Abstract
In response to the perennial low harvest and high food prices, a number of Sub-Saharan African countries have instituted agricultural input subsidy programmes to increase food production and reduce poverty among small-scale farmers. Given that agriculture employs a large portion of working children on the continent, this paper studies the effect of these subsidy programmes on child labour. The paper analyses three rounds of the Malawi Integrated Household Panel Survey to answer the research question. The econometric results show that the farm input subsidy program in Malawi has a significant and positive impact on child labour in the country. The results suggest that in spite of the success of the programme in achieving its core aims, there are unintended negative consequences that could negatively affect human capital development. This could in turn adversely affect the ultimate poverty eradication efforts in the country and in the sub-region. To mitigate this problem, governments and implementing agencies should consider conditioning the distribution of the inputs on positive outcome like the school performance of the wards of beneficiaries.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.