Other Rural Study

112 items available

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https://hdl.handle.net/10986/2207

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Paying Attention to Technology Innovations: Experimental Evidence from Renewable Energy Markets in Africa
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-05-15) Coville, Aidan; Orozco, Victor; Reichert, Arndt
This paper presents results from a randomized field experiment that examined the effects of mass media campaigns informing about a new technology on the adoption decisions of households in rural Senegal. While some communities were exposed to a campaign broadcasted on national radio that informed households about the general benefits and quality of solar lamps, other communities were exposed to the same radio campaign complemented with information that singled out the most suitable lamp type for all main technological applications. The authors exploit the difference between the two campaigns to examine the extent to which certain information characteristics matter for the uptake of the technological innovation. Results from our experiment show that information on optimal lamp types was required to increase adoption of solar lamps on the extensive margin (more people investing in lamps). However, the type-unspecific information increased adoption on the intensive margin (existing users investing in more lamps). These findings can be explained by a simple learning model of selective attention that the authors adjusted to the study setting, where households engage in home production and spend time as well as mental energy to learn about technological features that maximize returns.
Demand Analysis for Tourism in African Local Communities
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-12-01) World Bank Group
This report aims to provide a market overview that describes the main characteristics and size of current and future demand for tourism products delivered by and based in local communities in Africa. If demand is better understood, supply can be better developed and better placed to take advantage of the market access opportunities offered by the growth in digital platforms. Increased supply that is performing well will yield development results for marginalized communities and help to increase shared prosperity.
Identifying Investment Opportunities for Ruminant Livestock Feeding in Developing Countries
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-11) World Bank
In the future scenario for livestock development, there is a continuing role for smallholder producers, particular for dairy and small ruminants, relying heavily on grass and crop-residues, however in a growth mode, intensifying production, and enhancing the efficiency of resource use (less land, labor and feed resources per unit product). In particular improving the efficiency of converting feed into milk and meat will be critical to increase their income. Ensuring that happens will require technical solutions, in ensuring that feed rations are adequately balanced with the appropriate feedstuffs of adequate quality, and institutional solutions on how to provide smallholders access to high quality information and reliable supplies of sufficient quality feeds. Investment strategies will need to be purposefully tailored to fit these specific contexts. This study assesses where the demand for feed is likely to change the most, and where investments in feed are most likely to increase animal productivity and improve the livelihoods of those who raise livestock. The study focuses on smallholder ruminant-based livestock systems because they have potentially major transformative effects on the livelihoods of producers and others engaged in the related value chains. While pig and poultry enterprises typically play an important role in livelihoods at very low input levels, such as backyard scavenging poultry, they tend to be replaced very quickly by larger scale commercial units. In India for instance, broiler production moved from a few hundred birds per unit to units with a weekly turnover of ten to twenty thousand between 2001 and 2006.
Zambia - Commercial Value Chains in Zambian Agriculture : Do Smallholders Benefit?
(World Bank, 2009-06-01) World Bank
Agriculture and agroprocessing are important in Zambia's economy, representing more than 40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) and contributing about 12 percent of national export earnings. Agriculture employs some 67 percent of the labor force and supplies raw materials to agricultural industries, which account for some 84 percent of manufacturing value-added in the country. Smallholder agriculture dominates the rural economy. It provides livelihoods for the overwhelming majority of rural households. The commercialization of smallholder agriculture is an important element of Zambia's strategy to increase economic growth in an equitable manner and diversify smallholder agriculture. This study therefore asks: 'do Zambian smallholders benefit from greater participation in value chains?' It provides an evidence-based analysis of the benefits and constraints associated with smallholders' integration into specific commercial value chains. The study also investigates whether the benefits of participating in these value chains can be increased for smallholders and provides corresponding policy and investment recommendations.
Zambia : Smallholder Agricultural Commercialization Strategy
(Washington, DC, 2007-01) World Bank
This report focuses on the potential and opportunities for smallholder commercialization in Zambia. The paper discusses the framework for Zambia's smallholder commercialization strategy, the current state of smallholder agriculture in Zambia, key issues, support from agribusiness to smallholders, and development of potential and opportunities for smallholder commercialization. The paper concludes with three strategy areas: how to strengthen existing market mechanisms, reform of sectoral policies, and investments in public infrastructure.
Rural Risk Management Ethiopia
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-12) World Bank
This document investigates prospects for the use of index based weather insurance in Ethiopia for commercial and semi-commercial farmers. The document first summarizes the impact of risk weather risk in particular on Ethiopian agriculture and the need to balance investments in weather risk mitigation and weather risk management. Because the focus of this document is on risk management in the face of potential weather shocks, this introduction is followed by a summary of the traditional risk-transfer tool available for managing agricultural weather risk, multi-peril crop insurance. It outlines the limitations of this approach in the Ethiopian context. Finally, the first section of the paper provides an overview of the index based weather insurance product, which is the focus of the remainder of the document. Narrowing its scope to the potential use of index based weather insurance products in Ethiopia, the research discusses whether the prerequisites or enabling conditions for this type of product exist and whether there are any major impediments to developing a weather insurance program in the country. It was determined that the major pre-requisites for a pilot program appeared to be in place. The research took a project implementation approach to determining the technical feasibility of this type of program, despite some misgivings about scalability.
Land Titles, Investment, and Agricultural Productivity in Madagascar : A Poverty and Social Impact Analysis
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-06) Jacoby, Hanan; Minten, Bart
This report examines the question of land titling in Madagascar, a country where modern and informal tenure systems coexist and overlap to a significant extent. The report reviews three main arguments for land titling and their relevance for Madagascar in order to provide policy implications and evaluations. The first is that land titling serves as protection against expropriation. Second, titles may also facilitate land transactions. Last, that owning titled land improves access to formal credit or increases the volume of formal credit conditional on access. The report concludes that it is not obvious that expanded land titling, or community-based land registration, constitutes the best route to attaining distributional objectives, since wealth is increasing in landholdings. A cost benefit analysis based on the findings suggest that it would not be economical to expand the system of formal titling in rural Madagascar and that the three main arguments do not justify maintaining this system.