Hello, and welcome come a new edition of the IFPR-Kampala’s USSP weekly news and research digest!
As usual, this weekly collection of recent news articles related to agriculture is compiled from online news sources. We also include links to recent publications on agricultural and policy-related research topics pertinent to Uganda and the wider region.
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This week, we report on the fact that coffee farmers are trained to boost exports and on the fact that government suspends harvesting, trade of Shea nut trees. We also have an article on how increasing agricultural technology adoption through information and on Understanding GMOs.
In the section discussion papers, policy briefs and research reports, we refer to the following publications:
- TechnoServe initiative for inclusive agricultural business models
- Successful models to empower women in outgrower schemes
- FDI and supply chains in horticulture: diversifying exports and reducing poverty in Africa, Latin America, and other developing economies
Under research, we highlight:
- Nutrition-sensitive agriculture: What have we learned so far?
- Do development projects crowd-out private sector activities? Evidence from contract farming participation in Northern Ghana
- The heterogeneous effect of shocks on agricultural innovations adoption: Microeconometric evidence from rural Ethiopia
- Maize lethal necrosis disease: Evaluating agronomic and genetic control strategies for Ethiopia and Kenya
- Gendered Incidence and Impacts of Tenure In
- Cash Crops and Food Security: Evidence fromsecurity on Agricultural Performance in Malawi’s Customary Tenure System Ethiopian Smallholder Coffee Producers
- Does Intensive Tillage Enhance Productivity and Reduce Risk Exposure? Panel Data Evidence from Smallholders’ Agriculture in Ethiopia
Note that newsletters are archived on https://bjornvancampenhout.com/newsletter/
Happy reading,
News:
Coffee farmers trained to boost exports
Observer
At least 45 coffee farmers from across the country have received training on how to market and export their products. The Agribusiness Development Center with support from the Rabobank Foundation and DFCU bank targeted mainly farmers who are also leaders of cooperatives on how to handle coffee fit for export, how to negotiate a contacts, and skills on how to get information for better prices.
Government suspends harvesting, trade of Shea nut trees
Monitor
The Ministry of Water and Environment has with immediate effect suspended any cutting, transportation and sale of Shea nut and Afzella Africana tree logs and their products saying they are endangered.
Maize everywhere, but no store anywhere
Independent
There is good news on Uganda’s food security front. The agriculture ministry estimates that Uganda has harvested about 5.5 million metric tonnes from the last planting season; which is a 38% increase from the usual harvest of about 4 million metric tonnes. But the bumper harvest of maize – and beans – has exposed another problem smallholder farmers face; a lack of storage facilities.
Red cherries and coffee farmers who do it right, in Rwanda
Agrilinks
One farmer brings a bag full of well picked cherry, the next one has only 75 percent well-picked and 25 percent black, underripe stems and other debris. Sadly, in many cases they are paid the same. The farmer “doing the right thing” is essentially cheated, because her cherry is immediately mixed with that of the farmers bringing a low quality mix. The price the cooperative (or private washing station) receives in the end is therefore “diluted” by the degraded quality of the raw material.
NCPB buys 2.7m bags of maize, the highest ever in one season
Business Daily Africa
The Kenyan government is buying the grain to replenish the strategic food reserve which is required to have a minimum of three million bags at any given time.
Kenya bets on ancient form of preservation to cut food losses
Daily Nation
Kenya is placing a big bet on hermetic storage bags, one of the oldest forms of food preservation in the world, to reduce post-harvest losses which claim up to 30 per cent of annual maize production. Hermetic bags are designed to insulate cereals from heat, air and moisture.
Rwandan scientists debate potential pros and cons of allowing farmers to grow GMO crops
Genetic Literacy Project
Rwanda is one of the latest countries that made actions towards legalizing GM crops. According to an official at the Rwanda Environment Management Authority, they have drafted a law regulating GM crops.
EAC agricultural food systems increase youth opportunities
Daily News
Agriculture is widely perceived by youth as an unappealing, traditional, labour intensive farm activity not as a potentially high-profit business activity. However, according to African Economic Outlook, agriculture sector currently involves a spectrum of new opportunities on and off the farm connected to marketing, processing, packaging and food service, in addition to on-farm production.
Zimbabwe gets £21.5m grant as millions in southern Africa face hunger
Fin24
A prolonged dry spell and an invasive crop-eating worm are set to sharply curtail harvests across the southern African region, which could result in severe hunger for millions of people.
Seeding success: Increasing agricultural technology adoption through information
International Growth Centre
Modern agricultural technologies have enormous potential to drive poverty reduction and economic growth, but adoption remains low in many countries. New models of information sharing could help resolve this.
Understanding GMOs: genetic engineering and the future of coffee
Daily Coffee news
Presently, coffee is grown in a region within 25 degrees latitude north to 30 degrees latitude south of the equator, colloquially referred to as the coffee belt. Within this belt, approximately 25 million people are involved in the production of coffee, all of whom are vulnerable to the consequences of climate change.
Experts fear the world could run out of chocolate in 30 years because of climate change
The West Australian
Chocolate could run out in the next thirty years because the crop will be harder to grow in a warming climate, experts have warned. The cocoa tree is under threat from diseases and a changing climate that will suck moisture from the soil and make it impossible to produce a good crop in many regions around the world by 2050.
A-peeling? Japanese farmers invent edible banana skin
The Guardian
First there were avocados with no stones; now we have bananas with edible skin. A Japanese farm uses what it calls the “freeze thaw awakening method” to grow bananas that have a softer, digestible peel.
Reports, Policy Briefs and Discussion Papers:
TechnoServe initiative for inclusive agricultural business models
TechnoServe
This case study documents TechnoServe’s experience in identifying ways of enhancing commercial and social value through local sourcing in Africa for SABMiller and AB InBev.
Successful models to empower women in outgrower schemes
Ag Dev Co
This study showcases best practices to promote women’s economic empowerment in outgrower schemes. It derives practical lessons from outgrower schemes, and links these to ten underlying principles of success.
FDI and supply chains in horticulture: diversifying exports and reducing poverty in Africa, Latin America, and other developing economies
Moran, TH, CGD Working Paper, 2018.
How have some developing countries managed to break into the ranks of horticultural exporters, while others have not? What are the obstacles to entering international supply chains for horticultural exports? How can emerging market economies maximize positive impacts on rural employment, on gender employment, and on externalities for local communities?
Research:
Nutrition-sensitive agriculture: What have we learned so far?
MT Ruel, AR Quisumbing, M Balagamwala – Global Food Security, 2018
A growing number of governments, donor agencies, and development organizations are committed to supporting nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) to achieve their development goals. While consensus exists on pathways through which agriculture may influence nutrition-related outcomes, empirical evidence on agriculture’s contribution to nutrition and how it can be enhanced is still weak. This paper reviews recent empirical evidence (since 2014), including findings from impact evaluations of a variety of NSA programs using experimental designs as well as observational studies that document linkages between agriculture, women’s empowerment, and nutrition linkages. The paper summarizes existing knowledge regarding impacts, but also pathways, mechanisms, and contextual factors that affect where and how agriculture may improve nutrition outcomes. The paper concludes with reflections on implications for agricultural programs, policies, and investments, and highlights future research priorities.
Do development projects crowd-out private sector activities? Evidence from contract farming participation in Northern Ghana
Isabel Brigitte Lambrecht, Catherine Ragasa, Food Policy, 2018.
Contract farming (CF) is attractive as a possible private sector-led strategy for improving market coordination and smallholder farmers’ welfare. At the same time, governmental and non-governmental development projects aimed at improving farmers’ welfare continue to be organized. It is not uncommon for CF activities and development projects to take place in the same communities. Yet so far there is no evidence on how development projects affect CF activities. We examine factors affecting entry in and exit from different maize CF schemes in Northern Ghana, and focus specifically on the role of development projects. We find that the presence of agricultural development projects in the community is associated with lower scheme entry, but this not the case for non-agricultural projects. CF exit is more strongly associated with maize projects, but not significantly with non-maize or non-agricultural projects. Thus, our findings do not support concerns of a general moral hazard problem arising from the presence of any development project, but indicate possible negative associations of more closely related agricultural or maize projects with maize CF participation.
The heterogeneous effect of shocks on agricultural innovations adoption: Microeconometric evidence from rural Ethiopia
Gebrelibanos Gebremariam, Wondimagegn Tesfaye, Food Policy, 2018.
Theoretically, the relationship between shocks and agricultural innovation adoption could be ambiguous. While shocks could lower the competence and capacity of households to adopt new agricultural innovations, households can also take-up agricultural innovations as a coping mechanism against the different shocks they face. Using a nationally representative household data from Ethiopia of the Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) of the World Bank, this paper analyzes the effect of idiosyncratic and covariate shocks on adoption of different agricultural innovations, assuming interdependence among the innovations. We find shocks to have heterogeneous effects on the adoption of agricultural innovations. Specifically, production and health shocks have negative effects on the adoption of high-cost innovations such as improved seeds, chemical fertilizer, and irrigation. However, production shocks are positively associated with low-cost innovations such as organic fertilizer. To enhance farmers’ adoption of agricultural innovations, especially high-cost innovations, there is a greater need towards the design of policies and interventions that would reduce household’s exposure to production and health shocks.
Maize lethal necrosis disease: Evaluating agronomic and genetic control strategies for Ethiopia and Kenya
PP Marenya, O Erenstein, B Prasanna, D Makumbi et al- Agricultural Systems, 2018
Maize lethal necrosis disease (MLN) was first diagnosed in eastern Africa in the 2010’s and is a big threat to their maize-based agri-food systems with estimated losses amounting to US$261 million in Ethiopia and US$198 million in Kenya. This paper reviews the agronomic and policy options to contain MLN and comparatively analyzes the feasibility of using maize-bean rotations and MLN-tolerant germplasm as key alternative strategies for managing MLN. Results from crop simulation and economic surplus models are used to make assessments on what strategy offers the most realistic MLN control approach given the circumstances of smallholder production in Kenya and Ethiopia. The paper finds that although maize-legume rotations are sound agronomic recommendations and are crucial for long term maize production system viability, their widespread application over large geographic areas for MLN control is economically challenging given that maize is a preferred staple. We conclude that scaling MLN-tolerant germplasm proves highly viable with estimated multiplier benefits of US$245-756 million in Ethiopia and US$195-678 million in Kenya, and benefiting up to 2.1 million people in Ethiopia and 1.2 million in Kenya. Given that the threat of MLN is present and ongoing, the food and economic security of maize-based agrarian economies in eastern Africa will critically depend on the successful mainstreaming of MLN tolerance in their maize seed systems.
Gendered Incidence and Impacts of Tenure Insecurity on Agricultural Performance in Malawi’s Customary Tenure System
Klaus Deininger, Fang Xia & Stein Holden – Journal of Development Studies, 2018.
Malawi’s recent passage of Land Acts provide an opportunity to clarify different aspects of the country’s land tenure in an integrated way. To assess whether doing so might be economically justified, we explore incidence and impact of tenure insecurity among smallholders. Insecurity is not only widespread, with 22 per cent of land users being concerned about losing their land, but is also associated with a productivity loss of 9 per cent for female operators, equivalent to US$ 11 million per year at the national level, enough to pay for a nation-wide tenure regularisation programme in two to three years.
Cash Crops and Food Security: Evidence from Ethiopian Smallholder Coffee Producers
Tadesse Kuma, Mekdim Dereje, Kalle Hirvonen & Bart Minten – Journal of Development Studies, 2018.
One of the central questions in food policy debates has been the role of cash cropping for achieving food security in low-income countries. We revisit this question in the context of smallholder coffee production in Ethiopia. Using data collected by the authors on about 1600 coffee farmers in the country, we find that coffee income is associated with improved food security, even after controlling for total income and other factors. Further analysis suggests that one possible pathway is linked to being better able to smooth consumption across agricultural seasons.
Does Intensive Tillage Enhance Productivity and Reduce Risk Exposure? Panel Data Evidence from Smallholders’ Agriculture in Ethiopia
ZA Abro, M Jaleta, H Teklewold – Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2018
We analyse the impact of intensity of tillage on wheat productivity and risk exposure using panel household-plot level data from Ethiopia. In order to control for selection bias, we estimate a flexible moment-based production function using an endogenous switching regression treatment effects model. We find that tillage has a complementary impact on productivity and risk exposure. As the intensity of tillage increases, productivity increases and farmers’ exposure to risk declines. Our results suggest that smallholder farmers use tillage as an ex-ante risk management strategy. The main policy implication of this study is that the opportunity cost of switching to reduced tillage in wheat production seem rather high unless farmers are supported by appropriate incentive schemes.
