1. |
- Abu Hatab, Assem, et al.
(author)
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The debt trap dilemma of African governments : balancing debt services, food security and development – while avoiding civil unrest
- 2024
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Nearly half of Africa’s economies are on the brink of debt distress. Unlike previous debt crises, the current one is characterised by a shift from multilateral to commercial and bilateral creditors, notably China, and the proliferation of Eurobonds. Pressured by heavy debt burdens, there is a risk that African governments divert funds from essential sectors such as education, health care and agriculture, causing a vicious cycle of stalled development, food insecurity and an elevated risk of socio-political instability.
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- Atata, Scholastica Ngozi, et al.
(author)
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Gendered Analysis of Households’ Uptake of Agricultural Technology, Production and Food Consumption in Rural Nigeria
- 2024
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The literature suggests marked gender inequality in the use of agricultural technologydespite the availability of evidence that women could be as productive as menwhen given equal access to agricultural resources. This underscores an urgent needto consider improving women’s access to agricultural technology to ensure thesustainable provision of food for all people, and particularly those in developingcountries. This study addresses two specific objectives. It: (a) examines genderdifferences in households’ use of farm-level technology (herbicides, pesticidesand inorganic fertilizer); and (b) assesses the impact of the uptake of agriculturaltechnology on farm production and food consumption, paying particular attentionto the gender of the household head. The results of a three-stage least squares (3SLS)regression reveal that households’ uptake of agricultural technology has a significantpositive effect on their dietary diversity and food consumption expenditure per capitadue to increased farm production. While these results are consistent regardless of thegender of the household head, the extent of effects for female-headed householdsis almost double that for male-headed households. Therefore, an essential policyimplication of our result is that the government could use input subsidies to addresssome of the gender gaps with regard to agricultural technology access and use. Suchefforts should address any entrenched inequalities in women’s access to agriculturalproduction resources and consider other socioeconomic factors such as education andlandholding, which contribute to gender inequality in agricultural technology uptake
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3. |
- Koomson, Isaac, et al.
(author)
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Non-farm entrepreneurship, caste, and energy poverty in rural India
- 2023
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In: Energy Economics. - 0140-9883 .- 1873-6181. ; 127
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This study examines how non-farm entrepreneurship influences rural household energy poverty and explores caste-based heterogeneities in outcomes in India. The study used different quasi-experimental econometric methods to analyse panel data from the waves 1 and 2 (2015 and 2018) of the Access to Clean Cooking Energy and Electricity Survey of States (ACCESS) in India. The overall results across all estimation methods show that households' engagement in non-fam entrepreneurship significantly contributes to a reduction in their energy poverty levels and the probability of being energy poor. The sizes of the reduction vary across the four castes (General Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, and Other Backward Caste). The energy poverty reducing effect of non-farm entrepreneurship is particularly high among members of the Scheduled Tribe. Further mediation analyses reveal that non-farm entrepreneurship potentially affects rural households' energy poverty through their accumulation of financial (savings) and durable assets which possibly enable them to access cleaner energy sources for lighting and cooking. We encourage governments to pay attention to policies that promote non-farm entrepreneurship which has the potential to enhance asset accumulation and reduce rural energy poverty in the process.
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4. |
- Orkoh, Emmanuel, et al.
(author)
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COVID-19 emergency income grant and food security in Namibia
- 2023
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In: Development Southern Africa. - 0376-835X .- 1470-3637.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper evaluates the effects of the government's COVID-19 economic stimulus and relief package (emergency/one-off income grant of ND750) on household food security in Namibia during the period of the lockdown. The analysis reveals that a household that received the income grant ($42 equivalent) experienced about 11%−17% reduction in food insecurity compared to their non-recipient counterparts. We also found that the effect was relatively higher in female-headed households than in male-headed households. The positive effect is supported by a higher proportion (53%) of the beneficiary households who were satisfied with the policy. These findings underscore the need for the government of Namibia to institutionalise and sustain the income grant policy as a safety net and extend it to cover other vulnerable households in the post-pandemic. Such a programme should be gender-responsive and targeted at household heads who make decision over food consumption and other household arrangements for a bigger impact.
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6. |
- Sackey, Frank Gyimah, et al.
(author)
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Firm characteristics and asymmetric information based credit rationing in an emerging economy : a gender perspective
- 2023
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In: Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research. - 2228-7566 .- 2251-7316. ; 13:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Micro, Small and Medium frms’ credit access remains a dilemma though the fnancial sector has been liberalized. This paper investigates the factors infuencing credit rationing and how variations in the characteristics of frms owned by diferent genders contribute to credit rationing. The study utilizes probit estimation with marginal efects, Fairlie counterfactual and decomposition analysis to analyze both credit rationing and the extent to which the credit rationing gap is infuenced by diferences in gender endowments and discrimination using 1,430 frms’ owners’ loan applications randomly selected from eight (8) commercial banks. Our results show that borrowers having more years of experience, external market access, proximity to lender, being older and being male are not likely to experience credit rationing. Borrowers in the agricultural sector, with long term loans, who lack formal education, run labor-intensive frms, have joint ownership, and operate small businesses face the probability of being credit rationed. A decomposition and counterfactual analysis reveal a credit rationing gap largely infuenced by discrimination favoring male owned frms rather than diferences in gender endowments. Our fndings have implications for policy.
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