EPAR Technical Report #349
Aid and Economic Self-Sufficiency
Publication Date: 11/30/2017
Type: Literature Review
Abstract

Donor countries and multilateral organizations may pursue multiple goals with foreign aid, including supporting low-income country development for strategic/security purposes (national security, regional political stability) and for short-and long-term economic interests (market development and access, local and regional market stability). While the literature on the effectiveness of aid in supporting progress on different indicators of country development is inconclusive, donors are interested in evidence that aid funding is not permanent but rather contributes to a process by which recipient countries develop to a point that they are economically self-sufficient. In this report, we review the literature on measures of country self-sufficiency and descriptive evidence from illustrative case studies to explore conditions associated with transitions toward self-sufficiency in certain contexts.

  

Technical Report, Case Study - Botswana, Case Study - Indonesia, Case Study - India, Case Study - Ghana, Case Study - Rwanda
EPAR Technical Report #335
Agricultural Development Indicator Curation
Publication Date: 11/21/2017
Type: Data Analysis
Abstract
EPAR has developed Stata do.files for the construction of a set of agricultural development indicators using data from the Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). We are sharing our code and documenting our construction decisions both to facilitate analyses of these rich datasets and to make estimates of relevant indicators available to a broader audience of potential users. 
Presentation Slides
Code, Code, Code, Code
EPAR Technical Report #317
Digital Financial Services & Gender: An Analysis of Correlates of Awareness, Adoption, and Use
Publication Date: 11/16/2017
Type: Data Analysis
Abstract

In this report we analyze three waves nationally-representative household survey data from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Indonesia to explore sociodemographic and economic factors associated with mobile money adoption, awareness, and use across countries and over time. Our findings indicate that to realize the potential of digital financial services to reach currently unbanked populations and increase financial inclusion, particular attention needs to be paid to barriers faced by women in accessing mobile money. While policies and interventions to promote education, employment, phone ownership, and having a bank account may broadly help to increase mobile money adoption and use, potentially bringing in currently unbanked populations, specific policies targeting women may be needed to close current gender gaps.

Technical Report
Code
EPAR Technical Report #339
Funding for Agricultural Research and Development Public Goods
Publication Date: 09/28/2017
Type: Data Analysis
Abstract

An ongoing stream of EPAR research considers how public good characteristics of different types of research and development (R&D) and the motivations of different providers of R&D funding affect the relative advantages of alternative funding sources. For this project, we seek to summarize the key public good characteristics of R&D investment for agriculture in general and for different subsets of crops, and hypothesize how these characteristics might be expected to affect public, private, or philanthropic funders’ investment decisions. 

ICABR Presentation Slides, 2011-2014 Data on Public Investment in Agricultural R&D
Code
EPAR Technical Report #341
Public Expenditures in Agriculture: Analyzing Data Sources
Publication Date: 08/03/2017
Type:
Abstract
Data on public expenditures on agriculture are not systematically collected in any one database. Rather, a variety of sources collect and publish data on certain aspects of agricultural public expenditures. These sources vary in their data collection methods, their frequency of data collection, and the specific expenditures they report on. We collected data on agricultural public expenditures and conducted preliminary analyses for four countries: India (with a focus on Bihar, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh), Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania. The data are disaggregated in a variety of ways depending on the source, but we include disaggregated data where available comparing planned or budgeted vs. actual spending, government vs. donor spending, soending by activity or funding area, and spending by commodity or value chain activity. Our goals are to facilitate further analysis of trends in agricultural public expenditures across countries and over time, and to highlight gaps and differences in data sources.
Slide Deck - Agricultural Public Expenditure Data Sources, Results Coding - Agricultural Public Expenditure Data Sources, Results Coding - MAFAP Agricultural Expenditures Data for Ethiopia and Tanzania, Results Coding - Aggregated Public Agriculture Expenditure Data, Slide Deck - Agricultural Public Expenditures Cross-Country Analysis, Slide Deck - Agricultural Public Expenditures Comparison Across Sources
EPAR Technical Report #218
China Agricultural Machinery
Publication Date: 01/13/2013
Type: Literature Review
Abstract

This desk study reports on the small-scale machinery sector in China and a selection of SSA countries: Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Uganda. The report is organized into three sections. Section 1 discusses the current state of small-scale agricultural machinery in SSA for crop and livestock production in each of the SSA countries identified. It also seeks to identify major areas of need in terms of agricultural mechanization and major constraints to agricultural machinery adoption, dissemination and maintenance. Section 2 focuses on the agricultural machinery sector in China and Chinese Africa relationships in agricultural development. It also identifies the major government players in the Chinese agricultural machinery sector. Section 3 is a “directory” of small-scale agricultural machinery manufactured in China with potential relevance for SSA smallholder farmers. We divide machines by function (e.g. threshing) although many Chinese machines are multi-function and can serve multiple purposes. We also note applicable crops, if listed by the manufacturers, and technical specifications as available.

Literature Review
EPAR Technical Report #60
Smallholder Contract Farming in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia
Publication Date: 03/05/2010
Type: Literature Review
Abstract

In recent years, product supply chains for agricultural goods have become increasingly globalized. As a result, greater numbers of smallholder farmers in South Asia (SA) and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) participate in global supply chains, many of them through contract farming (CF). CF is an arrangement between a farmer and a processing or marketing firm for the production and supply of agricultural products, often at predetermined prices. This literature review finds empirical evidence that demonstrates that the economic and social benefits of CF for smallholder farmers are mixed. A number of studies suggest that CF may improve farmer productivity, reduce production risk and transaction costs, and increase farmer incomes. However, critics caution that CF may undermine farmers’ relative bargaining power and increase health, environmental, and financial risk through exposure to monopsonistic markets, weak contract environments, and unfamiliar agricultural technologies. There is consensus across the literature that CF has the best outcomes for farmers when farmers have more bargaining power to negotiate the terms of the contract. In reviewing the literature on CF, we find a number of challenges to comparing studies and evaluating outcomes across contracts. This literature review summarizes empirical findings and analyses regarding contract models and best practices to increase farmers’ bargaining power and decrease contract default.

Literature Review
EPAR Research Brief #64
Gender & Cropping in Sub-Saharan Africa: Executive Summary
Publication Date: 03/03/2010
Type: Research Brief
Abstract

Introducing technology that is designed to be physically appropriate and valuable to women farmers can increase yields and raise income. But gender issues for agricultural technology projects in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are extremely complex. The EPAR series on Gender and Cropping in SSA offers examples of how these issues can affect crop production and adoption of agricultural technologies at each point in the crop cycle for eight crops (cassava, cotton, maize, millet, rice, sorghum, wheat, and yam). This executive summary highlights innovative opportunities for interventions that consider these dimensions of gender. We encourage readers to consult the crop specific briefs for more details. We find that involving both men and women in the development, testing, and dissemination of agricultural technology has been shown to be successful in helping both benefit. Nevertheless, a consistent finding throughout the Gender and Cropping in SSA series is that maximum benefits from technological innovations cannot be realized when upstream factors like education, power, and land tenure heavily influence outcomes. Addressing these more basic upstream causes of gender inequality may be even more important in helping households increase productivity and maximize the benefits of technological interventions. 

Full Brief
EPAR Research Brief #63
Agricultural Research and Development Hours by Crop
Publication Date: 02/05/2010
Type: Research Brief
Abstract

This research brief reports on full time equivalent (fte) positions devoted to research and development of major food and cash crops in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Data on fte by country and crop were collected from individual Agricultural Science and Technology Indicator (ASTI) country briefs. ASTI data are obtained from unpublished surveys conducted by CGIAR centers. Our report includes 23 countries in SSA. 

Research Brief
EPAR Research Brief #33
Gender & Cropping in Sub-Saharan Africa: Overview
Publication Date: 01/19/2010
Type: Research Brief
Abstract

A widely quoted estimate is that women produce 70 to 80 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA) food. Increasing farmer productivity in SSA therefore requires understanding how these women make planting, harvesting, and other decisions that affect the production, consumption, and marketing of their crops. This brief provides an overview of the gender cropping series highlighting similar themes from the various crops studied, presenting an overarching summary of the findings and conclusion of the individual literature reviews. The studies reviewed suggest that differential preferences and access to assets by men and women can affect adoption levels and the benefits that accrue to men and women. Findings show that women have less secure access to credit, land, inputs, extension, and markets. Similarly, women’s multi-faceted role in household management gives rise to preferences that may very well be different from those of men. Participatory Breeding and Participatory Varietal Selection are two methods shown to be successful in developing technology that is more appropriate and more likely to avoid unintended consequences. Regularly collecting gender-disaggregated statistics can also result in a greater understanding of how technology has affected both men and women. Agricultural technology has the potential to enhance both men’s and women’s welfare and productivity, but unless gender is sufficiently integrated into every step of the development and dissemination process, efforts will only achieve a fraction of their total possible benefit.

Full Brief