lange davon ausgegangen, dass Armut die Entwicklung von Adipositas verhindere. Beide Annahmen konnten durch die gegenwärtigen Entwicklungen widerlegt werden. Das Körpergewicht hat eine globale Dynamik entwickelt, wobei sich die Gewichtszunahme besonders in Schwellen- und Entwicklungsländern mit einer höheren Geschwindigkeit verbreitet. Die Ursachen von Adipositas in Entwicklungsländern sind auf ein Zusammenwirken diverser Faktoren zurückzuführen. Die Umstände zu Beginn eines neuen Lebens sowie ökonomische und soziologische Faktoren haben einen großen Einfluss auf die Körpergewichtsentwicklung. Der Konsum moderner Produkte und ein westlicher Lebensstil wirken besonders attraktiv, da wirtschaftlicher Erfolg und Selbstverwirklichung damit verbunden werden. Besonders ein geringer Bildungsgrad ist mit ungesundem Ernährungs- und Bewegungsverhalten verbunden. Für das Individuum hat Adipositas weitreichende Folgen finanzieller, gesundheitlicher und psychosozialer Natur. Insbesondere aufgrund der zahlreichen Komorbiditäten verursacht Adipositas enorm hohe Kosten für das Gesundheitssystem und die Gesellschaft. Verschiedene Präventionsmöglichkeiten werden kontrovers in der Öffentlichkeit diskutiert. Hier können Bildungssteigerung und Informationsvermittlung, steuerliche Eingriffe, Restriktionen der Lebensmittelindustrie sowie Prävention durch gesundheitsbezogene Kommunikation genannt werden, wobei die Erfahrungen aus der Raucherprävention gezeigt haben, dass reine Informationskampagnen keinen wirklichen Effekt hatten. Teilweise entwickelte sich bereits ein Bewusstsein für Adipositas und vereinzelt wurden Präventionsinitiativen an Schulen, dem Arbeitsplatz und der Gemeinde durchgeführt. Selbst einige wenige Lebensmittelhersteller haben reagiert und Produktzusammensetzungen überarbeitet oder Marketingkampagnen verändert. Die nächste Herausforderung wird es sein, die verschiedenen Ansätze in einen schlüssigen, nachhaltigen und klaren Präventionsplan einzuarbeiten, der die ungesunden Faktoren unserer Umwelt verändern kann. Eine globale Kooperation sollte in diesem Zusammenhang angestrebt werden. Leider wird Adipositas von einigen Politikern noch immer als individuelles Fehlverhalten abgetan, anstatt den großen Einfluss der sozioökonomischen Umwelt anzuerkennen. Diese Wahrnehmung muss sich ändern, um erkennen zu können, dass die Gefahr durch Adipositas und ihre Begleiterkrankungen die jungen Generationen auf der ganzen Welt betrifft. Darüber hinaus bedeutet die wachsende Prävalenz von Adipositas in Entwicklungsländern nicht, dass das Hungerproblem beseitigt ist. Hier beeinflusst die starke Gesellschaftsstrukturierung eine gegenläufige Entwicklung des Körpergewichts. Die Doppelbelastung einer privilegierten, adipösen Oberschicht einerseits und einer mittellosen, zum Teil unterernährten Unterschicht andererseits stellt in sehr armen Entwicklungsländern das Gesundheitssystem vor sehr große Herausforderungen. Speziell in diesem Fall existiert ein dringender Handlungsbedarf. Bestehende Programme zur Nahrungssicherung müssen in verbesserte Empfangsstrukturen investieren. Ideal ist eine Koppelung an Programme zur Förderung gesunder Lebensstile. Adäquate Ernährung und Bewegung muss von Anfang an vermittelt werden.
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Ökologische, ökonomische und soziale Wirkungen von biologischer Landwirtschaft in Ghana| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | M.Sc. Linda Kleemann | | Beginn: | 1.10.2008 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Diese Fragestellung ist vor dem Hintergrund des Klimawandels und der damit verbundenen Risiken für die Landwirtschaft in Afrika südlich der Sahara besonders interessant. Es ist für die lokale Ernährungssicherung entscheidend, die Produktivität der Landwirtschaft zu erhöhen ohne die Umweltbelastungen weiter zu erhöhen. Biologische Landwirtschaft könnte Teil der Lösung dieses Problems sein. Die internationale Nachfrage wächst rapide und die Exporte von biologisch zertifizierten Lebensmitteln und Getränken aus Afrika steigen kontinuierlich. Empirische Untersuchungen der Einkommens- und Wohlfahrts- und Umweltwirkungen dieser Entwicklung für die Produzenten fehlen bisher. Diese Lücke füllt diese Arbeit mit einem Vergleich von biologischem und konventionellem Ananasanbau in Ghana.
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Opportunities and constraints in the production and marketing of cotton in Pakistan| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Dr. Akhter Ali | | Förderer: | DAAD | | Laufzeit: | 1.10.2006 - 31.7.2010 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Pakistan is an agricultural country, as agriculture contributes about 23 percent in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Cotton is most important cash crop as it contributes nearly 10 percent in the agricultural GDP and is source of about 60 per cent foreign exchange earnings. Cotton also provides raw material to local textile industry and provides employment to 38% of the total workforce in the manufacturing sector. The per acre cotton yield in Pakistan is 781 kgs per hectares, while in other cotton producing countries it is much higher e.g. Israel 1,818 kgs, Australia 1,802 kgs, Syria 1,571 kgs, Mexico 1,312 kgs, Turkey 1,289 kgs, Greece 1081kgs, USA 951 kgs and Egypt 939 kgs. The low per hectare production shows that to carry out cotton production efficiency analysis is most important, both technical efficiency and allocative efficiency. Technical inefficiency arises when actual or observed output from a given input mix is less than the maximum possible, while allocative inefficiency arises when the input mix used is not consistent with cost minimization and the scale efficiency is related to size of the farm. So to highlight the factors responsible for inefficiency is extremely important, as focus on these constraints will help to decrease inefficiency and increase the per acre productivity. Farmers are facing with a number of risks till marketing of their crops including unexpected factors like inflation, high price of energy, unfair competition and speculation in open market by big cotton buyers. The marketing system of cotton crop is extremely important and transaction cost analysis will help that how the small producers are marketing their produce. The cost of production is critical wherever cotton is being grown it can keep a grower in or kick a grower out of cotton production, hence to estimate efficiency of important cash crop like cotton is extremely important. In the present study the cross sectional data will be used to carry out the efficiency and the marketing analysis which will give snapshots regarding cotton production and marketing efficiency to policy makers, researchers, extension agents and most importantly the cotton producers.
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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Role of gender in income diversification in Pakistan| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Rakhshanda Kousar, M.Sc. | | Beginn: | 1.10.2009 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Gender is socially assigned roles and behaviors attributed to men and women. In all cultures, gender determines power and resources for males and females. Women constitute more than half of the rural labor force and are responsible for most of the household food production in low-income food-deficit countries. Rural development cannot be achieved through efforts that ignore or exclude more than half of the rural population women. Gender analysis is important because productivity and efficiency are enhanced when interventions are targeted towards the actual users.
In developing countries, the agricultural sector plays a central role in providing employment opportunities. This sector, however, has been contending with a number of factors: the small size of landholdings, insufficient capital and investment incentives, the inadequate farm infrastructure, limited markets, and stagnant prices of agricultural products. All of these have contributed to restricting the capacity for job creation in the agriculture sector. It is therefore necessary to focus on a broader spectrum of the rural economy, not just on agriculture.
Pakistan's population was officially estimated at 161.66 millions in 2008-09, comprising 57.14 millions in urban area and 104.73 millions in rural area. Women labor force is 10.96 millions. More than 70 percent population lives in rural areas .The increasing landlessness of small farmers and population growth in rural Pakistan has largely pushed the rural labor force out of agriculture into other productivity activities in the non-farm sector. Predominantly a patriarchal society exists in Pakistan. About 91.9 percent of the Pakistani households are headed by men. However, women headship has also been gaining some ground, perhaps, more due to migration of men than any significant sociocultural/attitudinal shift.
Several academic studies have documented the linkages between agrarian change and gender relations, very few have studied the relationship of rural women and household livelihood strategies but did not give any conclusion. The contribution of women to the national economy of many third world countries has largely been ignored in economic calculus. Their economic contribution to household, farm/off farm, community, nation is always undervalued and quite often overlooked altogether. The purpose of this study will be to fill this gap and to make contribution to scarce empirical literature by examining the role of gender in income diversification in rural area of Pakistan. In the present study comparison of the income earning activities of male-headed and female-headed rural households of Pakistan will be made.
The study will be based on cross sectional data of Punjab province of Pakistan. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method will be used to find the causal effects of participation of women in nonfarm activities on the households income, welfare and poverty status.
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Shocks, Income Diversification and Welfare in Developing and Transition Countries| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Omar Mahmoud, Toman | | Laufzeit: | 1.7.2006 - 31.7.2010 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Rural life in developing and transition countries is prone to risks. In the absence of functioning formal insurance and credit markets, unanticipated shocks such as droughts, fluctuating prices or diseases frequently push rural households into poverty. This dissertation takes a welfare perspective to analyze how rural households manage risks ex-ante and cope with shocks ex-post.
The first part looks at risk-coping strategies and analyzes the socio-economic consequences of AIDS-related mortality in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Chapter 2 shows that households in rural Zambia are able to stabilize their per-capita incomes after the death of a prime-age member. Adjustments of income-generating activities as well as household size and composition are likely to explain this finding. Yet, risk-sharing arrangements appear to spread the burden beyond directly afflicted households. Despite its limited impact on monetary welfare, the death of an adult member could still affect other dimensions of household welfare. Chapter 3 demonstrates for North-Western Tanzania that the age at parental bereavement has important consequences for childrens long-term capital accumulation in terms of both health and education. These effects, however, depend on the gender of the deceased parent. Preferences of the surviving parent partly protect same-sex children from the detrimental effects of orphanhood, suggesting that risks are not shared equally within households.
The second part of the dissertation explores risk-management strategies and investigates the income diversification patterns of farm households in sub-Saharan Africa. Chapter 4 analyzes the dichotomy of the non-agricultural sector in Western Kenya and the resulting poverty and inequality implications. The results show that only rich households are able to overcome the entry barriers into high-return activities. Low-return activities, however, are not concentrated among the poor. They are pursued by households across the entire income distribution, possibly reflecting the high risks associated with high-return activities. The chapter also provides evidence that high-return non-agricultural activities are associated with increased agricultural productivity. Apparently, they play an important role in triggering positive interactions between different income strategies and may hence contribute to sustainable livelihood success. Chapter 5 examines the determinants of diversification in Burkina Faso between 1994 and 2003. Diversification into non-agricultural activities appears to be motivated by insurance motives. During the severe drought in 1997/1998 households earned increased incomes from migration and local non-agricultural activities. The poorest households were hit particularly hard, often being forced to sell their livestock. Yet, the patterns of diversification also reflect structural change offering better opportunities in the non-farm sector.
The final part of the dissertation concentrates on Eastern Europe and looks at the welfare implications of international migration for those who stay behind and the migrants themselves. Chapter 6 examines the reasons for reduced labor supply of migrant-sending households in Moldova. The findings do not support the common view that decreased labor market activity is the result of remittances-driven leisure consumption. Instead, the departure of a migrant appears to raise remaining members productivity in home production. In addition, young adults in migrant families are substantially more likely to pursue higher education. This effect may be due to remittances relieving credit constraints or migration-induced incentives for additional investments in human capital. Chapter 7 takes into account that migration itself is a very risky activity. It investigates the economic drivers of human trafficking, which refers to a situation in which a migrant has been recruited by false promises and is forced to work for no or little pay by means of coercion. Based on a household survey on human trafficking from Belarus, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania and Ukraine, the analysis finds that the individual risk of falling victim to human trafficking is closely related to the size of regional migration flows. The reasons are lower recruitment costs for traffickers and, to a lesser extent, negative self-selection into migration.
Together, these findings illustrate that rural households in the developing world have developed various informal strategies to cope with shocks and reduce their exposure to risks. While these strategies help households to temporarily smooth income or consumption, they are likely to perpetuate poverty and reduce economic growth in the longer run. Consequently, measures that protect households from risks, e.g. microinsurance schemes, should play a prominent role in rural development strategies.
| | Kontakt: | Barsbai, Toman
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Social capital, land tenure rights, and investment in soil-improving and conservation practices| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Daniela Lüth, M.Sc. | | Beginn: | 1.9.2009 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Agriculture is one of the most important sectors in developing countries. It needs for a successful future facing the challenges of population growth, reduction in expansion possibilities and climate change to be productive and sustainable; hence outputs need to increase and at the same time natural resources need to be protected for future use. Yet in the past 40 years low agricultural yields and a slow growth of these have been observed in Africa. The sustainability of agricultural yields requires the maintenance of soil fertility. Soil inherits a resource base which when not replenished in the future risks of giving no return. Yet the farmer to invest in long-term practices needs to be endowed with diverse assets acting as preconditions, such as land tenure rights. However, the results for the effect of land tenure rights on investment in Africa are ambiguous and highlight the importance of context playing a role in investment decisions. Decision-making of the farmer is embedded in a social setting and might influence challenges and provide preconditions of action. Sustainable agricultural intensification requires a complex approach, for this capacity building of the farmer is crucial in that he is endowed with necessary knowledge and skills. Knowledge about the environment as a precondition of action sometimes does not exist. Search and information costs add to costs of investment. Investment decisions might be subject to collective efforts, indicating the importance of social networks in various terms. Yet the linkages between social networks and land tenure rights have rarely been studied, in addition neither how transaction costs are influenced in turn determining farmer behaviour. Therefore the main objective of the current study is to gain insight into assets of the farmer, i.e. social networks and land tenure rights and its interdependencies influencing investment in practices, leading to sustainable intensification of agriculture in order to derive suitable policy implications.
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The Impact of Globalization and Trade Liberalization on Poverty and Food Security| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Dipl.-Volksw. Jan Dithmer | | Beginn: | 1.8.2009 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | During the 1960s and 1970s it has been typical for governments of developing countries to isolate domestic markets from world markets through specific mechanisms such as direct tax and subsidies or quantitative restrictions. The main aim was to protect domestic sectors that would not have been able to successfully compete in world markets from foreign competition. During the 1980s and 1990s, however, many developing countries initiated policy reforms under structural adjustment programs of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The rationale for trade liberalization is couched in terms of its presumed favorable effect on economic growth mainly through induced efficiency gains in the allocation of resources. Although trade liberalization may not be the most powerful or direct mechanism for addressing poverty, it is one of the easiest to implement. Trade reform involving tariff reductions and the abolition of non-tariff barriers may be one of the most effective anti-poverty policies available for governments. However, whether trade liberalization promotes economic growth and improves overall social welfare remains a controversial issue. Apart from its effect on GDP per capita growth, which has been extensively studied, a case in point which deserves further attention is the impact of trade liberalization on poverty and food security. The analysis of food security impacts of trade liberalization policies is crucial and helps to facilitate better targeted country-level research and reforms. Inadequate nutrition results in human and economic waste. In developing societies, substantial deaths are thought to be malnutrition-related, and large proportions of the population face the negative effects that inadequate diet and related illness have on learning, work capacity, behavior and well-being. Trade policy influences national food security trough both its effect on domestic production and imports, and also through the link with incomes and expenditures. However, only very few studies explicitly explore the impact of globalization on food security in developing countries.
The present study will employ a dynamic panel data approach to assess the overall (average) effect of globalization on poverty and food security in developing countries. Cross-sectoral and cross-country analysis helps strengthen the understanding of why people are food insecure, malnourished or hungry. The main objective of the current study is thus to gain insight into the issue of whether trade liberalization generally promotes growth and creates or alleviates poverty and food insecurity. Instead of applying random or fixed-effects OLS, which give rise to `dynamic panel bias, the present study will employ the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) procedure which accounts for both unobserved heterogeneity and endogeneity of the regressors and enables us to account for some of the dynamic aspects of trade reforms other approaches miss. The Difference and System GMM estimators are specifically designed for panel data analysis. Macroeconomic and structural variables should be considered as control variables. For example, inflation lowers purchasing power and may raise poverty or decrease food security.
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Theoretische und empirische Untersuchung des Zusammenhangs zwischen wirtschaftlicher Entwicklung, internationalem Handel und Umweltverschmutzung| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | M.Sc. Linda Kleemann | | Laufzeit: | 1.5.2008 - 31.12.2008 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Die Beziehung zwischen diesen drei Faktoren wurde mit Panel-Daten aus Industrie- und Entwicklungsländern für den Zeitraum von 1980 bis 2003 analysiert. Bestehende Kritik wurde eingearbeitet. Insbesondere wird nicht davon ausgegangen, dass der gleiche Zusammenhang für alle Länder und alle Umweltaspekte besteht. Für die gesamte Stichprobe, Regionen und Einkommensgruppen wurden mehrere Umweltvariablen und ein Maß für nachhaltige Entwicklung betrachtet. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass es kein regelmäßiges Muster für alle Länder und alle Schadstoffe gibt. Vielmehr weisen die empirischen Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass es zwar eine Environmental Kuznets Curve für die meisten Umweltvariablen gibt, aber mit einigen Einschränkungen. Die Pollution Haven Hypothesis (PHH) konnte teilweise bestätigt werden. Die Ergebnisse der Studie deuten darauf hin, dass Handelsliberalisierung für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung der Industrieländer vorteilhaft sein könnte, dabei aber gleichzeitig für die der Entwicklungsländer abträglich ist. Hieraus ergeben sich Implikationen für die Politik.
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Trust as a Determinant of Consumer Behaviour for Organic Food Consumers in Germany| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Rebecca Illichmann, M.Sc. | | Laufzeit: | 15.8.2009 - 28.2.2014 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Organic farming follows an organisational principle by reaching a closed nutrition cycle with a focus on food quality and safety in the long-term, nature conservation and sustainability. Organic agriculture is an efficient and holistic approach that reaches the multiple goals of agriculture by promoting soil conservation (e.g. soil fertility), prevention of water pollution (e.g. lack of nutrients in ground- and surface waters), protection of species (e.g. biodiversity), and species-appropriate animal husbandry (e.g. adequate run-out). The exclusion of genetically modified organisms is a necessity.
Consumer trust analysis from different point-of-sale sources indicated that organic butchers (49 %), organic food shops (46 %), and organic bakers (45 %) were the most trustworthy suppliers for organic foods that met compliance standards from the consumers point of view, while discounters were the least trusted (8 %). Hence, the transaction volume of discounters declined about 6 %, while organic and health food markets increased 5.2 % in the first half of 2009. Due to this development, this study will investigate reasons and problems associated with purchase decisions for organic food consumers.
Most studies from previous research explored subjective perceptions of quality attributes, consumer uncertainty and consumer risk perceptions and/ or quality information gaps between producers and consumers. However, these studies were not focused on specific organic food product markets in Germany. Hence, this study will conduct surveys in Germany using a stated choice experiment that examines the trust impact on organic product purchase decisions (organic milk, organic fruits and vegetables, organic meat). Next to the element of trust, other factors that influence organic product purchase decisions are exogenous factors such as regulations, certifications, labelling, information, awareness and knowledge. Knowledge about credence goods as organic foods is limited; therefore, the consumer decision at purchase is a decision under uncertainty. Consumer awareness and knowledge about organic foods next to the psychometric (cognitive, normative, affective) factors, socio-demographic and socio-economic variables (e.g. age, sex, income, education and the number of children per household) have an effect on consumer attitude and perception.
Results of this study will provide agri-food companies, the public sector, and researchers opportunities to develop new risk communication strategies for the long-term perspective that encompasses consumer trust as a contributing factor.
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Veränderung des Konsumverhaltens durch Tierseuchen und die sich daraus| Projektleitung: | Prof. Dr. Awudu Abdulai | | Beteiligte: | Dipl.-Volksw. Nicole Franke | | Laufzeit: | 1.1.2009 - 12.11.2014 | | Inhalt und Ziele: | Das Vertrauen der Konsumenten in den Handel und die Produktion von Lebensmitteln wird
immer wieder belastet. Lebensmittelskandale, Krankheiten und Seuchen verursachen bei den
Verbrauchern eine Verunsicherung.
In dieser Arbeit werden die Präferenzen verschiedener Fleischsorten, die Bedeutung der
Lebensmittelsicherheit im Vergleich zu anderen Attributen, die wahrgenommene Angst vor
einer Erkrankung durch den Verzehr sowie die Glaubwürdigkeit verschiedener Gruppen
ermittelt und die Einflussfaktoren mit Hilfe von Ordered Logit Modellen analysiert. Die
Tiererkrankung, die die größte Verunsicherung auslöst, wurde bestimmt und die
Einflussfaktoren mit Hilfe eines Logit Modells analysiert. Für die eigenen Schätzungen wurden
Konsumenten direkt befragt. Die Daten der Medienunternehmen und Produzenten wurden
mittels einer Briefbefragung erhoben.
Die eigenen Ergebnisse und die Ergebnisse aus vorherigen Studien geben Hinweise für die
optimale Reaktion von Produzenten. Das Ziel des Produzenten ist das Vertrauen in die Qualität
und Sicherheit der hergestellten Produkte. Der erstellte Leitfaden gibt dem Produzenten unter
anderem Hinweise für eine richtige Kommunikations- und Informationspolitik, Preispolitik oder
den Einsatz von Qualitätssiegeln. Damit kann der Produzent das Vertrauen der Verbraucher in
die eigenen Produkte gewinnen und den wirtschaftlichen Schaden im Fall des Auftretens einer
Tierseuche minimieren oder verhindern.
Eine hohe Qualität und eine gute Herstellpraxis müssen von Produzenten dauerhaft
gewährleistet sein. Der entstandene Leitfaden wirkt unterstützend, kann aber mangelhafte
Produktionstechniken und eine schlechte Qualität nicht ausgleichen. Der Leitfaden ist in drei
Abschnitte gegliedert. Der erste Abschnitt befasst sich mit Empfehlungen für Produzenten, die
vor dem Auftreten eines Skandals durchgeführt werden sollten. Im zweiten Abschnitt werden
Reaktionsmöglichkeiten während dem Skandal beschrieben. Der dritte Abschnitt stellt
Empfehlungen für den Zeitraum nach dem Skandal dar.
Die Maßnahmen des Leitfadens können von allen Unternehmen, unabhängig von der Größe,
durchgeführt werden. Die Maßnahmen sind auf andere Lebensmittelskandale übertragbar.
| | Kontakt: | Abdulai, Awudu
Telefon +49 431 880-4426, Fax +49 431 880-7308, E-Mail: aabdula@food-econ.uni-kiel.de
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