Input Support Programme Research Articles

Short- and medium-term impacts of small-scale vegetable support on food security: evidence from Syria

Small-scale agricultural and horticultural interventions play a critical role in improving nutrition and food security of vulnerable households in peaceful settings. However, scant rigorous evidence exists on the impacts and sustainability of such interventions in conflict settings. In this paper, we address this knowledge gap by analyzing the short- and medium-term impacts of a small-scale vegetable input support program involving asset transfers on food security and diets in war-time Syria. We use longitudinal panel household survey data from a quasi-experimental study collected at three rounds: before, one year, and two years after the horticultural intervention ended. We use propensity score matching and fixed-effect regression models to estimate the average treatment effects on the treated. We find that the vegetable support significantly improves food security by 21% and 19% in the short- and medium-term, respectively. More specifically, we find that the intervention significantly increased the consumption of nutrient-rich food groups such as vegetables, root tubers, fruits, eggs, pulses and nuts, milk, and oil and fats. Moreover, we find that the intervention reduces in the short-term the use of harmful coping strategies by 17%. However, this effect dissipates two years after the end of the intervention. The findings underscore the importance of small-scale vegetable support in addressing food insecurity in protracted conflict settings.

An Evaluation of the Farmer Input Support Programme in Chongwe District of Zambia

An Evaluation of the Farmer Input Support Programme in Chongwe District of Zambia

Enhancing the Farm Input Support Program and Food Security: Challenges and Possibilities in the Case of Bungoma County, Kenya.

The focus on smallholder farmers as a drive to fighting hunger in the Sub-Saharan Africa is certainly becoming the focus of agricultural investments as governments race to meet the second sustainable development goal of eradicating hunger. The Farm Input Support Programs (FISPs) are emerging as the sure approach in doing this. This paper has emerged from a wider study that sought to examine challenges experienced in the Bungoma County FISP. This program is pro-poor and targets vulnerable households by supporting them with free fertilizers and certified maize seed for one season. The study adopted an ex-poste study design where qualitative and quantitative data were obtained from 450 beneficiaries, 8 key informant and six focus group members arranged in two groups. Purposive sampling, systematic random sampling and simple random sampling methods were employed in identifying study participants, hence both probability and non-probability sampling techniques were preferred. Beneficiaries were assisted to fill questionnaires in obtaining quantitative data, while interview schedules was preferred for Key Informants and Focus Group Discussions. Quantitative data was analyzed using a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) and presented as both descriptive and inferential statistics, while qualitative data by content analysis and presented as narratives. The findings indicate that major challenges experienced in the program include political interference, governance challenges and poor attitude by stakeholders and beneficiaries. It is also observed that the program can leverage on the goodwill it enjoys among the farmers and policy makers. The study recommends for a more elaborate legal and policy framework, and also a beneficiary assessment tool that will stipulate the process and therefore guide the implementation of the program with an aim of streamlining the process.

Supply-Side Interventions in Cocoa Production in Ghana: A Regional Decomposition of Technical Efficiency and Technological Gaps

Although Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) promotes technical change in cocoa farming with innovative technologies and input support, crop productivity is better advanced by improving on the efficiency of input use by farmers. This study thereby investigates the technical efficiency of cocoa farmers in Ghana. The study uses cross sectional field data covering Western North, Ashanti, Eastern, Volta and Brong-Ahafo regions of Ghana on a sample of 899 cocoa farmers and adopts Meta frontier stochastic frontier analysis to derive production efficiencies for each region. The findings are that supply-side interventions such as hand pollination, hybrid seedlings, farm pruning and extension services can improve on technical efficiency of cocoa farmers, more especially in Ashanti, Eastern and Western region. Notably, the CODAPEC input support programme which encapsulates insecticides and fungicides spraying has failed to improve on production efficiency as compared to the Hi-Tech (fertilizer application) programme. Eastern region cocoa farmers stand out as the most efficient producers, producing about 87% of their potential output given technology, whereas Western North produces 76% of its output potential, the lowest of the five regions. The three other regions, namely, Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti and Volta can produce on average 83%, 80% and 78% of their output potential in cocoa respectively. Averagely, cocoa growing regions are underutilizing 21.5% of available technology in the industry while losing 36.5% of output potential due to technical inefficiencies.

Understanding Land-Use Trade-off Decision Making Using the Analytical Hierarchy Process: Insights from Agricultural Land Managers in Zambia

Understanding factors that influence trade-offs between agricultural expansion and forest conservation is important in managing competing land-use objectives. This paper applies elements of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to distinct farming business ownership models in Zambia to gain insights into factors that agricultural land managers take into account when considering land-use trade-off decisions which involve agricultural expansion into natural habitats. Results showed that the market domain was weighted above other domains, followed by the financial domain. When environmental considerations were pitted against other factors such as markets and finance, agricultural land managers were likely to trade off environmental concerns. Furthermore, availability of input subsidies via the agricultural Food Input Support Programme (FISP) influenced the decision to expand, particularly for the small-scale ownership model. This suggests that agricultural policies and strategies aimed at promoting agricultural productivity may require accompanying measures to safeguard forest ecosystems from agricultural expansion. Key differences in the factors influencing expansion decisions were evident among ownership models suggesting that ownership types do have an impact on factors considered. This highlights the need to advance tailored strategies that address differences in priorities and decision making emanating from variations in farming business ownership models.

The Farmer Input Support Program and Poverty Alleviation in Zambia: The Smallholder Farmer’s Perspective Using Intervention and Sustainability Theories

The Farmer Input Support Program and Poverty Alleviation in Zambia: The Smallholder Farmer’s Perspective Using Intervention and Sustainability Theories

The Impact of Covid-19 on Household Food Security and Income Generation in Mufulira District, Copperbelt Province

Household food security poses as a great challenge in most households especially in Africa. The ability to have sufficient food available at all times is deemed as a luxury. With the emergence of the Corona Virus disease commonly known as Covid-19, many countries have suffered economic recessions due to border closures, lockdowns, loss of human resource, diversion of funds hence leading to people losing their jobs, businesses going down and loss of family heads due to the virus. Therefore, this led to household food insecurity in most households and low-income generation. The purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of Covid-19 on household food security and income generation in Francis Mukuka, Mufulira District, Copperbelt Province. The specific objectives were to find out how Covid-19 has affected household food security, to examine the impact of Covid-19 on household income and to investigate measures put in place in order to cope with Covid-19. A case study research method that included a structured interview guide was used to collect data online from a sample of 26 respondents. The respondents were made up of those in employment and business owners, the married as well as those who are single. The study findings show that most households had challenges in feeding the family all the three meals required per day and they experienced inability to have all the desired food. They also revealed that people generated low income hence most of the respondents had to diversify into farming, doing part time business and looking for extra jobs. It was also found that, during the Covid-19 restriction measures, prices for goods had gone up, people were failing to purchase most things for their basic needs and those who could afford were buying in bulk because of restriction of movements. After the lifting up of Covid-19 measures, prices for goods have dropped. In view of the findings, the following recommendations were made. Increase the number of people on the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) to increase agriculture production so as to achieve related sustainable development goals.

Application of Benefit Incidence Analysis (BIA) as a Tool to Evaluate Climate Action Spending on Climate Smart Agriculture Initiatives: An Experimental Study of the Usage of BIA on Agriculture-Related Spending in Zambia

Using survey data obtained through semi-structured questionnaires which were administered using a multi-stage random sampling process, this study sought to undertake an experimental application of the Benefit Incidence Analysis (BIA) socio-economic evaluation tool on 117 rural farming households in Chongwe District of Zambia. The sampled households were receiving agricultural support through the Government-financed Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). Specifically, this experimental study of the usage of BIA on agriculture-related spending in Zambia was aimed at proving possible replication of the usage of BIA for evaluating socio-economic and distributional impacts of financing for Climate Smart Agricultural (CSA) practices. Results prove that BIA assessment variables such as income/expenditure quintiles, education status, gender and age are also applicable to and essential in evaluating CSA initiatives. Despite this study proving applicability to CSA assessments, undertaking a BIA is highly technical and data intensive. Such an undertaking would heavily rely on the timely availability of complementary economic and financial data and an intermediate to advanced level of technical capacity in order to administer the analysis.

Factors affecting the level of commercialization among households owning cattle. A case study of Makhado Municipality of Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa

This study analyzed the factors affecting the level of commercialization among households owning cattle. The study was conducted at the Makhado Local Municipality of Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study sampled 150 households owning cattle from five villages within the municipality. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire that was administered face-to-face to the respondents. For empirical reasons, the study used two analytical techniques, namely; Household Comecialisation Index and Multinomial Logistic Regression Model. Empirical results reveal that eight variables were significant in affecting the level of commercialization among households owning cattle. These variables are the marital status of household head, the age of the household head, source of income, the occupation of household, access to market information, distance to the nearest market, membership to farmer organization, and land size. Based on the findings of the study, several policy recommendations were proposed, namely; Encouragement of youth participation in agriculture in general and in cattle production in particular, promotion of gender equality in decision-making, households’ farmer organization, encouragement of market-orientation in cattle production, and establishment of cattle input support programs (e.g., feed, water and disease control).

Public Institutional Structures for Disaster Preparedness in the Cereal Value Chain: A Zambian Case Study

Increasing extreme climate events and cyclonic activities provide clear evidence that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region is a hotspot for climate change-driven natural disasters which critically disrupt agricultural production cycles. This is especially true with regard to the production of cereal, produce widely used to represent food security. Although studies have attempted to disentangle the effect of demand vis à vis projected population growth on cereal production across the region, the contradiction between cereal production and climate disaster preparedness remains poorly resolved. Therefore, literature on the subject matter is scanty. The present study is motivated by the need to overcome this paucity of literature and thus, deepen our understanding of cereal production and climate disaster preparedness in the region. Therefore, the main aim of this study is to assess public institutional support structures that are currently being employed for climate disaster preparedness in the cereal value chain across Zambia as perceived by small scale farmers. After a comprehensive assessment of focus group discussions (FGDs), several points emerge specifically highlighting four salient findings: first, results show that a government-led Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP) is the only strategy particularly targeted at disaster preparedness. All other initiatives are targeted at improving or safeguarding livelihoods with some components having a ripple effect on the cereal value chain. Second, results show that climate forecasts that are supposed to trigger early action are generally characterized by low prediction skill with more false alarms and misses than hits. Third, forecasts were found to lack geographical specificity with generalities over large areas being common thus, diminishing their usefulness at the local scale. Fourth, end-users found forecasts to usually contain technical jargon that is difficult to decipher especially that most small-scale farmers are illiterate. This study concludes that to fully support the cereal value chain and realize food security in Zambia, policy formulation that champion the establishment of an effective early warning and early action system (EWEAS) involving multiple interest groups and actors should be considered a matter of urgency.

The benefits and limitations of agricultural input cooperatives in Zambia

• Cooperative-affiliated households use more fertilizer and hybrid seeds, and achieve higher yields, even when controlling for a nationwide input support program. • Across all selected productivity and input variables we find greater average treatment effects from cooperative membership than FISP participation. • Cooperative-affiliated households have more assets, more land, and higher yields than households without cooperative membership. • Zambian agricultural cooperatives most often provide collective benefits by decreasing transportation costs. • Poor households that are unable to join cooperatives miss out on direct benefits from subsidized inputs and benefits through collective action. Policymakers in Southern Africa have long viewed agricultural cooperatives as a way to reach rural households more easily, but because not all rural households can afford to join cooperatives, this raises questions about membership inclusivity and whether cooperatives advantage some smallholders over others. Agricultural cooperatives can serve as an institutional vehicle for policymakers to deliver direct benefits to smallholder farmers in the form of subsidized agricultural inputs, usually improved seed varieties and fertilizers. They can also serve as platforms for collective action through which smallholders can reduce transportation and transaction costs or disperse the costs of marketing. In Zambia farmers are required to join a cooperative to qualify for seed and fertilizer support through the national Farmer Input Support Program (FISP), which is a structural incentive for cooperative membership and makes it complicated to determine if cooperative membership increases use of inputs and yields on its own. Using the Inverse Probability Weight Regression Adjustment (IPWRA) technique, we find Zambian smallholders participating in cooperatives achieve significantly higher maize yields and use significantly more hybrid-maize seed and fertilizers, even when controlling for FISP eligibility. Furthermore, across all selected productivity and input variables we find greater average treatment effects from cooperative membership than FISP participation. Cooperative membership is also associated with more assets, more land, and higher maize yields, which suggests that the poorest rural households are often not cooperative members. Cooperatives can be a powerful poverty policy tool to deliver direct benefits to small farmers, but not including the poorest households likely widens the rural poverty gap, both in terms of limited direct benefits of input support programs and in terms of farmers missing out on cooperative-specific benefits.

Designing better input support programs: Lessons from zinc subsidies in Andhra Pradesh, India.

India has one of the largest agricultural input support programs in the world, delivered in the form of subsidies to farmers, raising concerns about its sustainability. This paper evaluates the performance of one such support, the micronutrient subsidy program in the state of Andhra Pradesh (AP) and presents a case for providing this support in the form of direct cash transfers. Under the program, key soil micronutrients- zinc, boron, and gypsum were distributed free of cost to farmers living in micronutrient-deficient areas, with identification and targeting managed entirely by the state. We survey 1621 farmers, 61 agriculture extension officers, and 78 agriculture input dealers to assess the efficacy of the program and to identify bottlenecks preventing effective targeting, with a focus on zinc. We find that use of non-subsidized zinc is high in AP, and awareness of benefits of zinc and physical access to input dealer shops are significant predictors of zinc use. We argue that the free provision of micronutrients may have created demand among farmers, but there is little justification to continue subsidizing such a program at such high rates or resorting to public distribution. We find that micronutrient procurement and distribution has become a burden on extension staff and crowds out the private sector. Our analysis shows that the subsidy can benefit more farmers if it is channeled through the network of private fertilizer dealers. We use administrative data on budgetary outlays and digital soil maps to suggest fiscal redistribution in the form of direct cash transfers that may ensure more effective targeting at a lower cost to the state.

Evaluation of the Effect of Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) on Small-Scale Farmers in the Kara Region of Togo

The government of Togo reintroduced Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) as one of its Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS) in 2002. Since the introduction of the program, the studies that evaluate its effects on income have focused either on fertilizer or seed component, but not on both, which made it a challenge to find out what improvements in small-scale farmers’ productivity can be attributed to FISP as a whole. Using Propensity Score Matching technique with collected data from 150 randomly surveyed households in the Kara region of Togo, the authors of the study estimated the impact of FISP on beneficiary households’ output from maize production. The results show that FISP augmented household annual maize income by 30.8% and total household income by 13.9% for both 2016/17 and 2017/18 cropping seasons. However, even though FISP is achieving its objective of improving small-scale farmers’ income, this increment is still not large enough to take households above the poverty line, and the effects of FISP to reduce overall poverty is also limited.

Determinants and Change in Total Factor Productivity of Smallholder Maize Production in Southern Zambia

Smallholder maize production in Zambia has been characterised by low productivity despite concerted efforts at improving the situation as is evident in budgetary allocations to programmes such as the Farmer Input Support Programme (FISP). The study assessed if there was a change in total factor productivity (TFP) in smallholder maize production in Southern Province of Zambia between the 2010/11 and 2013/14 agricultural seasons. Using a balanced panel of 778 smallholder farmers, a Stochastic Frontier Analysis was used to estimate the Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) in measuring the productivity change in maize production. The change in TFP was further decomposed into its components, efficiency change (EC) and technical change (TC) so as to understand more on the change in productivity. It was found that over the period of study, the mean EC was 0.8734, implying that technical efficiency (TE) had declined by 12.7 % with the mean TFP of 0.9401, indicating that over the study period TFP had fallen by 5.99 %. The results further showed that the age of the farmer, education of the farmer, household size, membership to a farmer organization, ownership of cattle, access to credit, and drought stress were significant (ρ<0.05) factors in explaining TFP. In light of the findings, some recommendations were made for policy including the need to facilitate farmers’ access to credit, sensitize farmers on the benefits of belonging to farmer organizations, on ownership of livestock such as cattle and for massive investment in irrigation infrastructure.

Livelihood effects of crop diversification: a panel data analysis of rural farm households in Zambia

We examined factors driving farm households to diversify their crop production, using panel data from two waves of nationally representative surveys of rural farm households in Zambia. The Simpson Index of Diversification was used as the dependent variable in a determinants model, first testing for fixed effects and then estimating a QMLE model to test for robustness of the results. Factors that promoted agricultural diversification included agricultural extension, asset endowment, smallholder access to land, access to markets, and investments in irrigation and water harvesting. However, the two key government policy programs of the Food Reserve Agency (FRA) and Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) (which focuses on maize) negatively affected crop diversification. We also examined the impact of crop diversification on livelihoods measured by household income, Months of Household Adequate Food Provisions (MAHFP), Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) and Food Consumption Score (FCS). Crop diversification had a positive and significant impact on farm income (but not household income) and MAHFP. The impact on HDDS and FCS, though positive and significant, was much weaker. We conclude that diversifying crop production in Zambia is necessary for raising rural farm income and food availability but less so for improving access to a diverse range of foods as measured by the HDDS and FCS.

Creation of an Agricultural Geographical Information System


 
 
 To properly monitor the grain storage facilities, small scale farmer land parcels and track crops grown in the land parcels, we propose an information system that uses GIS technologies. The proposed module would assist in improving food security by providing a real-time record of stock levels in the various strategic grain reserves. It would also help the Government through Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) adequately target small scale farmers of the poorest households by displaying their land parcels. Knowing where farmers are located is vital information for the planning process.
 
 

E-Governance Systems: A Case Study of the Development of a Small-Scale Farmer Database

Use of enhanced Information Communication Technology is among the key targets set forth in the 7th National Development Plan. Absence of a rigorous approval process has seen an increase in the number of ghost farmers benefiting from the Farmer Input Support Programme. The lack of a single pool of farmer and marketing information for technocrats makes decision making a near impossible task. This paper proposes a system for the capturing and management of farmer information using cloud infrastructure. Having this information will bring efficiency to the activities of farmer-facing bodies such as the Farmer Input Support Programme and the Food Reserve Agency.

Does Late Delivery of Subsidized Fertilizer Affect Smallholder Maize Productivity and Production

Farm input subsidy programs have once again become a popular policy tool that many African governments use to improve agricultural productivity and address rural poverty. Zambia is one of the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that over the past decade has devoted a considerable share of its agricultural budget to the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP). Input subsidy programs have received considerable research attention in recent years. Unfortunately, the issue of late delivery of inputs under government subsidy programs has received little or no research attention even though it has been a longstanding problem in many countries, including Zambia. This paper examined the effects of late delivery of fertilizer on technical efficiency of smallholder maize producers and on foregone national maize output in Zambia. Using cross-sectional household survey data for the 2010/11 agricultural season, a plot-level maize yield response model was estimated using a Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA) while controlling for the endogeneity of whether farmers received their FISP fertilizer on time. Results indicate that late delivery of fertilizer reduces technical efficiency and maize yield by 4.2%. The estimated results are then extrapolated to quantify the loss in national maize output. The foregone maize output due to late delivery of fertilizer in the 2010/11 farming season was 84,924 metric tons. When valued at the government’s maize purchase price, the forgone income is equivalent to USD 21.2 million. Furthermore, by limiting the sample to only households that obtained fertilizer from FISP, we found that households with large landholding size and high value of productive assets were more likely to receive fertilizer on time, ceteris paribus. It was also found that households with family connections with village headmen/chiefs were more likely to receive fertilizer on time compared to other households.

An Assessment of FISP e-voucher Performance

The failure of the agricultural sector to provide livelihoods for people in rural areas is considered a major factor that contributes to rural poverty and food insecurity. The Zambian government started the Farmer Input Support Program (FISP) in 2002in order to stimulate the growth of the agricultural sector and to improve the performance of the smallholders. However, the administration of the FISP manual system has had challenges resulting in high operational cost and/or decimal impact on smallholder performance and graduation.In order to mitigate the FISP challenges, the FISP Electronic Voucher system was introduced in 2015/2016 farming season. The E-voucher system has been in operation for the past two farming seasons and conflicting reports for its successes and failures have been reported in Zambian's daily papers as well as published research articles. This study had been undertaken in order to assess the performance of the E-voucher system by hearing from smallholders.A survey research was undertaken using structured and semi structured questionnaires. The stallholders in Kabwe were targeted and the findings revealed that the e-voucher system was largely successful, but required more improvement in input some areas such as on time release of funds to e-voucher holders, improve availability of agro-dealer input stocks and designing a proper e-voucher exit strategy.

Social Protection or Humanitarian Assistance: Contested Input Subsidies and Climate Adaptation in Malawi

The purpose of this article is to assess factors that contributed to the apparent success of the Farm Input Support Programme (FISP) in the period 2005–15, and discuss the lessons that can be learned from this experience in relation to climate change adaptation. Important factors were the ability to balance external and internal drivers that affected policy formulation, national ownership and prestige that influenced and motivated implementation capability, creation of conducive conditions for agricultural development and the demand-driven nature of the programme. However, the flooding in 2015 and the drought in 2016 revealed that Malawi is in dire need of more effective measures that can reduce long-term vulnerability and build resilience to future adverse impacts of climate change. Still, lessons learned from the social protection programme can prove useful in relation to multiple efforts towards achieving sustainable climate change adaptation that could reduce the need for future humanitarian assistance.