Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Livestock are an important component of rural livelihoods in developing countries, but data about this source of income and wealth are difficult to collect because of the nomadic and semi-nomadic nature of many pastoralist populations. Most household surveys exclude those without permanent dwellings, leading to undercoverage. This study explores the use of a random geographic cluster sample as an alternative to the household-based sample. In this design, points are randomly selected and all eligible respondents found inside circles drawn around the selected points are interviewed. This approach should eliminate undercoverage of mobile populations. The results of a random geographic cluster sample survey are presented with a total sample size of 784 households to measure livestock ownership in the Afar region of Ethiopia in 2012. The paper explores the data quality of the random geographic cluster sample relative to a recent household survey and discusses the implementation challenges.

Livestock.

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

African governments and international development groups see boosting productivity on smallholder farms as key to reducing rural poverty and safeguarding the food security of farming and non-farming households. Prompting smallholder farmers to use more fertilizer has been a key tactic. Closing the productivity gap between male and female farmers has been another avenue toward achieving the same goal. The results in this paper suggest the two are related. Fertilizer use and maize yields among smallholder farmers in Uganda are increased by improved access to markets and extension services, and reduced by ex ante risk-mitigating production decisions. Standard ordinary least squares regression results indicate that gender matters as well; however, the measured productivity gap between male and female farmers disappears when gender is included in a list of determinants meant to capture the indirect effects of market and extension access.

Agricultural Knowledge & Information Systems --- Climate Change and Agriculture --- Crops & Crop Management Systems --- Gender --- Labor Policies --- Maize --- Productivity --- Rural Development Knowledge and Information Systems --- Smallholder Farmers

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This paper quantifies the significance and magnitude of the effect of measurement error in remote sensing weather data in the analysis of smallholder agricultural productivity. The analysis leverages 17 rounds of nationally-representative, panel household survey data from six countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. These data are spatially linked with a range of geospatial weather data sources and related metrics. The paper provides systematic evidence on measurement error introduced by (1) different methods used to obfuscate the exact GPS coordinates of households, (2) different metrics used to quantify precipitation and temperature, and (3) different remote sensing measurement technologies. First, the analysis finds no discernible effect of measurement error introduced by different obfuscation methods. Second, it finds that simple weather metrics, such as total seasonal rainfall and mean daily temperature, outperform more complex metrics, such as deviations in rainfall from the long-run average or growing degree days, in a broad range of settings. Finally, the analysis finds substantial amounts of measurement error based on remote sensing products. In extreme cases, the data drawn from different remote sensing products result in opposite signs for coefficients on weather metrics, meaning that precipitation or temperature drawn from one product purportedly increases crop output while the same metrics drawn from a different product purportedly reduces crop output. The paper concludes with a set of six best practices for researchers looking to combine remote sensing weather data with socioeconomic survey data.

Agricultural Productivity --- Agricultural Sector Economics --- Agriculture --- Climate and Meteorology --- Climate Change and Agriculture --- Climate Change Impacts --- Crop Yield --- Crops and Crop Management Systems --- Environment --- Precipitation --- Remote Sensing --- Science and Technology Development --- Temperature --- Weather Impacts

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

The collection of survey data from war zones or other unstable security situations is vulnerable to error because conflict often limits the implementation options. Although there are elevated risks throughout the process, this paper focuses specifically on challenges to frame construction and sample selection. The paper uses simulations based on data from the Mogadishu High Frequency Survey Pilot to examine the implications of the choice of second-stage selection methodology on bias and variance. Among the other findings, the simulations show the bias introduced by a random walk design leads to the underestimation of the poverty headcount by more than 10 percent. The paper also discusses the experience of the authors in the time required and technical complexity of the associated back-office preparation work and weight calculations for each method. Finally, as the simulations assume perfect implementation of the design, the paper also discusses practicality, including the ease of implementation and options for remote verification, and outlines areas for future research and pilot testing.

Administrative Records --- Age --- Algorithms --- Back Office --- Best Practice --- Business --- Calculation --- Case --- Cell Phones --- Classification --- Clustering --- Computer --- Confidence Intervals --- Counting --- Data --- Data Collection --- Description --- Document --- Effects --- Enumeration --- Equipment --- Errors --- Estimates --- Estimating --- Gps --- Human Error --- Image --- Implementation Plans --- Implementations --- Information --- Interviews --- Measurement --- Measures --- Methodology --- Methods --- Missing Values --- Modeling --- Monitoring --- Navigation --- Network --- Object --- Open Access --- Performance --- Phones --- Pilot Testing --- Precision --- Prediction --- Probability --- Probability Samples --- Protocol --- Random Sampling --- Random Walk --- Research --- Research Working Papers --- Researchers --- Result --- Risk --- Routing --- Sample Design --- Sample Size --- Samples --- Sampling --- Sampling Designs --- Satellite --- Scenarios --- Search --- Security --- Simulation --- Size --- Smart Phones --- Software --- Space --- Standard --- Standard Deviation --- Statistics --- Supervision --- Survey Data --- Survey Methodology --- Surveys --- Target --- Technical Training --- Techniques --- Technology --- Testing --- Theory --- Time --- URL --- Uses --- Variables --- Verification --- Web --- Weight --- Weighting --- WWW

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Diversification into high-value cash crops among smallholders has been propagated as a strategy to improve welfare in rural areas. However, the extent to which cash crop production spurs projected gains remains an under-researched question, especially in the context of market imperfections leading to non-separable production and consumption decisions, and price shocks to staple crops that might be displaced on the farm by cash crops. This study is a contribution to the long-standing debate on the links between commercialization and nutrition. It uses nationally-representative household survey data from Malawi, and estimates the effect of household adoption of an export crop, namely tobacco, on child height-for-age z-scores. Given the endogenous nature of household tobacco adoption, the analysis relies on instrumental variable regressions, and isolates the causal effect by comparing impact estimates informed by two unique samples of children that differ in their exposure to an exogenous domestic staple food price shock during the early child development window (from conception through two years of age). The analysis finds that household tobacco production in the year of or the year after child birth, combined with exposure to an exogenous domestic staple food price shock, lowers the child height-for-age z-score by 1.27, implying a 70-percent drop in z-score. The negative effect is, however, not statistically significant among children who were not exposed to the same shock. The results put emphasis on the food insecurity and malnutrition risks materializing at times of high food prices, which might have disproportionately adverse effects on uninsured cash crop producers.

Cash Crops --- Child Nutrition --- Food & Beverage Industry --- Food Prices --- Health Monitoring & Evaluation --- Macroeconomics and Economic Growth --- Poverty Reduction --- Rural Poverty Reduction --- Malawi --- Tobacco