Hello, and welcome to a new edition of the IFPR-Kampala’s USSP news and research digest!
As
usual, this 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.
In the news this week, we report on Uganda resumes exporting poultry to Kenya and on how conventional farming affects farmers access to market. We also report on how Zimbabwe commercialises its indigenous crops and point to a NPR article on how Kelp has been touted as the new kale, but it has been slow to catch on.
Under research, we provide links to:
- Incentives and the diffusion of agricultural knowledge: experimental evidence from northern Uganda
- Using Randomized Controlled Trials to Estimate Long-Run Impacts in Development Economics
- The impact of maize price shocks on household food security: Panel evidence from Tanzania
- Agricultural extension, intra-household allocation and malaria
- Correlated non-classical measurement errors, ‘Second best’ policy inference, and the inverse size-productivity relationship in agriculture
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Happy reading
News:
Uganda resumes exporting poultry to Kenya
Observer
Kenyan banned Ugandan poultry products in 2017 after the outbreak of
bird flu and swine flu was confirmed in the country. Nairobi claimed
then it had banned Ugandan poultry products to “secure the country from
the viral infection”.Ugandans are now free to export poultry and poultry
products to Kenya.
Yield Uganda Investment Fund invests In analytical laboratory
EABW
Yield Uganda Investment Fund has committed Shs1.3 billion to Chemiphar (U) Ltd alongside Agricultural Business Initiative’s grant injection of Shs2.45 billion. Chemiphar is an internationally accredited analytical laboratory located on the outskirts of Kampala, whose core business is to provide testing and inspection services to SME businesses operating in food and beverages, agro-products, environment, pharmaceutical and cosmetics as well as agricultural seeds. Chemiphar acts as an enabler to agri-businesses which are required to meet international standards for both export and local certification of their processed and value added products.
Conventional farming affecting farmers access to market
EABW
Promotion of conventional farming in Uganda may affect small holder
farmers’ access to local and international markets due to the health
effects associated with the farming system. Farmers are now agitating
for organic farming where crops can be produced using organically
produced manures. They say this will save them money and also open their
market opportunities to their produces both locally to internationally
market where the demand for organically produced foods is high.
Renewable technology confronts Kenya’s food waste
Spore
Solar-powered
cold storage units are being used by over 2,000 fruit and vegetable
farmers in eastern Kenya to reduce post-harvest losses and gain better
access to local markets. Mobile cold rooms have been set up for farmers
to store their produce before being transported to market. Farmers are
thus able to harvest their crops at a convenient time, and seek suitable
markets, whilst their produce is preserved. The green energy
innovation has seen a 40-60% reduction in post-harvest losses among its
users.
Why South Sudan cattle rustlers keep terrorising northern Uganda
Monitor
Statistics obtained from Lamwo District indicate that a total of 254
goats and 100 cattle have so far been stolen by suspected South Sudan
rustlers since February last year. Livestock farming in the district has
been severely hindered by cattle rustling.
State projects leave tens of thousands of lives in the balance in Ethiopia – study
The Guardian
A giant dam and irrigated sugar plantations are “wreaking havoc” in
southern Ethiopia and threaten to wipe out tens of thousands of
indigenous peoples , a US-based thinktank has claimed. It says that the
Ethiopian government has yet to address the impact of state development
plans on indigenous populations in the lower Omo valley, where people
face loss of livelihoods, starvation, and violent conflict .
Zimbabwe commercialises its indigenous crops
Spore
Zimbabwe has many adaptable and drought-resistant plant species that
require minimal or no agri-inputs at all and have significant commercial
potential. Baobab, for instance, is a hardy tree that grows in very dry
areas of the country and is used in BIZ’s flagship products, such as
baobab powder, marmalade and hair oil. Other indigenous plants
processed at BIZ include, Bambara nut, marula tree, mongongo nut or
mankelli tree, the resurrection plant, rosella, sausage tree or kigelia,
the wild melon tree and ximenia.
How a Syrian genebank secured over 100,000 seeds during wartime, maybe saving the future of wheat
Food Tank
Dr. Ali Shehadeh organised the rescue of thousands of varieties of
pulses, legumes, and grasses, co-ordinating shipments to other genebanks
in Turkey and Lebanon,
Organic millet farmer talks about ancient grain’s U.S. rise in popularity
Food Tank
Millet production in the United States increased 16 percent between 2016
and 2017, and is experiencing a sharp rise in popularity. Jean
Hediger, a certified organic millet farmer, says the rise is due to
consumers recognising the health benefits of this low cost, ancient
grain. While millet is mainly grown in developing countries, its
ability to thrive in harsh and arid environments makes it easy to
cultivate and is an attractive source of food as climate change forces
farmers around the world to seek alternative crops that are tolerant of
dryer temperatures.
Kelp has been touted as the new kale, but it has been slow to catch on
NPR
Kelp
is a type of seaweed that grows in large underwater forests and looks a
little like green lasagna noodles with curly edges. It can be used as a
pasta substitute, as noodles, sautéed with butter and mushrooms, or
ground into powder to use as seasoning. High end restaurants have also
used seaweed as a side vegetable and on cookies.
A huge amount of food is wasted—and with it, water, energy, and nutrition
Chicago Council
Roughly a third of all water used for agriculture is used to grow food
that will ultimately be lost or wasted. In general, the food products
most vulnerable to spoilage have highest water content. Food loss and
waste thus carry significant waste of limited water resources.
Child hunger threatens Africa’s economy, report says
DevEx
Africa’s economic and social progress is under threat from persistently
high levels of child hunger, according to a report by the Africa Child
Policy Forum. The report found that child hunger currently costs
African countries as much as 17% of their gross domestic product. It
urges governments to ensure children have enough food to safeguard their
country’s economic future, as well as their citizens’ well-being.
Sixth-generation Dutch seedsman wins $250,000 World Food Prize
World Food Price
Simon N. Groot of the Netherlands has been announced as the 2019 World
Food Prize Laureate for his transformative role in empowering millions
of smallholder farmers in more than 60 countries to earn greater incomes
through enhanced vegetable production, benefitting hundreds of millions
of consumers with greater access to nutritious vegetables for healthy
diets.
The research-practitioner divide: Why we are still optimistic
PIM
Researchers and development practitioners don’t often team up to co-lead
large global projects for a number of reasons. But even though this
type of partnership isn’t very common, we each need the other to be able
to solve seemingly intractable global problems like hunger and
poverty.
Beyond Hummus
Food Tank
To some, chickpeas are synonymous with hummus. But that’s a pretty
limited view of a crop that is the second most eaten pulse in the world.
Chana Dal. Burmese tofu. Farinata di ceci. Chana masala. Chakhchoukha.
Guasanas. They’re all national dishes based on the same ingredient—the
little ram’s head-shaped seed that gave the famous Roman orator Cicero
his name.
Research:
Incentives and the diffusion of agricultural knowledge: experimental evidence from northern Uganda
KM Shikuku, J Pieters, E Bulte, P Läderach – American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2019
We present results of a randomized evaluation that assesses the effects of different incentives for diffusion of agricultural knowledge by smallholders in northern Uganda. Randomly-selected disseminating farmers (DFs) from a large sample of villages are assigned to one of three experimental arms: (a) training about climate smart agriculture, (b) training plus a material reward for knowledge diffusion, and (c) training plus a reputational gain for knowledge diffusion. We find that leveraging somebody’s reputation (or social recognition) has a positive impact on DFs’ experimentation and diffusion effort. This impact is stronger than that measured in the private material rewards treatment.
Using Randomized Controlled Trials to Estimate Long-Run Impacts in Development Economics
A Bouguen, Y Huang, M Kremer, E Miguel – Annual Review of Economics, 2019
We assess evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on long-run economic productivity and living standards in poor countries. We first document that several studies estimate large positive long-run impacts, but that relatively few existing RCTs have been evaluated over the long run. We next present evidence from a systematic survey of existing RCTs, with a focus on cash transfer and child health programs, and show that a meaningful subset can realistically be evaluated for long-run effects. We discuss ways to bridge the gap between the burgeoning number of development RCTs and the limited number that have been followed up to date, including through new panel (longitudinal) data; improved participant tracking methods; alternative research designs; and access to administrative, remote sensing, and cell phone data. We conclude that the rise of development economics RCTs since roughly 2000 provides a novel opportunity to generate high-quality evidence on the long-run drivers of living standards.
The impact of maize price shocks on household food security: Panel evidence from Tanzania
R Rudolf – Food Policy, 2019
Using three waves (2008/09, 2010/11, 2012/13) of the Tanzanian National Panel Survey, this study investigates the impact of maize price shocks on household food security. Between 2008/09 and 2012/13, calorie intake stagnated for urban households, yet sharply deteriorated for rural households. The latter was driven by a significant decline in the consumption of the major staple maize which showed strongest price hikes among all major food items. Fixed-effects regressions indicate a clear negative relationship between maize prices and average household energy intake. Almost all population groups were found to be negatively affected by maize price shocks, with rural landless households being the most vulnerable group. In particular, a 50 percent rise in maize prices decreases caloric intake for rural (urban) households on average by 4.4 (5.4) percent, and for rural landless households by 12.6 percent. Results further indicate that subsistence agriculture can act as an effective strategy to insure against food price volatility.
Agricultural extension, intra-household allocation and malaria
Yao Pan, Saurabh Singhal, Journal of Development Economics, 2019.
Can agricultural development programs improve health-related outcomes? We exploit a spatial discontinuity in the coverage of a large-scale agricultural extension program in Uganda to causally identify its effects on malaria. We find that eligibility for the program reduced the proportion of household members with malaria by 8.9 percentage points, with children and pregnant women experiencing substantial improvements. An examination of the underlying mechanisms indicates that an increase in income and the resulting increase in the ownership and usage of bednets may have played a role. Taken together, these results signify the importance of financial constraints in investments for malaria prevention and the potential role that agricultural development can play in easing it.
Correlated
non-classical measurement errors, ‘Second best’ policy inference, and
the inverse size-productivity relationship in agriculture
Kibrom A. Abay, Gashaw T. Abate, Christopher B. Barrett, Tanguy Bernard, Journal of Development Economics, 2019.
We show that non-classical measurement errors (NCME) on both sides of a regression can bias the parameter estimate of interest in either direction. Furthermore, if these NCME are correlated, correcting for either one alone can aggravate bias relative to ignoring mismeasurement in both variables, a ‘second best’ result with implications for a broad class of economic phenomena of policy interest. We then use a unique Ethiopian dataset of matched farmer self-reported and precise ground-based measures for both plot size and agricultural output to re-investigate the long-debated relationship between plot size and crop productivity. Both self-reported variables contain substantial NCME that are negatively correlated with the true variable values, and positively correlated with one another, consistent with prior studies. Eliminating both sources of NCME eliminates the estimated inverse size-productivity relationship. But correcting neither variable generates a parameter estimate not statistically significantly different from that generated using two improved measures, while correcting for just one source of NCME significantly aggravates the bias in the parameter estimate. Numerical simulations demonstrate that over a relatively large parameter space, expensive collection of objective measures of only one variable or correcting only one variable’s NCME may be inadvisable when NCME are large and correlated. This has practical implications for survey design as well as for estimation using existing survey data.
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