Drought, hunger and coping mechanisms among rural household in Southeast Ethiopia.

Protracted and prolonged droughts lead to famine and substantial decline in agricultural productivity that contribute to food insecurity and hunger in sub-Saharan Africa which needs to explore the risk coping strategies to better target risk mitigation. The main research question of this paper was to analyze ex-post coping strategies and their determinants in rural Ethiopia. We use a cross-section data collected in 2013 from vulnerable rural households in Rayitu district, Bale Zone of Oromia Regional State. Using population-proportionate to size (PPS) sampling technique, a total number of 1,402 households in the district participated in this study. The data were analyzed using a three-stage least squares (3SLS) method. Our analysis confirms that rural households in Rayitu district experience drought and are vulnerable to the consequences of shocks. As a response, rural households adopt interdependent risk coping strategies. This supports the notion of addressing the problem of risk through integrated rural development strategies (and policies) to help the poor to improve the vulnerability to shock and help to escape out of poverty. In addition, we found that the risk coping strategies that households adopt are influenced by the resource holdings and income levels of the rural households, their access to product and financial market, and their socio-demographic characteristics. Hence, we argue that strategies and interventions to improve the livelihood of the poor and to support the vulnerable ones should be targeted to fit to the needs and priorities of households.

Good governance, public health expenditures, urbanization and child undernutrition Nexus in Ethiopia: an ecological analysis.

BACKGROUND: Child undernutrition remains the major public health problem in low and middle-income countries including Ethiopia. The effects of good governance, urbanization and public health expenditure on childhood undernutrition are not well studied in developing countries. The objective of the study is to examine the relationship between quality of governance, public health expenditures, urbanization and child undernutrition in Ethiopia. METHODS: This is pooled data analysis with ecological design. We obtained data on childhood undernutrition from the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Surveys (EDHS) that were conducted in 2000, 2005, 2011 and 2016. Additionally, data on quality of governance for Ethiopia were extracted from the World Governance Indicators (WGI) and public health spending and urbanization were obtained from the World Development Indicators and United Nations' World Population Prospects (WPP) respectively. Univariate and multivariate analysis were done to assess the relationship between governance, public health expenditure and urbanization with childhood undernutrition. RESULT: Government effectiveness (adjusted odd ratio (AOR) = 20.7; p = 0.046), regulatory quality (AOR = 0.0077; p = 0.026) and control of corruption (AOR = 0.0019; p = 0.000) were associated with stunting. Similarly, government effectiveness (AOR = 72.2; p = 0.007), regulatory quality (AOR = 0.0015; p = 0.004) and control of corruption (AOR = 0.0005; p = 0.000) were associated with underweight. None of the governance indicators were associated with wasting. On the other hand, there is no statistically significant association observed between public health spending and urbanization with childhood undernutrition. However, other socio-demographic variables play a significant effect on reducing of child undernutrition. CONCLUSION: This study indicates that good governance in the country plays a significant role for reducing childhood undernutrition along with other socio-demographic factors. Concerned bodies should focus on improving governance and producing a quality policy and at the same time monitor its implementation and adherence.

Correction to: Production diversification, dietary diversity and consumption seasonality: panel data evidence from Nigeria.

It has been highlighted that the original article [1] contained a typesetting mistake in the name of Sibhatu Biadgilign. This was incorrectly captured as Biadigilign in the original publication which has since been updated.

Production diversification, dietary diversity and consumption seasonality: panel data evidence from Nigeria.

BACKGROUND: Despite some improvements towards reducing hunger, malnutrition remains to be a crucial challenge in the developing world. The objective of this paper is to analyze the interplay between production diversity and dietary diversity across different seasons in rural Nigeria. The paper also investigates the relationship across different income quantiles. METHOD: The study uses the Living Standards Measurement Study - Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) dataset of the World Bank. We use two rounds of survey data (2010 and 2012) from Nigeria. Data were collected in two visits: at post-planting (from September to November), and at post-harvesting (from February to April). We analyze the relationship between production diversity and dietary diversity using different panel data regression tools. RESULT: In post-harvest season, an increase in farm production diversification is associated with an increase with dietary diversity. On the other hand, production diversification does not have a significant contribution to the dietary diversity at post-planting. The analysis reveals that production diversification leads to better diet diversity for households in the second and third income quantiles. CONCLUSION: Seasonal variation on the contribution of production diversification on dietary diversity in rural Nigeria calls for the role of seasonally targeted policies. A higher propensity of households in the poorest quantile for malnutrition irrespective of the season suggests the need for targeted and continuous public health and nutrition interventions.

Production Efficiency and Market Orientation in Food Crops in North West Ethiopia: Application of Matching Technique for Impact Assessment.

INTRODUCTION: Agricultural technologies developed by national and international research institutions were not benefiting the rural population of Ethiopia to the extent desired. As a response, integrated agricultural extension approaches are proposed as a key strategy to transform the smallholder farming sector. Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) of Ethiopian Farmers project is one of the development projects initiated by integrating productivity enhancement technological schemes with market development model. This paper explores the impact of the project intervention in the smallholder farmers' wellbeing. METHODS: To test the research hypothesis of whether the project brought a significant change in the input use, marketed surplus, efficiency and income of farm households, we use a cross-section data from 200 smallholder farmers in Northwest Ethiopia, collected through multi-stage sampling procedure. To control for self-selection from observable characteristics of the farm households, we employ Propensity Score Matching (PSM). We finally use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) techniques to estimate technical efficiency of farm households. RESULTS: The outcome of the research is in line with the premises that the participation of the household in the IPMS project improves purchased input use, marketed surplus, efficiency of farms and the overall gain from farming. The participant households on average employ more purchased agricultural inputs and gain higher gross margin from the production activities as compared to the non-participant households. The non-participant households on average supply less output (measured both in monetary terms and proportion of total produce) to the market as compared to their participant counterparts. Except for the technical efficiency of production in potato, project participant households are better-off in production efficiency compared with the non-participant counterparts. CONCLUSION: We verified the idea that Improving Productivity and Market Success (IPMS) of Ethiopian farmers' project has contributed for the input and out market integration and/or market oriented agricultural production. Overall, we argue that these can be seen as an experimental model with a promising potential to improve the livelihood of the poor. Furthermore, we suggest that it is worthwhile to employ integrated agricultural extension programs with further targeting in the developing world.