Nsabimana, Aimable
(2018).
Essays on household demand and agricultural policy implications in developing countries.
Diss. (sammanfattning/summary)
Uppsala :
Sveriges lantbruksuniv.,
Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae, 1652-6880
; 2018:38
ISBN 978-91-7760-216-3
eISBN 978-91-7760-217-0
[Doctoral thesis]
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Abstract
This thesis comprises four papers that contribute to the economic literature in the area of food demand and agricultural policy related issues. Paper I examines the main forces driving farmers’ decision to adopt modern agricultural inputs (MAI) in farming, and the effects on farm household welfare in Rwanda. Evidence from this study reveals that size of land endowment, access to farm credits and awareness of farm advisory services were the main driving factors behind MAI adoption. It was also found that adopting MAI significantly increased farm income, crop yield and household expenditure. This provides an indication that MAI adoption is the most consistent and potentially best pathway to reduce poverty among rural farmers. Paper II analyses the short and long-term effects of likely changes in rainfall on food crop prices in Rwanda. The results from this study identify that food crop prices are essentially vulnerable to rainfall shocks and that the effect is asymmetric in both the short and long-run. The analysis also revealed seasonal effects, with food prices falling significantly during the harvest season and rising thereafter. Further, the reliability of unit value (defined as expenditure by quantity) or community price (mostly gathered from local markets), both used to represent market prices when computing food demand elasticities, was investigated in Paper III using Tanzanian household data. A quadratic almost ideal demand system (QUAIDS) was created for nine food categories based on unit values and community prices. The results showed that expenditure elasticities from both prices appear to be almost similar. However, price elasticities from unit value and community prices displayed significant discrepancies. These findings suggest that, when opting to use these proxies for market prices, researchers should apply caution, particularly in accounting for quality variations and measurement errors in household reported prices and income. Finally, Paper IV presents the analysis of the food Engel curves and consumption patterns in Rwanda. The study results reveal that a large proportion of the average household food budget (more than 50%) is spent on cheap sources of calories (such as roots, tubers and cereals), resulting in unbalanced diets among members of Rwandan households. In particular, poor households, mostly in rural communities, appeared to spend almost nothing on protein food items (including meat). Overall, this thesis makes a series of novel contributions to the economic literature on food demand and agricultural policy for the under-explored continent of Africa. Improved understanding of rural and urban food consumption patterns can enable purposive and targeted food policies to be formulated.
Authors/Creators: | Nsabimana, Aimable | ||||||||||
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Title: | Essays on household demand and agricultural policy implications in developing countries | ||||||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Acta Universitatis Agriculturae Sueciae | ||||||||||
Year of publishing : | 2018 | ||||||||||
Depositing date: | 16 May 2018 | ||||||||||
Number: | 2018:38 | ||||||||||
Number of Pages: | 37 | ||||||||||
Papers/manuscripts: |
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Place of Publication: | Uppsala | ||||||||||
Publisher: | Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences | ||||||||||
ISBN for printed version: | 978-91-7760-216-3 | ||||||||||
ISBN for electronic version: | 978-91-7760-217-0 | ||||||||||
ISSN: | 1652-6880 | ||||||||||
Language: | English | ||||||||||
Publication Type: | Doctoral thesis | ||||||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||||||
Agris subject categories.: | E Economics, development, and rural sociology > E10 Agricultural economics and policies E Economics, development, and rural sociology > E14 Development economics and policies | ||||||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 5 Social Sciences > 502 Economics and Business > Economics | ||||||||||
Agrovoc terms: | plant production, modernization, welfare economics, food prices, rain, unit costs, elasticity of demand, food consumption, rural conditions, developing countries, Rwanda, United Republic of Tanzania | ||||||||||
Keywords: | modern agricultural inputs, welfare effects, food crop prices, rainfall, unit values, community prices, household demand, food Engel curves, developing countries, nutriitional status, Rwanda, Tanzania | ||||||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-4884 | ||||||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-e-4884 | ||||||||||
ID Code: | 15470 | ||||||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Economics | ||||||||||
External funders: | Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency | ||||||||||
Deposited By: | Dr Aimable Nsabimana | ||||||||||
Deposited On: | 17 May 2018 07:27 | ||||||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 09 Sep 2020 14:17 |
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