Mekdim Dereje

Cows, Missing Milk Markets and Nutrition in Rural Ethiopia

In rural economies encumbered by significant market imperfections, farming decisions may partly be motivated by nutritional considerations, in addition to income and risk factors. These imperfections create the potential for farm assets to have direct dietary impacts on nutrition in addition to any indirect effects via income. We test this hypothesis for the dairy sector in rural Ethiopia, a context in which markets are very thin, own-consumption shares are very high, and milk is an important source of animal-based proteins and micronutrients for young children

Land Constraints and Agricultural Intensification in Ethiopia: A Village-Level Analysis of High-Potential Areas

Highland Ethiopia is one of the most densely populated regions of Africa and has long been associated with both Malthusian disasters and Boserupian agricultural intensification. This paper explores the race between these two countervailing forces, with the goal of inform two important policy questions. First, how do rural Ethiopians adapt to land constraints? And second, do land constraints significantly influence welfare outcomes in rural Ethiopia? To answer these questions we use a recent household survey of high-potential areas. We first show that farm sizes are generally very small in the Ethiopian highlands and declining over time, with young rural households facing particularly severe land constraints. We then ask whether smaller and declining farm sizes are inducing agricultural intensification, and if so, how. We find strong evidence in favor of the Boserupian hypothesis that land-constrained villages typically use significantly more purchased input costs per hectare and more family labor, and achieve higher maize and teff yields and higher gross income per hectare. However, although these higher inputs raise gross revenue, we find no substantial impact of greater land constraints on net farm income per hectare once family labor costs are accounted for. Moreover, farm sizes are strongly positively correlated with net farm income, suggesting that land constraints are an important cause of rural poverty. We conclude with some broad policy implications of our results.

Perceptions, impacts and rewards of row planting of teff

This study analyzes the perceptions, impacts, and rewards of farmers who adopted row planting for the production of teff as a result of being exposed to a technology promotion campaign for row planting of teff in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.

From Agricultural Experiment Station to Farm: The Impact of the Promotion of a New Technology on Farmers' Yields in Ethiopia

Adoption of yield-increasing technologies is crucial to boost staple food production in sub-Saharan Africa. However, empirical evidence is lacking on the impact of improved agricultural technologies that are scaled up from research at agricultural experiment stations to the farm level. We assess the impact of a new technology, row planting, on farmers’ yields of teff in Ethiopia. Results of a randomized controlled trial show that row planting did not significantly affect teff yields at the farm level. While the treatment effect measured on village demonstration plots managed by extension agents is significant and positive, its magnitude is still lower than the productivity gains found on research plots. To explain the yield gaps between research plots at experiment stations, village demonstration plots, and farm plots, ex post analysis of treatment heterogeneity shows that the literacy level and information access of adopting households have significant interaction effects. Results further suggest that the yield gap is linked to the quality of extension and timely input delivery provided to farmers when transmitting the technology to the field. Greater attention to the design and implementation of public promotion programs appears critical to effectively scale up the adoption of improved technologies in these settings.