Heterogeneous Impact Dynamics of a Rural Business Development Program in Nicaragua

Carter, Michael R.; Tjernström, Emilia; Toledo, Patricia

doi:10.3386/w22628

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Another example of a non-integrated VCD project directed at the farmer is the Rural Business Development program, evaluated by Carter et al (2016), in which farmers receive technical and marketing assistance and are financially supported in acquiring the necessary equipment and materials to implement their individual business plans. Carter et al find no effects of this project on consumption expenditures.…”

Section: Effectiveness Of Public Initiatives For Value Chain Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inclusive Value Chains to Accelerate Poverty Reduction in Africa

Swinnen¹,

Kuijpers²

2020

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The rapid transformation of agri-food value chains in Africa and other developing countries has important implications for economic growth and poverty reduction. Policy makers increasingly recognize this but there is a need for a better understanding of what value chain transformation entails and what the main policy options are. This paper provides an overview and analysis of different value chain models that have emerged in the past decades and reviews the literature on the main development implications. We discuss and categorize existing policy initiatives that aim to stimulate inclusive value chain development. Based on this review we identify lessons and implications for policy makers. In general these modern value chains have been significantly affected by changes in agricultural and food standards. Such standards are spreading rapidly and food production and trade are increasingly regulated through stringent public and private requirements on food quality and safety, and ethical and environmental aspects (Henson and Reardon 2005; Jaffee and Henson 2004). 1 Both public and private standards have become more stringent and more widespread. 2 Yet, the modernization of value chains, both domestically and internationally, has accelerated sharply during the past decades. Moreover, the growth has been strongest in where standards are most important, i.e. in the higher value productswhich includes fruits, vegetables, seafood, fish, meat and dairy products. For example, the shift towards high-value exports has been most dramatic in developing regions (Maertens and Swinnen 2015). In Asia and in Latin-America, high-value products increased from around 20% of agricultural exports in the 1980s to around 40%. The process is similar, albeit slower, in Africa. At the same time, (foreign) investment at various stages of these value chains has increased significantly. Increased investment has been triggered by several factors. The first reason is the wave of investment liberalizations in the past 20 years which have made it easier for FDI to flow in. The second reason is strong economic growth in emerging and developing countries, which has triggered increases in demand for higher quality products and, with growing urbanization as part of the economic development process, and increasing demand for retail and processed products in urban areas In combination, these developments have resulted in changes in the way agricultural value chains are organised with increasing levels of verticial coordination, upgrading of the supply base and increased dominance of large multinational food companies (McCullough, Pingali, and Stamoulis 2008; Swinnen and Maertens 2007). These processes have important implications for developing countries. Increased demand for high-value products and increasing prices in international food markets create opportunities for developing countries to realize economic growth through expanding and diversifying their agricultural exports. High-value agricultural exports entail an important potential for raising r...

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Section: Effectiveness Of Public Initiatives For Value Chain Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inclusive Value Chains to Accelerate Poverty Reduction in Africa

Swinnen¹,

Kuijpers²

2020

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“…Other studies of smallholder matching funds programs have found positive effects on the adoption of technologies or production practices (Ton et al 2015;Maffioli et al 2013) as well as production, yield, and revenue (Ton et al 2015;Carter, Tjernström and Toledo 2016;Mullally and Maffioli 2016). Our results support the positive findings of the existing literature for the indicators just described.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are matching funds for smallholder irrigation money well spent?

Mullally

Chakravarty

2018

Food Policy

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Groundwater irrigation can dramatically affect agricultural production and productivity. Despite its potential as an agricultural development tool, little credible evidence exists for the impacts of groundwater development on smallholder agriculture. We add to the evidence on the benefits of irrigation investments for small producers by evaluating the Rural Business Development (RBD) program of the Millennium Challenge Corporation in Nicaragua for small plantain producers. The RBD program offered matching funds covering up to 30% of the cost of two years of inputs, extension services, and dieselpowered micro-sprinkler irrigation for individual farms. In order to estimate the average impact of the RBD program on its beneficiaries, we combine model selection via the LASSO with doubly robust treatment effect estimation as applied to two years of panel data for 146 producers. We find that the program had substantial impacts on plantain revenue and production, while achieving nearly complete irrigation coverage of plantain land among beneficiaries. We find no discernible impact on household expenditure. JEL Codes: O13, O22, Q12

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“…al., 2018;Furmankiewicz et. al., 2016;Carter et. al., 2019) and agricultural programs such as electrification (Ding et.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bank Presence and Rural Development

Chen

Wei-hua

2021

ijbass

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Rural development is critical to raise rural living standards and reduce income differences between urban and rural areas. Much literature has explored factors that could affect rural development, and we investigate the effects of bank presence in rural areas on rural income. Using Chinese provincial-level data from 2005 to 2017, we quantify the effects of bank presence on rural income. Specifically, we use the number of banks per town to measure bank presence and use rural income per capita of each province to measure rural income. With the ordinal least square model and dynamic panel estimation, we find that bank presence increases rural income. Rural income increases the same year with banks appear in town, and the effects of bank presence last for years on rural income. However, we do not find significant evidence that bank presence in rural areas also contributes to the reduction of the income difference between urban and rural areas.

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Heterogeneous Impact Dynamics of a Rural Business Development Program in Nicaragua

Cited by 11 publications

References 13 publications

Inclusive Value Chains to Accelerate Poverty Reduction in Africa

Inclusive Value Chains to Accelerate Poverty Reduction in Africa

Are matching funds for smallholder irrigation money well spent?

Bank Presence and Rural Development

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