Precious Zikhali - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Precious Zikhali

Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 2011

This article demonstrates how conservation agriculture impacts smallholder farmers' livelihoods i... more This article demonstrates how conservation agriculture impacts smallholder farmers' livelihoods in Mozambique through increased crop productivity and yields, using primary data on smallholder farmers practicing conservation agriculture and others not using this technology from Nhanguo, Pumbuto, and Ruaca in Manica and Sofala provinces. Data analysis employs semiparametric propensity score matching methods. Direct correlations between conservation agriculture, higher productivity and yields; and indirect correlations with changes in household incomes and food security are suggested. Conclusively, systematic targeting of conservation agriculture to different farmer categories, can improve livelihoods, household incomes and food security. We recommend integration of conservation agriculture into the rural development policy framework in Mozambique.

Abstract Empirical research has shown that households involved in low-risk low-return subsistence... more Abstract Empirical research has shown that households involved in low-risk low-return subsistence activities, once protected by a safety net, opt for activities which, although involving higher risks, yield a higher average income. This paper expands on existing ...

Empirical research has shown that poor households involved in low-risk low-return low-input subsi... more Empirical research has shown that poor households involved in low-risk low-return low-input subsistence activities, once protected by a safety net, might opt for activities which, although riskier and requiring much more inputs, ultimately lead to a higher living standard. This paper expands on recent theoretical advances and applies an innovative empirical strategy to study this phenomenon. In particular we compare the dynamics of two household production systems, a low-risk system that is typical for the poor and a high-risk system with a much higher equilibrium living standard. Each system has a threshold initial living standard or setup cost which can induce a poverty trap. Presumably, both the threshold and the risk are particularly high for the high-income system, implying that households opting for this system must be sufficiently wealthy to start with and also need additional protection from a safety net. Few studies have brought this model to test, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where widespread safety nets are rare and household panel data, if available, consist of only small samples. To test this model we find an empirical approximation of the construct of safety nets and production systems by pooling five rounds of a large-scale household survey in Ghana, covering the period 1988 to 2006. Specifically we construct a pseudo-panel based on demographic and geographical characteristics and use access to treated drinking water as a proxy for the set-up cost of production systems and access to remittances as a proxy for protection from a safety net. Findings indicate that access to treated drinking water and to remittances, particularly from overseas, are both instrumental to higher income growth. It is, however, important to note that poor households can seldom afford to have family members abroad implying that they are much less likely to receive protection from such a safety net. This highlights that the inclusive provision of basic household amenities and the inclusive access to a safety net are key elements to help the poor getting out of subsistence.

China Economic Review, 2012

This paper examines the extent to which Chinese farmers are connected to regional agricultural ma... more This paper examines the extent to which Chinese farmers are connected to regional agricultural markets by looking at the intensity of price transmission from retail markets to the farmgate. This intensity is indicative of the extent to which farmers might benefit from improved marketing opportunities and be exposed to price risks. We estimate the elasticity of farmgate prices to retail prices using price data for 170 markets, in 29 out of 33 provinces of China, at the detail of 12 main products and for the five-year period 1996 to 2000. In each province we find strong linkages between retail and farmgate prices with elasticities ranging between 0.6 and 1 and intensifying over time. This suggests that Chinese farmers are generally well connected to retail markets and that this connectivity has strengthened in the period considered, creating new opportunities but also new risks. It is also found that linkages are relatively weak in inland provinces, which is a point of concern in view of Chinese policies to create equal opportunities and equitable growth.

In the year 2000, the government of Zimbabwe launched the Fast Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP) ... more In the year 2000, the government of Zimbabwe launched the Fast Track Land Reform Program (FTLRP) as part of its ongoing land reform and resettlement program. It seeks to address the racially skewed land distribution pattern inherited at independence in 1980. This paper used data on beneficiaries of the program and a control group of communal farmers to investigate the program's impact on the agricultural productivity of its beneficiaries. The data revealed significant differences between the two groups, not only in household and parcel characteristics, but also in input usage. The results suggest that FTLRP beneficiaries are more productive than communal farmers. The source of this productivity differential was found to lie in differences in input usage. In addition, we found that FTLRP beneficiaries gained a productivity advantage not only from the fact that they used more fertilizer per hectare, but also from attaining a higher rate of return from its use. Furthermore we found evidence that soil conservation, among other factors, had a significant impact on productivity. Our results also confirmed the constraints imposed on agricultural productivity by poverty, suggesting that policies aimed at alleviating poverty will have a positive impact on agricultural productivity.

Page 1. WORKING PAPERS IN ECONOMICS No 334 Organic Farming Technologies and Agricultural Producti... more Page 1. WORKING PAPERS IN ECONOMICS No 334 Organic Farming Technologies and Agricultural Productivity: The case of Semi-Arid Ethiopia Menale Kassie, Precious Zikhali, John Pender, and Gunnar Köhlin December 2008 ...

In the wake of resource constraints faced by farmers in developing countries in using external fa... more In the wake of resource constraints faced by farmers in developing countries in using external farm inputs, sustainable agricultural production practices that rely on local or farm renewable resources present desirable options for enhancing agricultural productivity. In this paper we use plot-level data from the semi-arid region of Ethiopia, Tigray, to investigate the factors influencing farmers' decisions to adopt sustainable agricultural production practices, with a particular focus on conservation tillage and compost. While there is heterogeneity with regards to factors influencing the choice to use either practice, results from a multinomial logit analysis underscore the importance of both plot and household characteristics on adoption decisions. In particular we find that poverty, and access to information, among other factors, impact the choice of farming practices significantly. We also find evidence that the impact of gender on technology adoption is technology specific while the significance of plot characteristics indicate the decision to adopt specific technologies is location-specific. Furthermore the use of stochastic dominance analysis supports the contention that sustainable farming practices enhance productivity -they even prove to be superior to the use of chemical fertilizers-justifying the need to investigate factors that influence adoption of these practices and use this knowledge to formulate policies that encourage adoption.

Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2010

This article uses data from household- and plot-level surveys conducted in the highlands of the T... more This article uses data from household- and plot-level surveys conducted in the highlands of the Tigray and Amhara regions of Ethiopia. We examine the contribution of sustainable land management (SLM) practices to net value of agricultural production in areas with low vs. high agricultural potential. A combination of parametric and non-parametric estimation techniques is used to check result robustness. Both techniques consistently predict that minimum tillage (MT) is superior to commercial fertilisers (CFs), as are farmers’ traditional practices (FTPs) without CFs, in enhancing crop productivity in the low agricultural potential areas. In the high agricultural potential areas, in contrast, use of CFs is superior to both MT and FTPs without CFs. The results are found to be insensitive to hidden bias. Our findings imply a need for careful agro-ecological targeting when developing, promoting and scaling up SLM practices.

Since its independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has pursued a land reform and resettlement program aimed... more Since its independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has pursued a land reform and resettlement program aimed at addressing racially skewed land distribution. The most recent phase, the Fast Track Land Reform Program, was launched in 2000 with the aim of acquiring at least five million hectares of land for redistribution. This paper investigates the impact of this program on perceptions of tenure security and investments in soil conservation. Evidence suggests that the program not only created some insecurity among its beneficiaries but also had an adverse impact on investments in soil conservation. Interestingly, households in the study that believed investing in land enhanced tenure security invested significantly more. Their perceptions of tenure security depended positively on investment levels, supporting the contention that households invest in long-term land-related investments to enhance security of tenure.

In this paper we use farmers' actual experiences with changes in rainfall levels and their respon... more In this paper we use farmers' actual experiences with changes in rainfall levels and their responses to these changes to assess if patterns of fertilizer use are responsive to changes in rainfall patterns. Using plot and farm level panel data from the central Highlands of Ethiopia matched with corresponding village level rainfall data; results show that both the current year's decision to adopt and the intensity of fertilizer adoption is positively associated with higher rainfall levels experienced in the previous year. Furthermore, we find a concave relationship between previous season rainfall levels and fertilizer adoption, indicating that too much rainfall discourages adoption. Abundant rainfall in the previous year could depict relaxed liquidity constraints and increased affordability of fertilizer, which makes rainfall availability critical in severely credit constrained environments. In light of similar existing literature, the major contribution of the study is its use of plot level panel data, which permits us to investigate the importance of plot characteristics in fertilizer adoption decisions.

In the wake of the resource constraints for external farm inputs faced by farmers in developing c... more In the wake of the resource constraints for external farm inputs faced by farmers in developing countries, sustainable agriculture that relies on renewable local or farm resources presents desirable options for enhancing agricultural productivity. In this study, we used plot-level data from the semi-arid Tigray region of Ethiopia to investigate the factors influencing farmers' decisions to adopt sustainable agricultural production practices, with a particular focus on conservation tillage and compost. While there is heterogeneity with regard to the factors that influence the choice to use either tillage or compost, results from a multinomial logit analysis underscored the importance of both plot and household characteristics on adoption decisions. In particular, we found that poverty and access to information, among other factors, impact the choice of farming practices significantly. We also found evidence that the impact of gender on technology adoption is technology-specific, while the significance of plot characteristics indicated that the decision to adopt particular technologies is location-specific. Furthermore, the use of stochastic dominance analysis supported the contention that sustainable farming practices enhance productivity. They even proved to be superior to use of chemical fertilizersjustifying the need to investigate factors that influence adoption of these practices and to use this knowledge to formulate policies that encourage adoption.

Agricultural Economics, 2010

In this article, we use farmers' actual experiences with changes in rainfall levels and their res... more In this article, we use farmers' actual experiences with changes in rainfall levels and their responses to these changes to assess whether patterns of fertilizer use are responsive to changes in rainfall patterns. Using panel data from the Central Highlands of Ethiopia matched with corresponding village-level rainfall data, the results show that the intensity of current year's fertilizer use is positively associated with higher rainfall levels experienced in the previous year. Rainfall variability, on the other hand, impacts fertilizer use decisions negatively, implying that variability raises the risks and uncertainty associated with fertilizer use. Abundant rainfall in the previous year could depict relaxed liquidity constraints and increased affordability of fertilizer, which makes rainfall availability critical in severely credit-constrained environments. In light of similar existing literature, the major contribution of the study is that it uses panel data to explicitly examine farmers' responses to actual weather changes and variability.

Sustainable agricultural practices, in as far as they rely on renewable local or farm resources, ... more Sustainable agricultural practices, in as far as they rely on renewable local or farm resources, present desirable options for enhancing agricultural productivity for resource-constrained farmers in developing countries. In this paper, we used two sets of plot-level data-from a low-rainfall area and from a high-rainfall area of Ethiopia-to investigate the impact of sustainable agricultural practices on crop productivity, with a particular focus on reduced tillage. Specifically, we sought to investigate whether reduced tillage results in more or less productivity gains than chemical fertilizer. The nature of the two sets of data allows us to examine whether the productivity of these technologies is conditioned by agro-ecology. Interestingly, our results revealed a clear superiority of reduced tillage over chemical fertilizers in enhancing crop productivity in the low-rainfall region. In the high-rainfall region, however, chemical fertilizer is overwhelmingly superior and reduced tillage potentially results in productivity losses. Thus, our results underscore the need to understand the role of agroecology in determining the profitability (in terms of productivity gains) of farm technologies. This has particular importance in formulating policies that promote technology adoption. In this particular case, our results support encouraging resource-constrained farmers in semi-arid areas to adopt sustainable agricultural practices, especially since they enable farmers to reduce production costs, provide environmental benefits, and-as our results confirm-enhance crop productivity.

International Journal of Social Economics, 2011

... The authors would like to thank Ryan Skeete and Olutayo Adesina for their invaluable comments... more ... The authors would like to thank Ryan Skeete and Olutayo Adesina for their invaluable comments. Abstract. ... Bangwayo-Skeete, PF, Rahim, AH, Zikhali, P. (2009), "Does education engender cultural values that matter for economic growth?", Faculty of Business Administration and ...

Journal of Socio-economics, 2011

Empirical research has shown that cultural values matter for economic growth and has specifically... more Empirical research has shown that cultural values matter for economic growth and has specifically identified the achievement motivation as an aspect of culture that engenders economic growth. If specific cultural values engender economic growth, how then can societies promote them? This paper attempts to answer this question using the 2005 wave of the World Values Survey data for 43 countries. We test the contention that education significantly impacts the relative importance an individual places on economic achievement vis-à-vis traditional social norms. Results suggest that individuals with higher education levels attach higher importance to values related to autonomy and economic achievement as compared to conformity to traditional social norms. The results have an important implication for efforts to promote economic development; institutions and specifically public policy on education could be used to encourage people to adopt values that are considered important for economic development.

What makes workers consider it fair for wages to be indexed on job performance or efficiency? In ... more What makes workers consider it fair for wages to be indexed on job performance or efficiency? In this paper we attempt to answer this question using the 2005 wave of the World Values Survey data for 43 countries to investigate what socio-economic characteristics condition employees' preference for efficiency over equity wages. Our results suggest that employees' preference for efficiency wages increases with education and globalization while it decreases with unemployment, income inequality and income tax rates. Given that conventional economic theory demonstrates the importance of labour efficiency, which improves when workers are remunerated according to their efficiency, for economic growth; our results suggest that institutions and specifically public policies that promote education, and globalization, along with policies that reduce unemployment, income inequality and income tax rates could be used to promote efficiency-based wages.

International Journal of Development Issues, 2011