Christopher B. Barrett (Cornell
University)
Asad Islam (Monash University)
Mohammad Abdul
Malek* (Kyoto University and BRAC)
Debayan Pakrashi (IIT, Kanpur)
Ummul Ruthbah (Monash University)
Abstract
The System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a set of rice management practices, has demonstrated dramatic potential for increasing rice yields. We examine the impact of SRI using repeated large scale randomized controlled trials in Bangladesh. In the first year of the intervention, we provided farmers training on SRI in randomly selected villages. . In the second year of the intervention, we repeat the training in a randomized subset of treatment villages from the first year. The resulting adoption level is relatively high (38%-53%), as were yield gains, in the range of 15-24%. We also find significant dis-adoption among farmers in the treatment villages that received training only in the first year as compared to the farmers who received training in both years. Profits are significantly higher in villages that received training in both years even though yield gains were similar. The repeated training reduced the cost of production. Our results suggest that even with new technologies that generate significant yield gains, farmers may need more than one-time training to continue using the new technology and thereby reap full benefits from the change.
Takashi Kurosaki* (Hitotsubashi
University)
(joint work with Vikas Rawal, Jesim Paes, and Yoshifumi
Usami)
Abstract
A new industry of combine harvester manufacturing has been emerging in India. Harvesting of grains by combine harvesters is spreading rapidly but very few farmers own the combine. Instead, the system of custom hiring enables farmers to use combine harvesting services. There are three unique characteristics of the combine harvester industry in India: First, the industry includes both a few giant producers that even export combines to Africa and many micro producers that manufacture only a few combines per year; Second, the industry is concentrated around the city of Nabha, Punjab; Third, the majority of combine harvester entrepreneurs in India has an ethno-religious origin of Sikh Lohar (traditionally the blacksmith caste) or Sikh Tarkhan (traditionally the carpenter caste). With the hypothesis that the caste network and norms associated with Lohar/Tarkhan play a critical role for the industry to emerge, we conducted a census survey of combine harvester entrepreneurs in Nabha in June 2017. In the presentation, we describe the sample of 72 firms thus surveyed. The analysis shows that the caste network provided emerging entrepreneurs with informal credit and technology information and the entrepreneurs experienced a century-long process of occupational changes with caste-based skills playing an important role. It is then argued that these findings extend the caste network literature, represented by the work by Kaivan Munshi.
Impact of Contract Farming on Land Productivity and Income of Maize and Potato Growers in Pakistan
Muhammad Fawad Khan* (Tokyo
University of Agriculture)
Yuko Nakano (University of Tsukuba)
Takashi Kurosaki (Hitotsubashi
University)
Abstract
This study examines the impact of contract farming on land productivity and income of participating farmers, by using primary data on potato and maize contract farming schemes in Pakistan. We conducted household surveys in Okara district, which is a hub of contract farming schemes in the country. Using propensity score matching for the estimation of treatment effects, we find that potato contracting significantly improves the income of participating farmers. The channel for improvement in income is price rather than gains in physical yield or cost reduction. We also observe weak evidence that potato contract farming increases the number of skilled workers employed under a salary system for the management of farms. On the other hand, contract farming of maize is found to have no impact on productivity or income. However, despite its having no impact on their income, farmers prefer to join the maize contract because of the efficient payment system of the contracting company. Our results also suggest that age, size of land holdings, quality of land, and value of non-farm assets are significant determinants of selection into contract.
Incorporating Demand Shifters in the Almost Ideal Demand System: Simpler Solutions
Toshinobu Matsuda* (Tottori University)
Abstract
When regressors other than prices and total expenditure are included in the almost ideal demand system (AIDS) in the traditional manner, the essential property of closure under unit scaling (CUUS) is no longer satisfied. The known solution is to use a much more complicated model that satisfies CUUS but lacks some desirable features of the AIDS. This article proposes two simpler solutions to the issue and compares the empirical results, scrutinizing the variations in estimates to different degrees of unit scaling.
Yoko Kijima* (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies)
Abstract
Although fertilizer subsidy programs in sub-Sahara African countries were discarded in the 1990s due to the ineffectiveness on agricultural productivity growth and poverty reduction, they have been reintroduced since early 2000s as gsmarth subsidies by improving targeting and enhancing the involvement of the private sector. In Nigeria, e-voucher program which distributes voucher directly to beneficiaryfs mobile phone was introduced in 2012. By using panel data of rice growing households in 2012 and 2014, we assess whether and how much e-voucher program crows out commercial fertilizer demand. By adopting correlated random effect model with control function approach, we find the large crowding-out effect in the study areas where private fertilizer market is active. Regarding the effect on agricultural productivity and household welfare, we apply household fixed effects approach and propensity score weighting difference-in-differences methods. We do not find that the program increases the total fertilizer use, rice productivity, and household per capita expenditure. This suggests that introducing a potentially innovative device is not sufficient to boost agricultural production and reduce poverty.
Satoru Shimokawa* (Waseda
University)
Yoko Niiyama (Ritsumeikan University)
Yayoi Kito (Doshisha
University)
Haruyo Kudo (Osaka Shoin University)
Michitoshi
Yamaguchi (Ryukoku University)
Abstract
Six years on from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan, some consumers still avoid purchasing foods from Fukushima prefecture even when their safety is scientifically guaranteed. Exploiting this situation, we demonstrate how the willingness-to-pay (WTP) approach can be misleading to analyze the demand for food that is stigmatized by some consumers. Conducting choice experiments for rice in Japan in 2016, we explicitly separate the consumers who excessively avoid Fukushima foods (no-tolerant consumers) from other ordinary consumers. We then investigate whether the WTP for Fukushima rice and the safety standard label are systematically different between the two types of consumers. We also examine how providing additional scientific information influences the WTP differently between the two types. We found that 33% of our sample were no-tolerant consumers, and their WTP for Fukushima rice was substantially lower than the market price while ordinary consumersf WTP was higher than the market price. Without distinguishing the two types, the average WTP became lower than the market price even with the safety standard label, which misleadingly understated the value of Fukushima rice and the label. Lastly, we found little effect of providing additional scientific information on the WTP in both types.
Francisco Mugyabuso Paul Mugizi (National
Graduate Institute for Policy Studies)
Tomoya Matsumoto* (Otaru
University of Commerce)
Abstract
For two decades since 1986, Northern Uganda experienced an armed conflict resulting in the internally displacement of about 1.8 million people. Following ceasefire agreement in 2006 nearly all the displaced persons have now resettled to their original homes. In post displacement, there have been concerns about land conflicts, but lacking are rigorous empirical evidences to validate the concerns. This paper examines the impact of war-induced displacement on land conflicts in post-war period. We find noteworthy results: households that were displaced far away from their homes are more likely to have new land conflicts, more likely to be concerned about land conflicts, have higher proportion of parcels with new land conflicts, and higher proportion of parcels with concerns about land conflicts. Our results are robust to a number of robustness checks. The number of years the household spent without doing farming in home village, and weakening of informal institutions of land governance seem to be the main transmission mechanisms of the obtained results. We also find that land conflicts are detrimental to agricultural productivity. Through which transmission mechanisms do land conflicts affect agricultural productivity? This study finds that households are less likely to use high yield variety seeds on plots with pending conflicts. Our results suggest that there is an urgent need to put in place efficient land conflicts containment and resolving mechanisms. This could include establishment of formal land governance institutions to complement the existing but slowly weakening informal institutions so as to prevent or timely resolve land conflicts whenever they occur. Surveying and registering land may also play a significant role in reducing land-related conflicts.
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