Browsing by Author "Pender, John"

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Organic Farming Technologies and Agricultural Productivity: The case of Semi-Arid Ethiopia
(2008-12-16T09:50:58Z) Kassie, Menale; Zikhali, Precious; Pender, John; Köhlin, Gunnar
Organic farming practices, in as far as they rely on local or farm renewable resources, present desirable options for enhancing agricultural productivity for resource-constrained farmers in developing countries. In this paper we use plot-level data from semi-arid area of Ethiopia to investigate the impact of organic farming practices on crop productivity, with a particular focus on conservation tillage. Specifically we seek to investigate whether conservation tillage results in more or less productivity gains than chemical fertilizer. Our results reveal a clear superiority of organic farming practices over chemical fertilizers in enhancing crop productivity. Thus our results underscore the importance of encouraging resource-constrained farmers in developing countries to adopt organic farming practices, especially since they enable farmers to reduce production costs, provide environmental benefits, and as our results confirm, enhance crop productivity.
The Role of Soil Conservation on Mean Crop Yield and Variance of Yield - Evidence from the Ethiopian Highlands
(2009-11-30T14:20:02Z) Kassie, Menale; Pender, John; Yesuf, Mahmud; Köhlin, Gunnar; Mulugeta, Elias
Land degradation has been one of the major areas of concern in Ethiopia. Governments and development agencies have invested substantial resources to promote land management technologies and reduce land degradation. However, there is little understanding of the impacts that land management technologies have on yield and yield variability. This paper investigates the impact of stone bunds on mean yield and variance of yield, using multiple plot observations per household in low- and highrainfall areas of the Ethiopian highlands. Our analysis incorporated the propensity score matching method, stochastic dominance analysis, and exogenous and endogenous switching regression methods. We found statistically significant and positive impact of stone bunds on yield in low-rainfall areas. This did not hold in high-rainfall areas. We did not find a statistically significant stone-bund impact on production risk in either high- or low-rainfall areas. The results were robust to both parametric and nonparametric analysis. The overall conclusion from the analysis is that the performance of stone bunds varies by agro-ecology type. This implies the need for designing and implementing appropriate technologies that enhance productivity and are better adapted to local conditions.
Sustainable Agricultural Practices and Agricultural Productivity in Ethiopia: Does Agroecology Matter?
(2009-11-30T13:58:10Z) Kassie, Menale; Zikhali, Precious; Pender, John; Köhlin, Gunnar
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 gain than chemical fertilizer. The nature of the two sets of data allows us to examine whether the productivity of these technologies is conditioned by agroecology. 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.