from food availability to nutritional capabilities advancing food security analysis abstract this paper has a threefold objective first it provides a comprehensive review of different approaches to analysing food security second it highlights the added value provided by the capability approach and the human development paradigm third it proposes a methodology to assess food security through this approach our proposal entails three basic steps 1 analysis of food entitlements 2 analysis of nutritional capabilities and 3 analysis of the capability to be food secure in this way we can move beyond income entitlement or livelihood related frameworks and identify the root causes of food insecurity food insecurity can be the result of a lack of education health or other basic capabilities that constitute people s wellbeing this therefore allows situating the study within the broader area of wellbeing and development

choice under uncertainty a model of applications for the social security disability insurance program abstract not all people with health problems are disabled some individuals with severe physical or mental impairments such as blindness or limb amputation continue to hold jobs and generally function satisfactorily they constitute however a group of potentially disabled individuals who might apply and qualify for disability insurance or other disability related benifits if they were to lose their jobs or to decide that employment offered an inadequate financial or non pecuniary reward thus disability or a health related inability to work is more than a medical problem but involves motivational and attitudinal factors we specify a model of the application process which we model as choice under uncertainty about approval of an application for disability insurance we specify the possible outcomes to the choice process of an individual in which the probability of acceptance for disability insurance is a key consideration we then estimate a joint model of labor supply and application to the disability insurance program based on the 1972 survey we then compare our results to the observed time series applications process since 1976 lastly we estimate the sensitivity of the application process to the probability of acceptance and the level of benifits

technological change rediscovering the engine of productivity growth in china s rural economy abstract this paper focuses on measuring the relative importance of the role of technology versus that of institutional innovation in china s rural economy a six equation rice sector model explaining provincial level technology adoption yield and factor demand are econometrically estimated using data from china s 13 rice growing provinces for the period 1975 1990 growth decomposition analysis identifies technology adoption as the most important determinant of rice yield growth during 1978 1984 accounting for nearly 40 percent the change institutional reform accounted for 35 percent of the growth in 1985 1990 technology accounts for all of the increase in rice yields the study demonstrates earlier studies may have over estimated the impact of decollectivization

impact of improved maize adoption on welfare of farm households in malawi a panel data analysis summary this paper assesses rural households decision to use improved maize varieties in malawi and examines its impact on household welfare using a three year household panel data the distributional effect of maize technology adoption is investigated by looking at impacts across wealth and gender groups we applied control function approach and iv regression to control for possible endogeneity of input subsidy and area under improved maize we found that area under improved maize varieties is positively correlated with own maize consumption income and asset holdings we found evidence that improved maize adoption has a stronger impact on welfare of poorer households

the impact of research led agricultural productivity growth on poverty reduction in africa asia and latin america abstract twenty percent of the world s population or 1 2 billion live on less than 1 per day 70 of these are rural and 90 are in asia and sub saharan africa research led technological change in agriculture generates sufficient productivity growth to give high rates of return in africa and asia and has a substantial impact on poverty currently reducing this number by 27 million per annum whereas productivity growth in industry and services has no impact the per capita cost of poverty reduction by means of agricultural research expenditures in africa is 144 and in asia 180 or 50 cents per day but this is covered by output growth by contrast the per capita cost for the richer countries of latin america is over 11 000

china s uneven progress against poverty while the incidence of extreme poverty in china fell dramatically over 1980 2001 progress was uneven over time and across provinces rural areas accounted for the bulk of the gains to the poor though migration to urban areas helped the pattern of growth mattered rural economic growth was far more important to national poverty reduction than urban economic growth agriculture played a far more important role than the secondary or tertiary sources of gross domestic product gdp rising inequality within the rural sector greatly slowed poverty reduction provinces starting with relatively high inequality saw slower progress against poverty due both to lower growth and a lower growth elasticity of poverty reduction taxation of farmers and inflation hurt the poor external trade had little short term impact

can mobile phones improve agricultural outcomes evidence from a randomized experiment in niger the widespread growth of mobile phone coverage worldwide has offered new potential for increasing rural households access to information and public and private transfers yet despite the proliferation of mobile phone based interventions in the agricultural sector there is mixed evidence on their impact we report the results of a randomized evaluation in niger in which rural households increased their access to information technology and their capacity to use it we find that households in treated villages planted a more diverse basket of crops particularly marginal cash crops grown by women this did not increase the likelihood of selling these crops or the farm gate price received suggesting that other market failures need to be addressed to improve farmers welfare

determinants and consequences of land reform implementation in the philippines abstract unlike the experience of other developing countries land reform in the philippines has been successful in converting many of share tenants to land reform beneficiaries this study indicates that the implementation of land reform is positively associated with yield growth made possible by the adoption of modern seed fertilizer technology a major reason underlying such association is considered to be an increased economic interest of tenants in land reform arising from divergence of rental value of land from leasehold rent and amortization fees prescribed by law

the rise of large farms in land abundant countries do they have a future increased levels and volatility of food prices has led to a surge of interest in large scale agriculture and land acquisition this creates challenges for policy makers aiming to establish a policy environment conducive to an agrarian structure to contribute to broad based development in the long term based on a historical review of episodes of growth of large farms and their impact this paper identifies factors underlying the dominance of owner operated farm structures and ways in which these may change with development the amount of land that could potentially be available for expansion and the level of productivity in exploiting available land resources are used to establish a country level typology the authors highlight that an assessment of the advantages of large operations together with information on endowments can provide input into strategy formulation at the country level a review of recent cases of land acquisition reinforces the importance of the policy framework in determining outcomes it suggests that transparency and contract enforcement recognition of local land rights and ways in which they can be exercised attention to employment effects and technical viability and mechanisms to re allocate land from unsuccessful ventures to more productive entrepreneurs are key areas warranting the attention of policy makers

adaptation to land constraints is africa different since the seminal works of malthus and boserup scientists have long debated the impact of population growth and land constraints on the wellbeing of rural people today these concerns are particularly relevant to africa with its rapid population growth very small farms and chronic food insecurity in this paper we examine adaptation to falling land labor ratios using a comprehensive theoretical framework in which households faced with binding land constraints can respond in three ways intensifying agricultural production diversifying out of agriculture and reducing fertility rates using cross country data and drawing upon the existing literature we reach three conclusions first population density is associated with reduced fallows and more intensive use of land but not fertilizer use or irrigation indicating major challenges in achieving sustainable intensification or agricultural productivity growth second there is little evidence of successful non farm diversification in response to land pressures in africa from domestic or international income sources third rural africans in land constrained countries desire smaller families but have thus far benefited little from family planning policies these findings underscore the need for a coordinated multi sectoral approach to sustainably reduce poverty in the region

the future of small farms summary interest in agriculture for growth and poverty reduction reawakened in the early 2000s made all the keener by the sudden rise in cereals prices on world markets in 2007 08 but is it still possible to drive agricultural growth through small farms as happened in the green revolution whether small farms have a future was debated at a workshop held in wye united kingdom in june 2005 it concluded that small farm development is not just desirable for poverty reduction but also feasible even in changing circumstances and particularly those of more concentrated supply chains with more demanding buyers that said while much that needs to be done is straightforward such as provision of public goods fostering the institutional innovations to allow small farmers to deal with the emerging supply chains will require patient work tailored to specific circumstances the future of all smallholders may well not lie in farming but the measures to stimulate the rural nonfarm economy and provide jobs for those leaving farming a favorable rural investment climate provision of public goods institutional development are largely the same as those for agricultural development as well

the effect of data revisions and additional observations on time series estimates 1987 the effect of data revisions and additional observations on time series estimates applied economics vol 19 no 3 pp 347 353

high rural population density africa what are the growth requirements and who participates abstract a large and increasing proportion of agricultural growth in africa must come from continuous gains in land productivity in areas of high population density and hence with already relatively high yields what that requires is analogous to the green revolution in asia several features differentiate the african situation those include greater diversity in cropping pattern including a historically larger and more widespread tropical commodity export sector the physical infrastructure in rural africa is far inferior to that of most asian countries while the greater diversity of agriculture calls for a larger and more diverse institutional structure the reality is that the research systems the ancillary education systems to spread innovation and the rural financial systems are generally greatly inferior to those of asia at the beginning of the green revolution ethiopia s record of a steady six to seven percent growth for agriculture and nearly halving of rural poverty demonstrates that with the right policies and investments a very poor country starting with poor physical and institutional infrastructure can bring a major contribution from agriculture growth to increased gdp and reduced poverty as in asia the bulk of accelerated agricultural growth will come from small commercial farmers they have sufficient farm income to reach or exceed the poverty level those are farms with depending on the country as little as 0 75 hectares to a few tens of hectares of land they comprise up to half the rural population and produce on the order of 70 80 percent of agricultural output they are in general not poor the poor have inadequate land to reach the poverty level initially with much underemployment and with substantial non farm employment the primary driver of poverty reduction is the small commercial farmer spending on the order of half of increased income on nontradable employment intensive goods and services from the rural non farm sector

yield gap based poverty gaps in rural sub saharan africa summary given africa s challenge of feeding a growing population narrowing yield gaps is an efficient way of raising production under covariate constraints using household panel data from 21 regions in eight sub saharan african countries this article unravels the determinants of yield gaps it also tests the hypothesis that poverty gaps are increasing with yield gaps the results suggest that yield gaps are increasing with cultivated area that yield differences are reducing with fertilizer use particularly when combined with improved seeds in low production potential regions that poverty gaps are increasing with yield gaps particularly in low production potential regions

scarcity amidst abundance reassessing the potential for cropland expansion in africa abstract sub saharan africa is typically regarded as land abundant and previous efforts to estimate the true extent of potentially available cropland pac have largely affirmed this perception such efforts however have largely focused on production potential and have underemphasized economic profitability and other constraints to expansion this paper re estimates pac for africa in a more explicit economic framework that emphasizes the returns to agricultural production under a variety of assumptions using recent geospatial data existing pac estimates for africa are shown to be highly sensitive to assumptions about land productivity and market access and are moderately influenced by the use of alternative data sources the region s underutilized land resources are concentrated in relatively few countries many of which are fragile states between one half and two thirds of the region s surplus land is currently under forest cover conversion of forests to cropland would entail major environmental costs most of the continent s unexploited land resources are located far from input and output markets limiting their economic attractiveness in the long run improvements in infrastructure and agricultural productivity and the growth of hinterland towns will enhance the economic returns to cropland expansion in the short to medium term however the potential for profitable smallholder based cropland expansion in most african countries is likely to be much more limited than it is typically perceived to be

poverty and land redistribution abstract despite a theoretical literature that promises that land transfers will have large impacts on the well being of poor households well identified empirical evidence on the efficacy of land redistribution is scarce in an effort to fill this gap this paper examines south africa s land redistribution for agricultural development lrad program we exploit features of lrad program implementation to extract exogenous variation in whether and for how long applicant households enjoyed land transfers binary treatment estimates which compare treated with untreated households show that beneficiary households on average experienced a 25 increase in per capita consumption our preferred continuous treatment estimates which analyze only the subset of treated households identify the impact time path of land transfers on consumption these estimates show that living standards initially drop and then after 3 4 years rise to 150 of their pre transfer level these results are statistically significant and robust to a statistically more conservative identification strategy

the composition of growth matters for poverty alleviation this paper contributes to explain the cross country heterogeneity of the poverty response to changes in economic growth it does so by focusing on the structure of output growth the paper presents a two sector theoretical model that clarifies the mechanism through which the sectoral composition of growth and associated labor intensity can affect workers wages and thus poverty alleviation then it presents cross country empirical evidence that analyzes first the differential poverty reducing impact of sectoral growth at various levels of disaggregation and the role of unskilled labor intensity in such differential impact the paper finds evidence that not only the size of economic growth but also its composition matters for poverty alleviation with the largest contributions from labor intensive sectors such as agriculture construction and manufacturing the results are robust to the influence of outliers alternative explanations and various poverty measures

behavioural and material determinants of production relations in agriculture in this essay we develop a framework for analysing the major institutions governing the production and exchange of output and the primary factors of production in rural areas the analysis incorporates general considerations of risk and information constraints jointly with the principal material attributes of agriculture and of agricultural production factors the framework is used to analyse barriers to the existence of the major intertemporal and factor markets it is applied specifically to land scarce environments for which it provides an internally consistent explanation for many of the well documented institutional features of such settings in addition the analysis provides new implications for among other phenomena the inter relationships among ownership holdings operational scale family size and factor productivity for the scarcity of animal rental markets and use of animals as collateral for the renting out of land by small landowners and for the existence of plantations for certain crops

the evolving role of agriculture in poverty reduction an empirical perspective abstract the role of agriculture in development remains much debated this paper takes an empirical perspective and focuses on poverty as opposed to growth alone the contribution of a sector to poverty reduction is shown to depend on its own growth performance its indirect impact on growth in other sectors the extent to which poor people participate in the sector and the size of the sector in the overall economy bringing together these different effects using cross country econometric evidence indicates that agriculture is significantly more effective in reducing poverty among the poorest of the poor as reflected in the 1 day squared poverty gap it is also up to 3 2 times better at reducing 1 day headcount poverty in low income and resource rich countries including those in sub saharan africa at least when societies are not fundamentally unequal however when it comes to the better off poor reflected in the 2 day measure non agriculture has the edge these results are driven by the much larger participation of poorer households in growth from agriculture and the lower poverty reducing effect of non agriculture in the presence of extractive industries

analysis of adoption and impacts of improved maize varieties in eastern zambia summary this paper analyzes the adoption and welfare impacts of improved maize varieties in eastern zambia using data obtained from a sample of over 800 farm households using both propensity score matching and endogenous switching regression models the paper shows that adoption of improved maize leads to significant gains in crop incomes consumption expenditure and food security results further show that improved maize varieties have significant poverty reducing impacts in eastern zambia the paper concludes with implications for policies to promote adoption and impacts of modern varieties in zambia

toward a food secure future ensuring food security for sustainable human development in sub saharan africa food security remains a top development priority and global concern it is enshrined in the 2030 agenda for sustainable development in sustainable development goal two food security is also a core component of the human development and capability paradigm since food access and entitlements are critical for reinforcing essential human capabilities in introducing this special issue this paper argues that agriculture is central to improving food security and reducing poverty in africa it suggests that realizing the potential of agriculture in africa requires rapid increases in land productivity and increases in agricultural yields a science based approach that integrates gender and sustainability is critical to meet this goal through the design and implementation of policies that improve the availability farm inputs and farm technology the paper concludes by introducing the papers in this special issue