Farmer groups as ICT Hubs: Findings from a cluster-randomized controlled trial in Malawi PDF Download
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Author: Ragasa, Catherine
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 63
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Book Description
Many rural producer groups face poor management practices, low productivity, and weak market linkages. An information and communication technology (ICT)-based intervention bundle was provided to producer groups to transform them into ICT hubs, where members learn about and adopt improved management practices and increase their productivity and incomes. The intervention bundle includes phone messages and videos, promotion of the call center/hotline, and facilitation of radio listening clubs and collective marketing. The study, a cluster-randomized controlled trial, randomly assigned 59 groups into treatment groups and 59 into control groups. After 18 months of interventions, results show positive but small impact on crop sales (USD65 per household) and no impact on productivity. The income effect was mainly from Kasungu and Nkhota-kota, which experienced increased production and sales of rice, soybean, and groundnut and received higher prices due to collective marketing. Farmers in Kasungu and Nkhota-kota improved a few agricultural management practices, while farmers in other districts did not improve their management practices. Results show more farmers accessing phone messaging on agriculture and markets, greater awareness and use of the call center, more listening groups established, and more farmers—especially women—joining these groups. Nevertheless, coverage and uptake remain very low, which are likely reasons for the limited impact.
Author: Ragasa, Catherine
Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 63
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Book Description
Many rural producer groups face poor management practices, low productivity, and weak market linkages. An information and communication technology (ICT)-based intervention bundle was provided to producer groups to transform them into ICT hubs, where members learn about and adopt improved management practices and increase their productivity and incomes. The intervention bundle includes phone messages and videos, promotion of the call center/hotline, and facilitation of radio listening clubs and collective marketing. The study, a cluster-randomized controlled trial, randomly assigned 59 groups into treatment groups and 59 into control groups. After 18 months of interventions, results show positive but small impact on crop sales (USD65 per household) and no impact on productivity. The income effect was mainly from Kasungu and Nkhota-kota, which experienced increased production and sales of rice, soybean, and groundnut and received higher prices due to collective marketing. Farmers in Kasungu and Nkhota-kota improved a few agricultural management practices, while farmers in other districts did not improve their management practices. Results show more farmers accessing phone messaging on agriculture and markets, greater awareness and use of the call center, more listening groups established, and more farmers—especially women—joining these groups. Nevertheless, coverage and uptake remain very low, which are likely reasons for the limited impact.
Author: International Finance Corporation
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464812780
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 357
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Book Description
The world’s population is expected to reach 9.8 billion in 2050. Meanwhile, concurrent rises inincomes and urbanization are driving increased consumption of meat, dairy, and biofuels.Meeting the demand for food, feed, and biofuel will require a global production increase of almost50 percent relative to 2012. Production in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa—where 95 percentof farms are smaller than five hectares—must double at a minimum.A key element of policies to increase food production will be promoting improved food quality,as the health costs of too much, too little, and the wrong types of food become increasinglyevident. Additional initiatives must address how to reduce food losses; globally, one-third of foodproduction is lost or wasted at different stages in the food chain each year. Climate change isbringing further stressors.These challenges also present opportunities. Around the world, 450 million smallholder farmersare plagued by low productivity and poor access to inputs, technology, knowledge, financing, andmarkets. Agribusinesses are increasingly working directly with smallholder farmers in low- andmiddle-income countries to help secure a sustainable supply of key agricultural commodities whileboosting rural incomes and economic growth. Sourcing directly from smallholders can expand afirm’s supply base, reduce margins paid to collectors and middlemen, facilitate improvements in qualityand yield, and deliver premium prices for a certified fair-trade or sustainably produced product.Smallholders also represent a growing market for farm inputs, information, and financial services.Agribusiness firms can help smallholders to increase productivity and improve crop quality; accessknow-how to mitigate social and environmental impacts; develop farm management skills and combinetheir production with other farmers to achieve sufficient scale to be effective market players;and meet the growing demand for safe, sustainable food by improving practices and introducingtraceability and certification systems.Working with Smallholders: A Handbook for Firms Building Sustainable Supply Chains shows howagribusinesses can develop more sustainable, resilient, and productive supply chains and illustratesthe substantial impact of doing so on development. The book compiles innovative solutions andcutting-edge ideas to meet the challenges, and it incorporates a diverse collection of hands-oncase studies from across the world that cover a variety of agribusiness sectors. This second editionbuilds on the lessons learned and provides updates in leading trends and technologies from thoseprovided in the first edition published in 2014.
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464813566
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 201
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Book Description
Work is constantly reshaped by technological progress. New ways of production are adopted, markets expand, and societies evolve. But some changes provoke more attention than others, in part due to the vast uncertainty involved in making predictions about the future. The 2019 World Development Report will study how the nature of work is changing as a result of advances in technology today.Technological progress disrupts existing systems. A new social contract is needed to smooth the transition and guard against rising inequality. Significant investments in human capital throughout a person’s lifecycle are vital to this effort. If workers are to stay competitive against machines they need to train or retool existing skills. A social protection system that includes a minimum basic level of protection for workers and citizens can complement new forms of employment. Improved private sector policies to encourage startup activity and competition can help countries compete in the digital age. Governments also need to ensure that firms pay their fair share of taxes, in part to fund this new social contract. The 2019 World Development Report presents an analysis of these issues based upon the available evidence.
Author: Kristoffer Bjärkefur
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464816956
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 393
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Book Description
Development Research in Practice leads the reader through a complete empirical research project, providing links to continuously updated resources on the DIME Wiki as well asillustrative examples from the Demand for Safe Spaces study. The handbook is intended to train users of development data how to handle data effectively, efficiently, and ethically.“In the DIME Analytics Data Handbook, the DIME team has produced an extraordinary public good: a detailed, comprehensive, yet easy-to-read manual for how to manage a data-oriented research project from beginning to end. It offers everything from big-picture guidance on the determinants of high-quality empirical research, to specific practical guidance on how to implement specific workflows—and includes computer code! I think it will prove durably useful to a broad range of researchers in international development and beyond, and I learned new practices that I plan on adopting in my own research group.”—Marshall Burke, Associate Professor, Department of Earth System Science, and Deputy Director, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University“Data are the essential ingredient in any research or evaluation project, yet there has been too little attention to standardized practices to ensure high-quality data collection, handling, documentation, and exchange. Development Research in Practice: The DIME Analytics Data Handbook seeks to fill that gap with practical guidance and tools, grounded in ethics and efficiency, for data management at every stage in a research project. This excellent resource sets a new standard for the field and is an essential reference for all empirical researchers.”—Ruth E. Levine, PhD, CEO, IDinsight“Development Research in Practice: The DIME Analytics Data Handbook is an important resource and a must-read for all development economists, empirical social scientists, and public policy analysts. Based on decades of pioneering work at the World Bank on data collection, measurement, and analysis, the handbook provides valuable tools to allow research teams to more efficiently and transparently manage their work flows—yielding more credible analytical conclusions as a result.”—Edward Miguel, Oxfam Professor in Environmental and Resource Economics and Faculty Director of the Center for Effective Global Action, University of California, Berkeley“The DIME Analytics Data Handbook is a must-read for any data-driven researcher looking to create credible research outcomes and policy advice. By meticulously describing detailed steps, from project planning via ethical and responsible code and data practices to the publication of research papers and associated replication packages, the DIME handbook makes the complexities of transparent and credible research easier.”—Lars Vilhuber, Data Editor, American Economic Association, and Executive Director, Labor Dynamics Institute, Cornell University
Author: World Bank
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464810230
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 658
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Book Description
Information and communication technology (ICT) has always mattered in agriculture. Ever since people have grown crops, raisedlivestock, and caught fish, they have sought information from one another. Today, ICT represents a tremendous opportunity forrural populations to improve productivity, to enhance food and nutrition security, to access markets, and to find employmentopportunities in a revitalized sector. ICT has unleashed incredible potential to improve agriculture, and it has found a footholdeven in poor smallholder farms.ICT in Agriculture, Updated Edition is the revised version of the popular ICT in Agriculture e-Sourcebook, first launched in 2011 anddesigned to support practitioners, decision makers, and development partners who work at the intersection of ICT and agriculture.Our hope is that this updated Sourcebook will be a practical guide to understanding current trends, implementing appropriateinterventions, and evaluating the impact of ICT interventions in agricultural programs.
Author: Gudrun Kochendörfer-Lucius
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 0821371282
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 245
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Book Description
The book highlights proceedings from the Berlin 2008: Agriculture and Development conference held in preparation for the World Development Report 2008.
Author: Keith Fuglie
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9781464813931
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This book documents frontier knowledge on the drivers of agriculture productivity to derive pragmatic policy advice for governments and development partners on reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The analysis describes global trends and long-term sources of total factor productivity growth, along with broad trends in partial factor productivity for land and labor, revisiting the question of scale economies in farming. Technology is central to growth in agricultural productivity, yet across many parts of the developing world, readily available technology is never taken up. We investigate demand-side constraints of the technology equation to analyze factors that might influence producers, particularly poor producers, to adopt modern technology. Agriculture and food systems are rapidly transforming, characterized by shifting food preferences, the rise and growing sophistication of value chains, the increasing globalization of agriculture, and the expanding role of the public and private sectors in bringing about efficient and more rapid productivity growth. In light of this transformation, the analysis focuses on the supply side of the technology equation, exploring how the enabling environment and regulations related to trade and intellectual property rights stimulate Research and Development to raise productivity. The book also discusses emerging developments in modern value chains that contribute to rising productivity. This book is the fourth volume of the World Bank Productivity Project, which seeks to bring frontier thinking on the measurement and determinants of productivity to global policy makers.
Author: World Health Organization
Publisher: World Health Organization
ISBN: 9241563176
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 237
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Book Description
The 2006 World Health Report focuses on the chronic shortages of doctors, midwives, nurses and other health care support workers in the poorest countries of the world where they are most needed. This is particularly true in sub-Saharan Africa, which has only four in every hundred global health workers but has a quarter of the global burden of disease, and less than one per cent of the world's financial resources. Poor working conditions, high rates of attrition due to illness and migration, and education systems that are unable to pick up the slack reflect the depth of the challenges in these crisis countries. This report considers the challenges involved and sets out a 10-year action plan designed to tackle the crisis over the next ten years, by which countries can strengthen their health system by building their health workforces and institutional capacity with the support of global partners.
Author: World Bank Group
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 1464806721
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 359
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Book Description
Digital technologies are spreading rapidly, but digital dividends--the broader benefits of faster growth, more jobs, and better services--are not. If more than 40 percent of adults in East Africa pay their utility bills using a mobile phone, why can’t others around the world do the same? If 8 million entrepreneurs in China--one third of them women--can use an e-commerce platform to export goods to 120 countries, why can’t entrepreneurs elsewhere achieve the same global reach? And if India can provide unique digital identification to 1 billion people in five years, and thereby reduce corruption by billions of dollars, why can’t other countries replicate its success? Indeed, what’s holding back countries from realizing the profound and transformational effects that digital technologies are supposed to deliver? Two main reasons. First, nearly 60 percent of the world’s population are still offline and can’t participate in the digital economy in any meaningful way. Second, and more important, the benefits of digital technologies can be offset by growing risks. Startups can disrupt incumbents, but not when vested interests and regulatory uncertainty obstruct competition and the entry of new firms. Employment opportunities may be greater, but not when the labor market is polarized. The internet can be a platform for universal empowerment, but not when it becomes a tool for state control and elite capture. The World Development Report 2016 shows that while the digital revolution has forged ahead, its 'analog complements'--the regulations that promote entry and competition, the skills that enable workers to access and then leverage the new economy, and the institutions that are accountable to citizens--have not kept pace. And when these analog complements to digital investments are absent, the development impact can be disappointing. What, then, should countries do? They should formulate digital development strategies that are much broader than current information and communication technology (ICT) strategies. They should create a policy and institutional environment for technology that fosters the greatest benefits. In short, they need to build a strong analog foundation to deliver digital dividends to everyone, everywhere.
Author: World Bank;International Monetary Fund
Publisher: World Bank Publications
ISBN: 9781464803369
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
The Global Monitoring Report 2014/2015: Ending Poverty and Sharing Prosperity was written jointly by the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund, with substantive inputs from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. This year's report details, for the first time, progress toward the WBG's twin goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and promoting shared prosperity and assesses the state of policies and institutions that are important for achieving them. The report continues to monitor progress on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Also for the first time, the report includes information about high-income countries. It finds that while gaps in living standards have been closing in many countries, the well-being of households in the bottom 40 percent, as measured by the non-income MDGs such as access to education and health services, remains below that of households in the top 60 percent. The focus of this year's report is on three elements needed to make growth more inclusive and sustainable: investment in human capital that favors the poor, the best use of safety nets, and steps to ensure the environmental sustainability of economic growth. These three elements are imperative to all countries' development strategies, and are also fundamental to global efforts to achieve the twin goals, the MDGs, and the Sustainable Development Goals that will succeed the MDGs. Global Monitoring Report 2014/2015 was prepared in collaboration with regional development banks and other multilateral partners.
