The effective design and implementation of interventions that reduce vulnerability and poverty require a solid understanding of underlying poverty dynamics and associated behavioral responses. Stochastic and dynamic benefit streams can make it difficult for the poor to learn the value of such...

We introduce a fast and inexpensive method to rule out potential barriers to adopting a technology. We use this method to asses the role of exogeneous contract enforcement as a barrier to market for Kenya's French Bean export market. We survey 240 farmers in Kirinyaga County, Kenya who were...

This essay is one of 23 featured authors from around the world discussing the challenges and solutions to filling the global talent gap in agribusiness. www.ifama.org

On the example of a commercial microfinance institution (MFI) in Tanzania this paper investigates first whether agricultural firms have a different probability to get a loan and whether their loans are differently volume rationed than loans to non-agricultural firms. Second, we analyze whether...

This paper applies an integrated CGE-microsimulation model to analyse the impact of the 2006-08 increase in commodity prices on Uganda. Previous impact analysis studies suggested that the food price shock increased poverty in Uganda as there are more net food buyer than net food seller...

The availability of enabling institutions, information systems and infrastructure is a precondition to enhance agricultural markets’ efficiency, and make market actors less vulnerable to price instability. This paper investigates whether the focus on institutional and technological upgrading...

The reforms in the services sector have seen tremendous growth in the sector’s contribution of GDP across all economies around the world. In Uganda, the share of services to total GDP is more than half in nominal terms. In this regard, with deeper regional integration among East African...

This paper investigates the effects of network based individual social capital on the access of rural households to services. In the context of development economics, an innovative data collection approach is used to determine network based social capital. The approach originates from the field...

In emerging markets for high-value food products in developing countries, processing companies search for efficient ways to source raw material of consistent quality. One widely embraced approach is contract farming. But relatively little is known about the appropriate design of contracts,...

This study examines the role of price competitiveness and foreign activity in Ghana’s export performance. Using an augmented VAR model in conjunction with modified Wald tests, causal relationships are tested between real effective exchange rates, foreign GDP and both total and agricultural...