IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/iaae15/212588.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Agricultural commercialization and household food security: The case of smallholders in Great Lakes Region of Central Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Justus, Ochieng
  • Knerr, Beatrice
  • Owuor, George
  • Ouma, Emily

Abstract

Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) faces the challenge of low food production and high incidences of poverty. Several programs initiated in the region to improve food security and market access have had limited success. Many households mainly grow bananas and legumes as staple crops. Using propensity score matching, this paper evaluates the impact of bananas and legumes commercialization on household food security. Commercial oriented farmers have more diverse diets than non-commercial oriented ones because they can easily purchase other foods to supplement own production. Commercialization has a robust and positive effect on household food security. It significantly increases household dietary diversity and reduces the number of coping strategies adopted during food shortage. Programs that promote commercialization of smallholder agriculture coupled with improved infrastructure in terms of roads and market information systems are continuously needed to facilitate commercialization of farm produce.

Suggested Citation

  • Justus, Ochieng & Knerr, Beatrice & Owuor, George & Ouma, Emily, 2015. "Agricultural commercialization and household food security: The case of smallholders in Great Lakes Region of Central Africa," 2015 Conference, August 9-14, 2015, Milan, Italy 212588, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae15:212588
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.212588
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/212588/files/Ochieng-Agricultural%20commercialization%20and%20household%20food%20security-443.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.212588?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael Lechner, 2002. "Some practical issues in the evaluation of heterogeneous labour market programmes by matching methods," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 165(1), pages 59-82, February.
    2. Hope C. Michelson, 2013. "Small Farmers, NGOs, and a Walmart World: Welfare Effects of Supermarkets Operating in Nicaragua," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 95(3), pages 628-649.
    3. A. Smith, Jeffrey & E. Todd, Petra, 2005. "Does matching overcome LaLonde's critique of nonexperimental estimators?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 305-353.
    4. Nigel Key & Elisabeth Sadoulet & Alain De Janvry, 2000. "Transactions Costs and Agricultural Household Supply Response," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(2), pages 245-259.
    5. Miet Maertens & Bart Minten & Johan Swinnen, 2012. "Modern Food Supply Chains and Development: Evidence from Horticulture Export Sectors in Sub-Saharan Africa," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 30(4), pages 473-497, July.
    6. Berhanu Gebremedhin & Moti Jaleta & Dirk Hoekstra, 2009. "Smallholders, institutional services, and commercial transformation in Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(s1), pages 773-787, November.
    7. Muriithi, Beatrice W. & Matz, Julia Anna, 2015. "Welfare effects of vegetable commercialization: Evidence from smallholder producers in Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 80-91.
    8. Bryson, Alex & Dorsett, Richard & Purdon, Susan, 2002. "The use of propensity score matching in the evaluation of active labour market policies," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 4993, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Becerril, Javier & Abdulai, Awudu, 2010. "The Impact of Improved Maize Varieties on Poverty in Mexico: A Propensity Score-Matching Approach," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 1024-1035, July.
    10. Sascha O. Becker & Marco Caliendo, 2007. "Sensitivity analysis for average treatment effects," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(1), pages 71-83, February.
    11. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    12. Maxwell, Daniel G., 1996. "Measuring food insecurity: the frequency and severity of "coping strategies"," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 291-303, July.
    13. Guido W. Imbens, 2004. "Nonparametric Estimation of Average Treatment Effects Under Exogeneity: A Review," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 4-29, February.
    14. Strasberg, Paul J. & Jayne, Thomas S. & Yamano, Takashi & Nyoro, James K. & Karanja, Daniel David & Strauss, John, 1999. "Effects of Agricultural Commercialization on Food Crop Input Use and Productivity in Kenya," Food Security International Development Working Papers 54675, Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics.
    15. Sascha O. Becker & Andrea Ichino, 2002. "Estimation of average treatment effects based on propensity scores," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 2(4), pages 358-377, November.
    16. Augurzky, Boris & Schmidt, Christoph M., 2001. "The Propensity Score: A Means to An End," IZA Discussion Papers 271, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Stephan J. Goetz, 1992. "A Selectivity Model of Household Food Marketing Behavior in Sub-Saharan Africa," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 74(2), pages 444-452.
    18. Rios, Ana R. & Shively, Gerald E. & Masters, William A., 2009. "Farm Productivity and Household Market Participation: Evidence from LSMS Data," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 51031, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Opondo, F. & Owuor, G., 2018. "The Effect of Cassava Commercialization On Household Income of Smallholder Farmers in Arid and Semi-arid Land (Asal), A Case of Kilifi County, Kenya," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276040, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. William Adzawla & Prem S. Bindraban & Williams K. Atakora & Oumou Camara & Amadou Gouzaye, 2022. "Economic Viability of Smallholder Agriculture in the Savannah and Transitional Zones of Ghana: Implications of Farm Output Commercialization and Farm Diversification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-22, September.
    3. Matthys, Marie-Luise & Acharya, Sushant & Khatri, Sanjaya, 2021. "“Before cardamom, we used to face hardship”: Analyzing agricultural commercialization effects in Nepal through a local concept of the Good Life," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    4. Ochieng, Justus & Afari-Sefa, Victor & Karanja, Daniel & Rajendran, Srinivasulu & Silvest, Samali & Kessy, Radegunda, 2016. "Promoting consumption of traditional African vegetables and its effect on food and nutrition security in Tanzania," 2016 Fifth International Conference, September 23-26, 2016, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 246912, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Justus Ochieng & Beatrice Knerr & George Owuor & Emily Ouma, 2020. "Food crops commercialization and household livelihoods: Evidence from rural regions in Central Africa," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(2), pages 318-338, April.
    2. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    3. Liane Faltermeier & Awudu Abdulai, 2009. "The impact of water conservation and intensification technologies: empirical evidence for rice farmers in Ghana," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 40(3), pages 365-379, May.
    4. Wendimu, Mengistu Assefa & Henningsen, Arne & Gibbon, Peter, 2016. "Sugarcane Outgrowers in Ethiopia: “Forced” to Remain Poor?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 84-97.
    5. Rob Kuijpers, 2019. "Value Chain Development as Public Policy: Conceptualization and Evidence from the Agri-Food Sector in Bangladesh," LICOS Discussion Papers 41419, LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance, KU Leuven.
    6. Deschamps-Laporte, Jean-Philippe, 2013. "The impact of extension services on farming households in Western Kenya: A propensity score approach," Working Papers 2013:5, Örebro University, School of Business, revised 10 Jun 2013.
    7. Anne Stevenot & Loris Guery & Geoffrey Wood & Chris Brewster, 2018. "Country of Origin Effects and New Financial Actors: Private Equity Investment and Work and Employment Practices of French Firms," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 56(4), pages 859-881, December.
    8. Tommaso Nannicini, 2007. "Simulation-based sensitivity analysis for matching estimators," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(3), pages 334-350, September.
    9. Ashok K. Mishra & Anjani Kumar & Pramod K. Joshi & Alwin D'Souza, 2018. "Cooperatives, contract farming, and farm size: The case of tomato producers in Nepal," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 865-886, October.
    10. Daniel Zaga, 2014. "The Impact of Three Mexican Nutritional Programs: The Case of Dif-Puebla," CFD Working Papers 09-2015, Centre for Finance and Development, The Graduate Institute.
    11. Johar, Meliyanni, 2009. "The impact of the Indonesian health card program: A matching estimator approach," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 35-53, January.
    12. Abebaw, Degnet & Haile, Mekbib G., 2013. "The impact of cooperatives on agricultural technology adoption: Empirical evidence from Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 82-91.
    13. Miguel Angel Malo & Fernando Muñoz-Bullón, 2006. "Employment promotion measures and the quality of the job match for persons with disabilities," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 179(4), pages 79-111, September.
    14. Bruno Arpino & Arnstein Aassve, 2013. "Estimating the causal effect of fertility on economic wellbeing: data requirements, identifying assumptions and estimation methods," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 355-385, February.
    15. Egziabher, Kidanemariam G. & Mathijs, Erik & Deckers, Jozef A. & Gebrehiwot, Kindeya & Bauer, Hans & Maertens, Miet, 2013. "The Economic Impact of a New Rural Extension Approach in Northern Ethiopia," Working Papers 146558, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centre for Agricultural and Food Economics.
    16. Seng, Kimty, 2016. "The Effects of Market Participation on Farm Households’ Food Security in Cambodia: An endogenous switching approach," MPRA Paper 69669, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. repec:ags:bdbjaf:279932 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Mekonnen, Tigist, 2017. "Impact of agricultural technology adoption on market participation in the rural social network system," MERIT Working Papers 2017-008, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    19. Marco Caliendo & Michel Clement & Dominik Papies & Sabine Scheel-Kopeinig, 2012. "Research Note ---The Cost Impact of Spam Filters: Measuring the Effect of Information System Technologies in Organizations," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 23(3-part-2), pages 1068-1080, September.
    20. Nguyen Viet, Cuong, 2012. "Selection of Control Variables in Propensity Score Matching: Evidence from a Simulation Study," MPRA Paper 36377, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Baris Ucar & Gianni Betti, 2016. "The effect of a newborn on household poverty: a multi-indicator analysis," Department of Economics University of Siena 742, Department of Economics, University of Siena.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer/Household Economics; Food Security and Poverty;

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:iaae15:212588. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iaaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.