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Rural Household Access to Assets and Agrarian Institutions: A Cross Country Comparison

Author

Listed:
  • Zezza, Alberto
  • Winters, Paul C.
  • Davis, Benjamin
  • Carletto, Calogero
  • Covarrubias, Katia
  • Quinones, Esteban
  • Stamoulis, Kostas G.
  • Di Giuseppe, Stefania

Abstract

Agriculture is at the core of the livelihoods of a large share of rural households throughout the developing world. Agricultural growth is a major engine for overall economic growth and possibly the single most important pathway out of poverty in the rural space. This paper characterizes household access to assets and agrarian institutions of households engaged in agricultural activities in a sample of developing countries. The evidence presented in the paper draws from 15 nationally representative household surveys from four regions of the developing world. We find that the access of rural households to a range of agricultural-specific assets (including land and livestock) and institutions is in general low, though highly heterogeneous across countries, and by categories of households within countries. A large share of rural agricultural households do not use or have access to basic productive inputs, agricultural support services or output markets, and in general it is the landless and the smallest landowners who suffer significantly more from this lack of access. We relate this to the households' ability to engage successfully in commercial farming and find consistent supporting evidence for the hypothesis that this lack of access is significantly constraining their potential to engage successfully in agriculture.

Suggested Citation

  • Zezza, Alberto & Winters, Paul C. & Davis, Benjamin & Carletto, Calogero & Covarrubias, Katia & Quinones, Esteban & Stamoulis, Kostas G. & Di Giuseppe, Stefania, 2007. "Rural Household Access to Assets and Agrarian Institutions: A Cross Country Comparison," 106th Seminar, October 25-27, 2007, Montpellier, France 7925, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:eaa106:7925
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.7925
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    Cited by:

    1. Paul Winters & Timothy Essam & Alberto Zezza & Benjamin Davis & Calogero Carletto, 2010. "Patterns of Rural Development: A Cross‐Country Comparison using Microeconomic Data," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 628-651, September.
    2. Almeida, Alexandre N. & Bravo-Ureta, Boris E., 2019. "Agricultural productivity, shadow wages and off-farm labor decisions in Nicaragua," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 99-110.
    3. Solomon Asfaw & Silvio Daidone & Benjamin Davis & Josh Dewbre & Alessandro Romeo & Paul Winters & Katia Covarrubias & Habiba Djebbari, 2012. "Analytical Framework for Evaluating the Productive Impact of Cash Transfer Programmes on Household Behaviour – Methodological Guidelines for the From Protection to Production Project," Working Papers 101, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    4. Tegebu, Fredu Nega & Mathijs, Erik & Deckers, Jozef A. & Tollens, Eric, 2009. "Rural livestock asset portfolio in northern Ethiopia: A microeconomic analysis of choice and accumulation," 2009 Conference, August 16-22, 2009, Beijing, China 50039, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    5. Barrett,Christopher B. & Sheahan,Megan Britney & Barrett,Christopher B. & Sheahan,Megan Britney, 2014. "Understanding the agricultural input landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa : recent plot, household, and community-level evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7014, The World Bank.
    6. Dolapo Adeyanju & John Mburu & Djana Mignouna, 2021. "Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurship: Assessing the Impact of Agricultural Training Programmes on Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-11, February.
    7. Ricardo Sibrian & Marco d’Errico & Patricia Palma de Fulladolsa & Flavia Benedetti-Michelangeli, 2021. "Household Resilience to Food and Nutrition Insecurity in Central America and the Caribbean," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-30, August.
    8. Dethier, Jean-Jacques & Effenberger, Alexandra, 2012. "Agriculture and development: A brief review of the literature," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 175-205.
    9. John Maluccio, 2010. "The Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers on Consumption and Investment in Nicaragua," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 14-38.
    10. Milu Muyanga & T. S. Jayne & William J. Burke, 2013. "Pathways into and out of Poverty: A Study of Rural Household Wealth Dynamics in Kenya," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(10), pages 1358-1374, October.
    11. Zezza, Alberto & Davis, Benjamin & Azzarri, Carlo & Covarrubias, Katia & Tasciotti, Luca & Anríquez, Gustavo, 2008. "The impact of rising food prices on the poor," ESA Working Papers 289027, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Agricultural Development Economics Division (ESA).
    12. Sheahan, Megan & Barrett, Christopher B., 2017. "Ten striking facts about agricultural input use in Sub-Saharan Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 12-25.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Consumer/Household Economics;

    JEL classification:

    • O13 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Agriculture; Natural Resources; Environment; Other Primary Products
    • O57 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Comparative Studies of Countries
    • Q12 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets

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