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Skill Development, Human Capital and Economic Outcomes: Impact of Post-Secondary Education among Smallholder Farmers in Africa

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Abstract

It is widely recognized that human capital and skill development are significant determinants that could positively affect farmers performance and their disposition to adopt innovations. General education as well as specific agricultural education and training is argued as vital to overcoming development challenges in rural areas. More than 70 per cent of the people in Africa live in rural areas and depend on smallholder agriculture for food and livelihood. Yet majority of them are poor, illiterate and are faced with precarious food and nutrition insecurity. This study seeks to not only assess the impact of post-secondary education on economic outcomes (consumption expenditure and poverty), but also asses the returns to and distributional effects of post-secondary education among rural farmers in four countries (Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania). While using novel nationally representative panel data and a variety of estimation techniques, results are rather robust and indicate that post-secondary education significantly increases consumption expenditure by 12.5% in Tanzania and 27.6% in Ethiopia. Results further show that post-secondary education significantly reduces poverty by 42.5% in Malawi and 47.5% in Nigeria. Our findings are of policy relevance to most SSA countries currently grappling with rising urbanization, high youth unemployment, and acute skills shortage. Acknowledgement : Financial assistance by the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) throught the Program of Accompanying Research for Agricultural Innovation (PARI) is highly appreciated.

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  • Kirui, O., 2018. "Skill Development, Human Capital and Economic Outcomes: Impact of Post-Secondary Education among Smallholder Farmers in Africa," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277068, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:iaae18:277068
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.277068
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