July 2014

The role of ICTs in agricultural production in Africa

Over the past two decades Africa has experienced the fastest growth in the global telecommunications market, especially due to the tremendous growth of the mobile telecommunications sector. Studies have shown that ICTs play a significant role in a country’s development, and the strategic application of ICTs to the agricultural sector, which is the largest economic sector in most African countries, offers the best...

Author(s): Hopestone Kayiska Chavula

July 2014

An economic analysis of crude oil pollution effects on crop farms in Rivers State, Nigeria

This study researched on crude oil pollution effects on crop farms in Rivers State, Nigeria using stochastic translog production function. Data were collected in the state, using multi-stage sampling technique. A total of 296 structured questionnaires retrieved from farmers in crude oil polluted and non-polluted areas of the state were used. Stochastic translog production interaction between land and heavy, medium and...

Author(s): ThankGod Peter Ojimba, Jacob Akintola, Sixtus O. Anyanwu and Hubbert A. Manilla

July 2014

The role of the rural labor market in reducing poverty in Western Ethiopia

This study examines the role of the rural labor market in reducing poverty and improving the well-being of smallholder farmers in rural Ethiopia. Propensity score matching technique is used to estimate the effect of labor market participation on poverty, consumption expenditure and income of smallholder farmers. The overall result indicates that the rural labor market contributes significantly to income growth,...

Author(s): Amsalu Bedemo, Kindie Getnet, Belay Kassa and S. P. R. Chaurasia

July 2014

The livelihood effects of landless people through communal hillside conservation in Tigray Region, Ethiopia

In the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia, landless people contributed to the existing land degradation by exploiting the economic possibilities of natural resources from communal hillside areas. This has been practically observed in the area that the landless people have been depending on the available natural resources to supplement their means of living through sales of timber, fire-wood and charcoal. To address this...

Author(s): Melaku Berhe and Dana Hoag

July 2014

Fertilizer adoption in Ethiopia cereal production

          This paper was the first to use nationally representative data from the Agricultural Sample Surveys of Ethiopia to examine the factors affecting the adoption of the fertilizer-seed technology “package” promoted by Ethiopia’s government. We used a double hurdle model to analyze fertilizer adoption among four major cereal crops (barley, maize,...

Author(s): Bingxin Yu and Alejandro Nin-Pratt