This article examines the impact of marketing cooperatives on smallholder commercialization of cereals using detailed household data in rural Ethiopia. We use the strong government role in promoting the establishment of cooperatives to justify the use of propensity score matching to compare households that are cooperative members to similar households in comparable areas without cooperatives. The analysis reveals that although cooperatives obtain higher prices for their members, they are not associated with a significant increase in the overall share of cereal production sold commercially by their members. However, these average results hide considerable heterogeneity across households. In particular, we find that smaller farmers tend to reduce their marketed output as a result of higher prices, whereas the opposite is true for larger farmers. Copyright (c)2008 International Association of Agricultural Economists.

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This paper contributes new empirical evidence and nuanced analysis on the gender difference in access to extension services and how this translates to observed differences in technology adoption and agricultural productivity. We employ a cross-sectional instrumental-variable regression method using a regionally-representative dataset of more than 7,500 households and 32,000 plots in four major regions in Ethiopia that was collected during the 2010 main season. Results suggest that female heads of households and plot managers are less likely to get extension services and less likely to access quality services than their male counterparts after controlling for plot, household, and village level characteristics. Receiving advice from DAs is strongly and positively related to adoption of improved seed and fertilizer for both females and males, as hypothesized. However, beyond their influence through fertilizer and improved seed use, visits by or advice from DAs are not significant in all productivity models estimated for females and males, which is in contrast to past studies. In some crop-specific productivity models estimated, it is the perceived quality of DA visits and access to radio that appear to be strongly and positively significant in explaining productivity levels for both female and male farmers. Our results highlight the need for productivity models that are stratified by gender and crop.

The Ethiopia Strategy Support Program II (ESSP II) Working Papers contain preliminary material and research results from IFPRI and/or its partners in Ethiopia. The papers are not subject to a formal peer review. They are circulated in order to stimulate discussion and critical comment. The opinions are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of their home institutions or supporting organizations.

Objective: To revisit seasonality by assessing how household diets vary across agricultural seasons in rural and urban Ethiopia. The role of seasonality on the sources and intake of energy (per capita) and household dietary diversity score (HDDS) was analysed. Design: The use of nationally representative household-level data collected each month over one year to study the seasonal changes in the sources and intake of energy and HDDS. Setting: Eleven regions of Ethiopia, including rural and urban settings.

We report the results from a first attempt to market weather insurance products to informal risk-sharing groups. In collaboration with a leading insurance company in Ethiopia, we marketed index-based rainfall insurance products to members of pre-existing risk-sharing groups. Leaders and members of risk sharing groups were trained on risk management and the possible benefits of insurance. Among those trained we randomized training, with some sessions focusing on the benefits of sharing insurance. We found that members of groups whose leaders had received training that emphasized risk-sharing had considerably higher uptake. Our results suggest benefits from marketing index-based insurance to insurance groups, at least in terms of uptake.

This paper assesses the impact of Ethiopia's Productive Safety Nets Programme (PSNP), the largest social protection programme in sub-Saharan Africa outside of South Africa. Using propensity score matching techniques, we find that the programme has little impact on participants on average, due in part to transfer levels that fell far below programme targets. Participants with access to both the PSNP and packages of agricultural support are more likely to be food secure, to borrow for productive purposes, use improved agricultural technologies, and operate non-farm own business activities. However, beneficiaries did not experience faster asset growth.