COVID-19 induced shocks and its implications for human capital development.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has delivered an enormous shock to the global economy, triggering the deepest recession in eight decades, almost three times as deep as the 2009 global recession. Of all the nations in Africa, Nigeria remains one of the nations with a huge and significant impact on the human capital. METHODS: Hence, here we employed the recent nationally representative data from Nigeria - the COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey 2020-World Bank Living Standards Measurement Study Integrated Agriculture Survey (LSMS-ISA), a harmonized dataset to explore how the COVID-19 induced shocks affected households' human capital development (using health and education outcomes). RESULTS: The results indicate that the COVID-19 induced shocks impact on both health and education in Nigeria. Interestingly, access to social safety nets had a positive association with the health and education outcomes. The study concludes that households' access to social safety nets, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic aids in the development of the nation's human capital. Therefore, effectively enhancing household's resilience and strengthening human capital development require positive and considerable innovation, maybe over a period of years. Hence, just an access to the national social safety nets programs or social programs may not be as effective as expected. Therefore, it may not be as successful as intended to just have access to national social safety net programs or social programs that contribute or transfer negligible amounts to the vulnerable recipients over short time frames.

Do soil and water conservation practices influence crop productivity and household welfare? Evidence from rural Nigeria.

One of the most serious challenges threatening agricultural sustainability in Nigeria is land degradation. Although this issue has received little attention, soil and water conservation practices have been identified as a possible pathway out of the potential problems posed by land degradation. Therefore, the central research question that this paper tries to address is the following: Do adoption of soil and water conservation (SWC) practices affect crop productivity and household welfare? This paper uses data collected by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) from maize farmers in rural Nigeria. We usedemploy the propensity score matching (PSM), inverse probability weighting adjusted regression model (IPWRA) approach, and the linear regression with endogenous treatment effect (LRETE) model to incorporate the typologies of SWC practices, and tested how the model affects crop productivity and household welfare. Additionally, multinomial logit was used to estimate the factors influencing the decision to adopt single and multiple SWC practices. The estimates show that education, age of the household head, access to credit, experience of drought, soil fertility, and occupational stress contribute to the decision to adopt SWC practices. The casual effect estimates reveal that both single and multiple adoptions of SWC practices had a positive and significant relationship with the crop productivity and welfare of the adopters. The results show that the adoption of combined SWC practices has a higher impact on crop productivity and welfare than single SWC practices. For instance, the adoption of a combination of three SWC practices was found to increase crop productivity and household welfare by 27.55% and 38.23%, respectively versus 13.91% and 15.11% in the case of single SWC practices. The study suggests that profile-raising agenda and efforts that focus on promoting the adoption of combination of SWC practices should be designed and implemented to enhance crop productivity and hence the welfare of the maize farming households in rural Nigeria.

Disentangling Drivers of Food Waste in Households: Evidence from Nigeria.

Food waste is a burden on society in terms of the money wasted. There is limited information on the determinants of food waste and the amount lost to food waste by households as most previous studies were on post-harvest losses. Hence, determinants of food waste among households in Kogi West Senatorial District, Kogi State Nigeria were investigated. A three-stage sampling technique was used to select the respondents, while a structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using Tobit regression and an equality test. The study revealed that food waste was higher in male headed households. The average monthly food waste proportion among urban households was significantly higher than that of rural households. The estimated amounts lost to food waste per month were ₦2103 and ₦5530 for the rural and urban households, respectively. These represented 7.2% and 13.1% of the total expenditure on food per month for rural and urban households, respectively. Among rural households, leftovers of food and lack of proper storage were the main reasons for food waste, while leftovers of food and preparation of food more than needed were the reasons for food waste among urban households. The sex of respondents, work experience, and monthly income influenced the proportion of food waste among rural households, while the dependency ratio, monthly income, and monthly food expenditure were the determinants of proportion of food waste among the urban households. Non-Governmental Organization efforts through sensitization campaigns focused on the need to reduce food waste, especially among urban households, would help to reduce the financial burden of food waste on households.

Clean water, sanitation and under-five children diarrhea incidence: Empirical evidence from the South Africa's General Household Survey.

Sufficient supply of potable water, hygiene facilities, and sanitation are major factors enhancing healthy living. Using the dataset from the 2018 South Africa General Household Survey, this study employed the logistic regression model to examine the effects of accessibility to potable water and sanitation on the incidence of diarrhea among under-five children. The findings from the research reveal that the majority of children have access to safe drinking water, although a substantial percentage (32%) of the households had to pay for access. The results of the logistic regression model show that households with access to clean water, to improved toilet facilities, and to water within their residence are less likely to record incidence of diarrhea among under-five children. Moreso, the likelihood of reporting diarrhea among the children decreases with the age of children and the age of household heads. Therefore, to contribute to the designing policies targeted at reducing the incidence of diarrhea among children, this study emphasized that the availability and accessibility of clean water, water-storage facilities, and improved fecal discharge facilities among the South African households are key.

Does economic shocks influence household's healthcare expenditure? Evidence from rural Nigeria.

Health is profoundly influenced by several factors outside the traditional realm of healthcare. This paper employed a two-step Heckman selectivity model to examine factors influencing the decision to spend on health and the effects of economic shocks on health expenditure. The results from the first stage shows that the likelihood of spending on health increased with age, education, income, and decreases if the household is living in the northern region of Nigeria and uses mosquito bed-net. The findings from the second stage estimation show that a fall in the price of food items, an increase in the price of inputs for household enterprises and loss of job are the significant shocks that affect household health expenditure. Based on these findings, this study concluded that fall in the prices of major food items consumed within the household increased income available for health care among the farmers. Going forward, the study recommends the provision of holistic health-economic-welfare interventions for the marginalized rural populace in Nigeria.

Does agricultural cooperative membership impact technical efficiency of maize production in Nigeria: An analysis correcting for biases from observed and unobserved attributes.

The formation of agricultural cooperatives has been widely promoted as an agricultural development policy initiative to help smallholder farmers cope with multiple production and marketing challenges. Using a nationally representative survey dataset of smallholder maize producers from rural Nigeria, this study assesses the impact of agricultural cooperative membership on technical efficiency (TE). We based our estimation approach on the combination of a newly developed sample selection stochastic production frontier model with propensity score matching to control for possible selectivity biases from both observables and unobservables. We estimate stochastic meta-frontiers to examine TE differences between cooperative members and non-members. Our results reveal that TE levels of members are consistently higher than that of non-members. This calls for continued policy incentives targeted at encouraging farmers to form as well as participate in agricultural cooperatives.

Exploring the Resource Value of Transvaal Red Milk Wood (Mimusops zeyheri) for Food Security and Sustainability: An Appraisal of Existing Evidence.

Many African countries are endowed with rich biodiversity with enormous nutritional and economic prospects, but the majority of these resources are not fully harnessed. Exploring these neglected resources, for example, the Transvaal red milkwood tree [(Mimusops zeyheri) Sond. family: Sapotaceae] is of paramount importance for food and nutritional security as well as economic prosperity. This review provides a critical appraisal of the nutritional and health benefits as well as the economic potential of Mimusops zeyheri. The plant is known for its diverse uses among rural communities. In folk medicine, the decoction from the bark and leaves of Mimusops zeyheri are used for treating wounds and ulcers, while the root is used as an infusion taken to treat candidiasis and other health issues. The nutritional profile of the fruit tree is similar to popular exotic fruits and richer in vitamin C when compared to guava and orange. Mimusops zeyheri is a rich source of vitamins, protein, and fatty acids. Based on the rich chemical pool, especially in the fruit and seeds, it has the potential to provide an accessible, readily available, and affordable enriched functional food with valuable health benefits. However, the successful exploration of Mimusopszeyheri for food security and sustainability requires multidisciplinary research. This will help achieve the envisaged food-nutrition security and poverty alleviation potential of the plant, especially among local communities.

What Drives Households' Payment for Waste Disposal and Recycling Behaviours? Empirical Evidence from South Africa's General Household Survey.

Safeguarding the environment and its citizens' health remains one of the key policy priorities of the governments of many developing and emerging countries. Using the 2017 General Household Survey (GHS) dataset, this study examines the driving factors affecting households' recycling behaviour and payment for waste disposal in South Africa. The methods of data analysis were based on descriptive statistics and a Bivariate Probit regression model. The descriptive statistics results indicate that there are 56.29% male-headed and 43.71% female headed households, with an average age of 49 years. In addition, the study shows that 89.97% of household heads had formal education with a mean monthly income of 11,099.07 ZAR/650.504 USD. The study also revealed that 22% of the households sampled had access to social grants. The results from the Bivariate Probit regression model show that household's income, access to social grants, formal educational attainment and the age of the household were significant (p < 0.01) driving factors affecting households' recycling behaviour and payment for waste disposal. The study concludes that the households' socio-economic factors affect their recycling behaviour and willingness to pay for waste management in South Africa. Actions targeted at poverty alleviation and environmental sensitization programmes are key for facilitating environmental conservation behaviours of households in South Africa in order to achieve the environmental sustainability Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of the United Nations.

Data on food insufficiency status in South Africa: Insight from the South Africa General Household Survey.

Food insecurity or insufficiency, among other factors, is triggered by structural inequalities. Food insecurity is an inflexible problematic situation in South Africa. The country has a custom of evidence-based decision making, stocked in the findings of generalized national household surveys. Conversely, the deep insights from the heterogeneity of the sub-national analysis remain a principally unexploited means of understanding of the contextual experience of food insecurity or insufficiency in South Africa. The data present the food insufficiency status with special focus on adult and children. The data also reveal the adult and children food insufficiency status across the provinces in South Africa. The data contains socioeconomic and demographic characteristics as well the living condition and food security status of the households.