Zambia's Agricultural Input Support Programme: Estimating the Impact of the Voucher Delivery System on Crop Diversification

Submitted by Josh Gray on

Zambia runs an agricultural input support program for 900,000 rural households, primarily targeting maize, the staple crop. A new delivery mode was introduced to the program, initially allowing farmers in 16 of the 115 districts to choose inputs using electronic vouchers, with the aim of encouraging crop diversification, amongst other objectives. Despite the potential benefits of this reform from a theoretical perspective, farmers may not always be able to diversify their crops due to existing barriers.

Agriculture

Women Empowerment in Energy Efficiency, Innovation and Manufacturing Productivity

Submitted by Meseret Birhan… on

Key Messages

  • It is painted that product innovation has a positive effect on energy efficiency
  • Energy efficiency in the case studies has a positive effect on TFP, capital productivity, and labour productivity
  • On average, Ghana has the highest energy efficiency among the four case study countries including Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria
  • There is no association between firm innovation and gender in Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria
  • Findings highlighted that productivity effects of energy efficiency are lower for women-owned enterprises
Energy, Gender

Effects of trade openness on environmental quality: evidence from developing countries

Submitted by Luat Do on
EfD Authors:

This paper uses the Bayesian model averaging approach to investigate the effects of trade openness on environmental quality in 64 selected developing countries for the period of 2003–2017. We find no evidence of a statistically significant effect of trade openness on environmental pollution in our sampled developing countries; however, our results show weak support for the pollution haven hypothesis.

Climate Change, Policy Design

Forest Tenure Reform in Asia and Africa - Local Control for Improved Livelihoods, Forest Management, and Carbon Sequestration

Submitted by Petra Hansson on

Description

Forest tenure reforms are occurring in many developing countries around the world. These reforms typically include devolution of forest lands to local people and communities, which has attracted a great deal of attention and interest. While the nature and level of devolution vary by country, all have potentially important implications for resource allocation, local ecosystem services, livelihoods and climate change. 

Biodiversity, Forestry, Policy Design

The use of plastic as a household fuel among the urban poor in the Global South

Submitted by Petra Hansson on

Increasing plastic waste pollution has led to a rising prevalence of the open burning of plastic waste, especially in locations lacking formal waste management systems. Urban slum communities face particularly acute challenges in accessing both organized waste-collection services and low-cost traditional energy sources, and clean cooking-fuel alternatives tend to be unaffordable for their low-income residents. Here we examine the potential risk these unseen communities face and describe the need for a new research agenda to better understand and quantify the scope of the problem.

Air Quality, Climate Change, Energy, Health, Waste