This paper examines the ex-post impact of the combination of cropping- system diversification (CS... more This paper examines the ex-post impact of the combination of cropping- system diversification (CSD) and the adoption of improved maize varieties on child stunting and household nutritional security. To control for selection and endogeneity bias, arising from time-variant and time-invariant individual heterogeneity, the study employs a fixed-effects multinomial endogenous switching regression using large, on a panel data set collected in maize-growing areas of Ethiopia between 2010 and 2013. Results highlight the significant effect of adoption of CSD and improved maize varieties on child stunting; per capita consumption of calories, protein, and iron; and dietary diversity. The greatest impact was achieved when farmers adopted CSD and improved maize varieties jointly rather than individually. Our results are a validation of the need to strengthen smallholder diversification in the face of subsistence production and limited access to food markets. In these scenarios, production of a d...
This study investigates the effects of combinations of climate smart agricultural practices on ri... more This study investigates the effects of combinations of climate smart agricultural practices on risk exposure and cost of risk. We do this by examining the different risk components — mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis — in a multinomial treatment effects framework by controlling weather variables for key stages of crop growth. We found that adoption of combinations of practices is widely viewed as a risk-reducing insurance strategy that can increase farmers’ resilience to production risk. The hypothesis of equality of weather parameters across crop development stages is also rejected. The heterogeneous effects of weather across crop growth stages have important implications for climate change adaptation to maximize quasi-option value. For a country that has the vision to build a climate-resilient economy, this knowledge is valuable to identify a combination of climate smart practices that minimizes production risk under variable weather conditions.
The major objective of this paper is to identify determinants of market prices for cattle, sheep ... more The major objective of this paper is to identify determinants of market prices for cattle, sheep and goat in the export market value chain starting from pastoral markets to export abattoirs and live animal exporters. The study is based on the information generated through a formal survey conducted in the major pastoral livestock markets of Ethiopia with 128 collectors, small and big traders, feedlot operators, live animal and meat exporters. Hedonic price formation model was used to analyze the survey data. This study identified certain occasions such as Christian fasting, Muslim fasting, holidays and other times; time of a situation whether that specific month falls during ban time or not and season described as wet or dry season as important determinants of livestock price formation. Age group and body condition of the traded animals, buyer and seller types are also important observable attributes influencing formation of livestock prices.
In crop-livestock mixed farming system where farm yard manure (FYM) is considered as important mu... more In crop-livestock mixed farming system where farm yard manure (FYM) is considered as important multi-purpose resource such as source of soil organic matter, additional source of income and household source of energy, soil fertility depletion could takes place within the perspective of the household allocation pattern of FYM. This paper estimates structural FYM-allocation model in the presence of corner solution, with the objective of examining the role of various returns to FYM and farmer’s impatience on the propensity to allocate FYM for alternative purposes. We illustrate the model using data based on a random sample of 493 farm households in the central highlands of Ethiopia. We find that the higher the selling price of FYM is the higher the incentive for farmers to divert the resource from farming to marketing for burning outside the farm households. A farmers’ decision to turn FYM from farming to marketing due to heterogeneity in time preference is also an alternative account t...
The Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) in Ethiopia is a multifaceted investment program supporting... more The Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) in Ethiopia is a multifaceted investment program supporting agricultural productivity and the commercialization of smallholder farmers. The AGP is expected to positively affect household food security by increasing agricultural productivity and production. The extent to which the AGP has affected farmers’ economic efficiency and productivity is an interesting policy issue. This study employed a switching regression with the stochastic frontier model to investigate differences in total factor productivity (TFP) between beneficiary and non-beneficiary farmers in AGP. It also estimated the role of technological progress, technical and scale efficiencies in conditioning TFP. Results show that participation in AGP provided significantly higher TFP compared to non-participation. While technical progress did contribute to the observed increase in output, improving technical efficiency has also the potential to increase output by as much as 40% with exi...
This paper examines the ex-post impact of the combination of cropping- system diversification (CS... more This paper examines the ex-post impact of the combination of cropping- system diversification (CSD) and the adoption of improved maize varieties on child stunting and household nutritional security. To control for selection and endogeneity bias, arising from time-variant and time-invariant individual heterogeneity, the study employs a fixed-effects multinomial endogenous switching regression using large, on a panel data set collected in maize-growing areas of Ethiopia between 2010 and 2013. Results highlight the significant effect of adoption of CSD and improved maize varieties on child stunting; per capita consumption of calories, protein, and iron; and dietary diversity. The greatest impact was achieved when farmers adopted CSD and improved maize varieties jointly rather than individually. Our results are a validation of the need to strengthen smallholder diversification in the face of subsistence production and limited access to food markets. In these scenarios, production of a d...
This study investigates the effects of combinations of climate smart agricultural practices on ri... more This study investigates the effects of combinations of climate smart agricultural practices on risk exposure and cost of risk. We do this by examining the different risk components — mean, variance, skewness, and kurtosis — in a multinomial treatment effects framework by controlling weather variables for key stages of crop growth. We found that adoption of combinations of practices is widely viewed as a risk-reducing insurance strategy that can increase farmers’ resilience to production risk. The hypothesis of equality of weather parameters across crop development stages is also rejected. The heterogeneous effects of weather across crop growth stages have important implications for climate change adaptation to maximize quasi-option value. For a country that has the vision to build a climate-resilient economy, this knowledge is valuable to identify a combination of climate smart practices that minimizes production risk under variable weather conditions.
The major objective of this paper is to identify determinants of market prices for cattle, sheep ... more The major objective of this paper is to identify determinants of market prices for cattle, sheep and goat in the export market value chain starting from pastoral markets to export abattoirs and live animal exporters. The study is based on the information generated through a formal survey conducted in the major pastoral livestock markets of Ethiopia with 128 collectors, small and big traders, feedlot operators, live animal and meat exporters. Hedonic price formation model was used to analyze the survey data. This study identified certain occasions such as Christian fasting, Muslim fasting, holidays and other times; time of a situation whether that specific month falls during ban time or not and season described as wet or dry season as important determinants of livestock price formation. Age group and body condition of the traded animals, buyer and seller types are also important observable attributes influencing formation of livestock prices.
In crop-livestock mixed farming system where farm yard manure (FYM) is considered as important mu... more In crop-livestock mixed farming system where farm yard manure (FYM) is considered as important multi-purpose resource such as source of soil organic matter, additional source of income and household source of energy, soil fertility depletion could takes place within the perspective of the household allocation pattern of FYM. This paper estimates structural FYM-allocation model in the presence of corner solution, with the objective of examining the role of various returns to FYM and farmer’s impatience on the propensity to allocate FYM for alternative purposes. We illustrate the model using data based on a random sample of 493 farm households in the central highlands of Ethiopia. We find that the higher the selling price of FYM is the higher the incentive for farmers to divert the resource from farming to marketing for burning outside the farm households. A farmers’ decision to turn FYM from farming to marketing due to heterogeneity in time preference is also an alternative account t...
The Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) in Ethiopia is a multifaceted investment program supporting... more The Agricultural Growth Program (AGP) in Ethiopia is a multifaceted investment program supporting agricultural productivity and the commercialization of smallholder farmers. The AGP is expected to positively affect household food security by increasing agricultural productivity and production. The extent to which the AGP has affected farmers’ economic efficiency and productivity is an interesting policy issue. This study employed a switching regression with the stochastic frontier model to investigate differences in total factor productivity (TFP) between beneficiary and non-beneficiary farmers in AGP. It also estimated the role of technological progress, technical and scale efficiencies in conditioning TFP. Results show that participation in AGP provided significantly higher TFP compared to non-participation. While technical progress did contribute to the observed increase in output, improving technical efficiency has also the potential to increase output by as much as 40% with exi...
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Papers by Hailemariam Teklewold