The economics of multiple interventions to achieve holistic outcomes: Pilot evidence from Ethiopia

The growth and development of many African countries is restricted by human, livestock, and crop health related constraints. For instance, Trypanosomiasis affects both humans and livestock, malaria remains a public health burden, and crop pests such as cereal stemborers cause huge yield losses. Solutions that address several of these constraints can make a significant contribution to the economic development of Africa. This paper examines the economic implication of four ecological interventions introduced in a pilot study in rural Ethiopia to control Trypanosomiasis, malaria and stemborers, in addition to livelihood diversifications and income generation via an additional beekeeping intervention. We develop a multi-period linear programming model to analyze the economic implication of these interventions both individually and in combination using the objective function. Our model simulation results demonstrate that all interventions individually substantially increase discounted net income and resources productivity by 11 to 94 percent compared to the baseline farming system. However the cumulative impact achieved was 33 percent larger when the interventions are introduced jointly, suggesting synergetic benefits of interventions. Our results hence support an integrated approach to development and provide important insights for development practitioners and policymakers alike to break the silos per the United Nations Agenda 2030. Acknowledgement : This work was supported with co-funding from Biovision Foundation, Switzerland, and core financial support provided to icipe by aid from the UK government.