Innovation for Agribusiness (InovAgro): Household- and market-level impacts of value chain interventions

Innovation for Agribusiness (InovAgro): Household- and market-level impacts of value chain interventions
Author: Amare, Mulubrhan
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2022-10-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Agriculture, in Mozambique, is characterized by production systems that are based predominantly on rainfed conditions and on low use of yield enhancing agricultural inputs. The Innovation for Agribusiness (InovAgro) interventions were designed to increase incomes for poor smallholder farmers in northern Mozambique. Using a market systems development (MSD) approach, the InovAgro implemented value chain interventions (VCIs) to promote the development of inclusive and sustainable market systems such that the interventions impacts were felt long beyond the project’s lifespan. This study evaluated the impact of the InovAgro VCIs on households (considering a range of outcomes related to farmers’ use of yield-enhancing agricultural inputs, access to information on agricultural input and output markets, maize productivity, women and youth empowerment, and household welfare. The study also explored InovAgro VCIs outcome indicators to evaluate market-level effects, namely: systemic (long-term), sustainability, large-scale (spillover or multiplier), and unintended (positive or negative) effects. We conducted a modified randomized controlled trial (RCT) using a spatial identification strategy to classify beneficiary and nonbeneficiary households; this was supplemented with three waves of household-level panel data (2015, 2017 and 2019). We also complemented key informant interviews (KIIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) with local stakeholders, including market actors and local authorities, with two rounds of geospatial data (2017 and 2019). Our findings show that InovAgro VCIs had a positive and significant impact on beneficiaries’ use of yield-boosting agricultural inputs and on access to information on agricultural input and output markets. Our analysis also reveals that the InovAgro VCIs boosted maize productivity and increased the marketable surplus of maize among beneficiaries. InovAgro VCIs were seen to have unintended negative effects on access to, and control over, land by women and youth in the short term; in the longer term; however, these adverse effects were reversed and became positive and significant. Our findings also show that simultaneous exposure to all three VCIs under the complete package had a positive impact on overall household welfare. We also find evidence in support of the InovAgro VCIs having a systemic market effect and producing more sustainable long-term usage of yield-boosting agricultural practices than non-InovAgro VCIs. Our results elucidate that InovAgro VCIs benefitted large numbers of smallholder farmers beyond the project’s direct sphere of influence and targeted beneficiaries. The key takeaway message from our findings is that a more intense VCI, that is, delivery of the complete package, appears to be necessary to achieve a long-term positive effect on overall household welfare.

Access to markets for smallholder farmers in Alto Molócue and Molumbo, Mozambique: Mid-term impact evaluation of INOVAGRO II

Access to markets for smallholder farmers in Alto Molócue and Molumbo, Mozambique: Mid-term impact evaluation of INOVAGRO II
Author: Hosaena Ghebru
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 38
Release: 2019-10-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

The Innovation for Agribusiness (InovAgro) project, which launched with its first three year phase in 2010, uses a market system development (MSD) approach towards the goal of increasing incomes of men and women small-scale farmers in northern Mozambique. InovAgro interventions promote improved agricultural productivity, participation in selected high-potential value chains and the development of inclusive and sustainable market systems, such that impacts are expected to last long beyond the termination of the project. This paper presents results from a midline quantitative impact evaluation of the second phase of the InovAgro project interventions (2014-2017). In it, we use a carefully designed and executed quasi-experimental study design to credibly attribute changes in market engagement and welfare of participating farmers to exposure to the InovAgro II project, identifying and testing in what respects the intervention was most successful, and what regard it had less impact. Although InovAgro II projects operate in 11 districts of Zambézia and Cabo Delgado provinces, this impact evaluation focuses on two districts in Zambézia province (Alto Molócue and Molumbo), and in terms of value chains, focuses on the soybean and pigeon pea high-potential value chains, while the InovAgro II project interventions focus on these in addition to maize, sesame and groundnut. A baseline survey was undertaken in 2015 covering the 2014/2015 agricultural season and a midline follow-up survey was conducted in 2017, covering the 2016/2017 agricultural season and reaching 1,749 households of the original 1,886 households interviewed in the baseline survey. Using difference-in-difference estimation and propensity score matching, we find that exposure to the InovAgro II project is associated with an increase in the proportion of households selling soybean and pigeon pea by approximately 5% and 16%, respectively (significant at the .01 level). Exposure to the InovAgro II project also results in significantly higher shares of smallholder farmers using improved seed for soybean and pigeon pea (an increase of 6% for soybean and 2% for pigeon pea). We find that the InovAgro II project is also associated with significant increases in access to agricultural output market information from formal sources (5%) and hired labor for farming activities (8%). Despite the significant impacts on short term outcome variables, exposure to the InovAgro II project had limited impact on long term outcome variables, such as on rural-urban migration as well as engagement in the non-farm sector (two proxies for assessing potential welfare implications of the project) however this finding is not surprising given the impact evaluation covers only two years-a short period of time to bring about the long-term impacts expected to eventually emanate from an MSD project.

Access to markets for smallholder farmers in Alto Molócue and Molumbo, Mozambique: Midline survey report of the INOVAGRO II impact evaluation project

Access to markets for smallholder farmers in Alto Molócue and Molumbo, Mozambique: Midline survey report of the INOVAGRO II impact evaluation project
Author: Smart, Jenny
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 48
Release:
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

This report presents the data from a midline data collection effort as part of the impact evaluation of Phase II of the Innovation for Agribusiness (INOVAGRO II) intervention in northern Mozambique. INOVAGRO II is a development program intended to decrease rural poverty by improving the connectedness of farmers to market systems. The midline data were collected during the intervention phase, in two districts in Zambézia province - Alto Molócue and Molumbo - during the months of late October to December of 2017. The questionnaire focused on agricultural production and market access for all crops, and particularly for the INOVAGRO value chain crops - soybean, pigeon pea, and maize. The purpose of the report is to describe the data, focusing on key variables.

Access to markets for smallholder farmers in Alto Molócue and Molumbo, Mozambique

Access to markets for smallholder farmers in Alto Molócue and Molumbo, Mozambique
Author: Erman, Alvina
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Total Pages: 48
Release: 2016-07-08
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

This report presents the data from a baseline data collection effort as part of the impact evaluation of Phase II of the Innovation for Agribusiness (INOVAGRO II) intervention in northern Mozambique. INOVAGRO II is a development program intended to decrease rural poverty by improving the connectedness of farmers to market systems. The baseline data were collected before the intervention began in two districts in Zambezia province – Alto Molócue and Molumbo – during the months of August and September 2015. The questionnaire focused on agricultural production and market access, in particular on the INOVAGRO value chain crops – soybean, pigeon pea, and maize. The purpose of the report is to describe the data, focusing on key variables.

Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2019

Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2019
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 476
Release: 2019-07-01
Genre:
ISBN: 9264834974

This annual report monitors and evaluates agricultural policies spanning all 6 continents, including the 36 OECD countries, the 6 non-OECD EU Member States, and 12 emerging economies. It is a unique source of up-to date estimates of support to agriculture using a comprehensive system of measuring and classifying support to agriculture – the Producer and Consumer Support Estimates (PSEs and CSEs), the General Services Support Estimate (GSSE) and related indicators – which provide insight into the increasingly complex nature of agricultural policy and serve as a basis for OECD’s agricultural policy monitoring and evaluation.

Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2024 Innovation for Sustainable Productivity Growth

Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation 2024 Innovation for Sustainable Productivity Growth
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 660
Release: 2024-11-06
Genre:
ISBN: 926479719X

This annual report monitors and evaluates agricultural policies in 54 countries, including the 38 OECD countries, the five non‐OECD EU Member States, and 11 emerging economies. It finds that despite some modest declines in recent years, support to agriculture has remained close to recent historical highs. While changes in support have been limited, agricultural policies have been both reactive and proactive, boosting the sector’s capacity to respond to current challenges while aiming to ensure that food systems are fit for purpose as future conditions evolve. This year’s report focuses on policies fostering sustainable productivity growth in agriculture. Governments are applying a large variety of approaches to improve productivity while preserving natural resources and reducing agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. The report notes, however, that clearly defined targets related to sustainable productivity growth and measurable indicators of progress are important to ensure that policies achieve their stated objectives. The report also notes that making more effective use of producer support to promote innovation and environmental sustainability on the farm, and refocusing overall support towards targeted R&D, can better leverage public spending to deliver public goods and sustainable productivity growth. In line with the 2022 OECD Agriculture Ministerial Declaration, the report identifies a seven-point policy agenda for making agriculture more sustainable, productive and resilient, and for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of agricultural support and markets.

Food and Agriculture in Ethiopia

Food and Agriculture in Ethiopia
Author: Paul Dorosh
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 377
Release: 2013-02-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0812208617

The perception of Ethiopia projected in the media is often one of chronic poverty and hunger, but this bleak assessment does not accurately reflect most of the country today. Ethiopia encompasses a wide variety of agroecologies and peoples. Its agriculture sector, economy, and food security status are equally complex. In fact, since 2001 the per capita income in certain rural areas has risen by more than 50 percent, and crop yields and availability have also increased. Higher investments in roads and mobile phone technology have led to improved infrastructure and thereby greater access to markets, commodities, services, and information. In Food and Agriculture in Ethiopia: Progress and Policy Challenges, Paul Dorosh and Shahidur Rashid, along with other experts, tell the story of Ethiopia's political, economic, and agricultural transformation. The book is designed to provide empirical evidence to shed light on the complexities of agricultural and food policy in today's Ethiopia, highlight major policies and interventions of the past decade, and provide insights into building resilience to natural disasters and food crises. It examines the key issues, constraints, and opportunities that are likely to shape a food-secure future in Ethiopia, focusing on land quality, crop production, adoption of high-quality seed and fertilizer, and household income. Students, researchers, policy analysts, and decisionmakers will find this book a useful overview of Ethiopia's political, economic, and agricultural transformation as well as a resource for major food policy issues in Ethiopia. Contributors: Dawit Alemu, Guush Berhane, Jordan Chamberlin, Sarah Coll-Black, Paul Dorosh, Berhanu Gebremedhin, Sinafikeh Asrat Gemessa, Daniel O. Gilligan, John Graham, Kibrom Tafere Hirfrfot, John Hoddinott, Adam Kennedy, Neha Kumar, Mehrab Malek, Linden McBride, Dawit Kelemework Mekonnen, Asfaw Negassa, Shahidur Rashid, Emily Schmidt, David Spielman, Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse, Seneshaw Tamiru, James Thurlow, William Wiseman.

Productivity Growth in Agriculture

Productivity Growth in Agriculture
Author: Keith Owen Fuglie
Publisher: CABI
Total Pages: 390
Release: 2012
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1845939212

This volume is written primarily for agricultural economists doing research on productivity. It includes discussions of the theoretical underpinnings of productivity measurement as well as the many practical considerations that go into translating this theory into actual measures of aggregated outputs and inputs. The unifying concept of agricultural productivity used across the chapters of this volume is aggregate total factor productivity (TFP) of the sector. The volume also contains detailed analysis of the underlying causes of agricultural productivity growth. Part I (chapters 2-6) examines agricultural productivity in high-income and transition countries. Part II (chapters 7-11) examines agricultural productivity growth and its driving forces in five important agricultural producers in Asia and Latin America. Part III (chapters 12-14) focuses on measuring and identifying constraints to agricultural productivity growth in sub-Saharan Africa. Part IV (chapters 15-16) gives a global perspective on agricultural productivity.

The Nigerian Rice Economy

The Nigerian Rice Economy
Author: Kwabena Gyimah-Brempong
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2016-08-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0812293754

In The Nigerian Rice Economy the authors assess three options for reducing this dependency - tariffs and other trade policies; increasing domestic rice production; and improving post-harvest rice processing and marketing - and identify improved production and post-harvest activities as the most promising. These options however, will require substantially increased public investments in a variety of areas, including research and development, basic infrastructure (for example, irrigation, feeder roads, and electricity), and rice milling technologies.

Collective Action and Property Rights for Poverty Reduction

Collective Action and Property Rights for Poverty Reduction
Author: Esther Mwangi
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 450
Release: 2012-05-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0812207874

To improve their well-being, the poor in developing countries have used both collective action through formal and informal groups and property rights to natural resources. Collective Action and Property Rights for Poverty Reduction: Insights from Africa and Asia examines how these two types of institutions, separately and together, influence quality of life and how they can be strengthened to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor. The product of a global research study by the Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi) of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, this book draws on case studies from East Africa and South and Southeast Asia to investigate how collective action and property rights have contributed to poverty reduction. The book extends the analysis of these institutions beyond their frequently studied role in natural resource management by also examining how they can reduce vulnerability to different types of shocks. Essays in the volume identify opportunities and risks present in the institutions of collective action and property rights. For example, property rights to natural resources can offer a variety of advantages, providing individuals and groups not only with benefits and incomes but also with assets that can counter the negative effects of shocks such as drought, and can make collective action easier. The authors also demonstrate that collective action has the potential to reduce poverty if it includes more vulnerable groups such as women, ethnic minorities, and the very poor. Preventing exclusion of these often-marginalized groups and guaranteeing genuinely inclusive collective action might require special rules and policies. Another danger to the poor is the capture of property rights by elites, which can be the result of privatization and decentralization policies; case studies and analysis identify actions to prevent such elite capture.