Rural Road Infrastructure Research Articles

Rural Road Infrastructure and Women’s Empowerment in India

Abstract The paper examines the impact of a rural road construction program in India on a range of outcomes that capture women’s empowerment comprehensively. While spatial integration can ease mobility constraints and provide women with increased education and employment opportunities, the extent of benefits might be limited by underlying gender norms. The paper identifies the impact of the policy by exploiting the program rule that assigned roads based on the village population in a two-way fixed effect framework. The results suggest that the policy reduces mobility restrictions faced by women and improves norms around domestic violence and intra-household agency. It also finds a positive impact of the policy on female education; however, there is limited impact on female employment. Additionally, the study documents gendered impact of the policy—men benefit more in terms of employment than women. The paper offers important policy prescription on how investment in rural roads can affect women’s lives.

Evaluation of the Implementation Status of the Nepal Rural Road Standards (NRRS) Concerning Geometrical Parameters: A Case Study of Morang District of Nepal

Maintaining the effectiveness of the transportation system is essential to economic growth. Poor road upgrading methods in many developing nations, however, are making it impossible for traffic to flow freely. Nepal developed the Nepal Rural Road Standards (NRRS) of 2055, District Transportation Master Plan (DTMP), and Municipality Transportation Master Plan (MTMP) to regulate the construction of rural road infrastructure. These guidelines provide guidelines for rural road planning, design, building, and maintenance, among other aspects. However, each geometric design has certain features, and parameter requirements depending on the region and location to be applied. This study aims to compare the geometrical features of the rural roads that have been built with the Nepal Rural Road Standards (NRRS) 2055, second revision (2071). Using a random sampling approach, six rural roads in the Morang district were selected for the data collection. To gather geometrical data, field observations and measurements were made at random chainages. This study evaluates various geometric parameters using linear and angular field measurements. Mapping conducted via smart road software ensures road geometry compliance, including aspects such as curve radius, shoulder width, gradient, sight distance, carriageway, and additional widening. The findings demonstrate that strict adherence to established standards substantially enhances road safety. Based on the results of the field observation, the geometric elements have been built according to design specifications, except for the additional widening at shoulder width and horizontal.

Research on Child-Friendly Evaluation and Optimization Strategies for Rural Public Spaces

Public spaces are essential for the implementation of child-friendly principles and the development of child-friendly cities, with positive and healthy environments playing a crucial role in supporting children’s well-being and development. However, existing research on child-friendly public spaces predominantly targets economically developed urban areas with robust public service infrastructure, often neglecting rural areas with less advanced facilities. This study utilizes grounded theory and qualitative analysis to propose a child-friendly public space evaluation framework specifically for rural settings. The framework includes four primary indicators—safety, accessibility, comfort, and multifunctionality—and 19 secondary indicators, such as facility safety and plant safety. An empirical investigation was conducted in Baishoupu Town, a child-friendly pilot area within Changsha, China, which is designated as a United Nations Child-Friendly City, and the study encompassed an analysis of 11 rural villages within this area. The findings reveal that while Baishoupu Town demonstrates a relatively high level of child-friendly development, there is significant disparity among individual villages. Key determinants affecting the child-friendliness of rural public spaces include the type of rural industry, per capita income levels, and the degree of policy support. Specifically, the advancement of public service infrastructure and the tourism sector significantly influence the primary indicators. Moreover, while rural road infrastructure is positively correlated with accessibility, the presence of through traffic adversely affects safety indicators. Based on these insights, this study recommends enhancing child-friendliness in rural public spaces through strategic village planning, spatial design improvements, and ensuring child participation. This research provides valuable insights for government policy development and implementation and offers a replicable framework for child-friendly public space development in rural areas globally.

Sustainability Constraints on Rural Road Infrastructure

Research on the sustainability of rural roads is of great significance to the integrated promotion of rural habitat improvement, the maintenance of regional ecological patterns, and the implementation of the rural revitalization strategy. This paper examines the constraints to ensuring the sustainability of road infrastructure in rural Shaanxi, China. Rural road infrastructure plays an important role in poverty alleviation. Rural Shaanxi Province is situated among a variety of terrains and spans a large area. Therefore, using the current situation of rural roads in the province as a starting point, the constraints and their rankings that impede the sustainability of road infrastructure are identified through the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) and structural equation modeling (SEM), which in turn suggests governance measures that can be taken. The data in this paper come from 498 valid questionnaires obtained from 50 townships and 101 sample villages in Shaanxi Province. Due to the huge number of questionnaires, the questionnaires were tested with the help of SPSS 26.0 software, which showed that the questionnaires had high reliability and validity, and then the structural equation model was validated and modified according to the recommendations of goodness-of-fit statistics measurement and the modification index. Finally, the key factors affecting the sustainable development of rural road infrastructure were finally identified.

Participatory Development Approach for the Rural Road Networks: A Case of Infrastructure Development Office, Kaski

This study aims to assess people’s participation in the rural road projects in Kaski District of Gandaki Province. The data were collected from 50 conveniently selected residents along the road project alignment Dopahare-Kristi-Bakrek- Pawaigaude area, using the convenient sampling procedure. This study is descriptive, and the questionnaires were used to collect data concerning the people’s participation and road infrastructure development in the villages. The findings of the study reveal that the presence of poor rural road infrastructure, both in quality and access, the road sector was found external resource-dependent, deficient in resource mobilization and topography of the rural area by itself escalates the problem. The community participation is not well-institutionalized in this project. The study concludes that public participation is crucial in developing a country like Nepal. People’s participation in Nepal is limited only for elite people, but not for people from disadvantaged groups. Though people’s participation has increased in Nepal over the last few decades but people from the underprivileged groups do not participate to the same extent of the elite group, which creates disputes in the society. This study recommends all concerned bodies such as the local communities, the municipality, and other stakeholders to take their responsibility to solve this critical issue.

Analysis of the contribution of rural road infrastructure development to economic growth based on computer algorithms

Abstract A convenient and efficient rural road network helps to develop the rural economy and promote national rural revitalization. This paper systematically analyzes the role of rural road infrastructure construction on economic growth from a theoretical perspective. Simultaneously, it employs a computer algorithm based on vector autoregression to construct an econometric model. Based on this theoretical analysis empirically examines the relationship between rural infrastructure construction and economic development. It collects data from a city’s rural area from 2000 to 2020 as a research sample and conducts a series of analyses, including VAR model estimation, impulse response, and variance decomposition. The results show that rural road infrastructure construction has a significant impact on economic growth, with coefficients of −0.288 and 0.356 for lags 1 and 2. The construction of rural road infrastructure is responsible for more than 90% of the variation in economic growth, whereas the opposite is about 10%. Therefore, rural road infrastructure development does not have a significant effect on economic growth in the short term but has a significant effect in the medium and long term.

EFFECT OF ROAD TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE AND SOFT LOANS ON FARMERS PRODUCTIVITY IN OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

The challenges confronting rural areas especially among under-developed countries are enormous and cut across all spheres of life. Hard infrastructure such as road, machinery which could enhance accessibility to soft loans by farmers is in bad state. Previous literatures have focus on impact of road transport infrastructure on farmers’ productivity without holistic view on emphasis on effect of road transport infrastructure and soft loan infrastructure on farmers’ productivity. Therefore, this research will investigate impact of road transport infrastructure and soft loan on farmers’ productivity with the aim of examine impact of soft loan on farmers’ productivity in Ogun State. Stratify sampling technique was employed to stratify Obafemi/Owode local Government into three (3) zones (i.e Obafemi, Owode and Oba zone). At stage two, 2% of the villages in each of the zone were purposively selected. At stage three, 25% of the registered household was random selected. Descriptive and multiple regressions were employed to analyse the data. Findings reveled that soft loan has significant impact on farmers’ productivity (F-ratio= 147.324, P-value = 0.000 and R2= 82%). The descriptive analysis shows that the delay in transportation results in wastage of agricultural produce which induce discouragement to farmers. It was concluded soft loan that could boost farmers’ productivity and also reverse rural urban migration were distorted by poor rural road infrastructure. Therefore, it was recommended that, Villagers along the same route should embrace self-help by putting sand and stone on the affected part along the route. A handful big size stone should be jointly spread by the villagers on a muddy portion of the road for easy accessibility. Provision of soft loan should be embraced by all buyers to farmers. This will assist farmers in no small measure, as it does not attract interest nor difficulty procedure in getting the loan and also re-payment.

Evaluation of Crop Diversification on Indian Farming Practices: A Panel Regression Approach

Crop diversification is considered as a means to promote agricultural development while lowering its environmental implications. Diversified food production must substantially increase to fulfil the needs of food security and sustainability for the world’s future population. This study identified the finer details of diversification in India’s 20 agriculturally prosperous states through analyzing the regional trends in agricultural diversification. The analysis, which covered the period from 1971–1972 to 2017–2018, showed that agricultural diversification has taken place in several states of India. This study revealed that, due to the significant heterogeneity in agro-climatic and socio-economic conditions, the type of diversification varies among the regions. In these periods, cash- crop percentage in the gross-cropped area has increased from 18 percent to 37 percent, reflecting a major impact on the Shannon-Wiener diversification index. Crop diversification has been influenced by rural literacy, irrigation intensity, road infrastructure, per-capita, gross-state-domestic products, regional-rural-branch intensity, rainfall deviation, credit intensity, and India’s growing urban population, whereas cropping intensity has not affected crop diversification in India.

Village Road Quality and Accessibility on Transforming Rural Development

Rural road infrastructure in Indonesia has increased significantly, especially during the last decade. This study presents an overview of how rural road quality and accessibility affected village economic transformation. It is the first empirical study in Indonesia addressing rural transformation. Village-level microdata, referring to the smallest administrative official, were utilized. Using a Random-Effects Panel Logit model, this study discovered that improving the type of road surface and accessibility for four-wheeled vehicles significantly increased the probability of village economic transformation. Different types of road infrastructure improvement affected the rural economic transformation both within and outside Java-Bali. Paved or concrete roads in Java-Bali had a higher marginal effect than on other islands, thereby increasing the likelihood of rural economic transformation. However, the road accessibility for four-wheeled vehicles in Java-Bali did not significantly affect the probability of rural economic transformation. Nevertheless, for villages on other islands, it did. Furthermore, the transformation significantly influenced other infrastructures, such as electricity coverage, market presence, information and communication technology (ICT), and flatland topography. Moreover, the road access to villages and the availability of water or irrigation significantly affected the probability of surviving in the agricultural sector. Following these findings, policymakers should prioritize villages’ infrastructure by considering different types of infrastructure provision across villages, referring to different infrastructure needs for Java-Bali and other islands.

Determinants of Market Participation Decision and Intensity among Date Producers in Afar Region, Ethiopia: A Double Hurdle Approach

ABSTRACT Date palm production and marketing contribute substantially to food security, reduction of malnutrition, mitigation of poverty, and income diversification for poor agro-pastoralists in Ethiopia. However, marketing systems are not sophisticated and well functioning, and producers do not as such benefit from date market participation due to different factors. This study examined factors that determine date market participation decisions and intensity. A total of 384 date producers were selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. A Descriptive and Double hurdle model was employed to analyze the data. The Double hurdle econometric model revealed that producers with access to extension services, improved date palm varieties, credit, road infrastructure, market information, land access, better market prices, better educational status, and direct to consumer marketing channels were more likely to participate in and supply the date market. Whereas producers who had livestock, dwellings distant from the nearest market, or a greater number of date palm trees, were adversely affected in date market participation intensity. The results of this study support the recommendations for establishing extension services, rural education, rural road infrastructure, marketplaces, and institutional support; and providing credit access, improved date palm varieties, additional hectares of land for date production, and updated market information to date palm producers.

Socio-economic Impact of Rural Road Infrastructure by African Development Bank Community Based Agriculture and Rural Development Project in Selected States of Nigeria

The study was carried out to assess the socio-economic impact of rural road infrastructure provided by the African Development Bank Community Based Agriculture and Rural Development Project (AfDB-CBARDP) in the States of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna and Kwara. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select samples for the study. A sample of 80 respondents were used for the study. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed that the project had achieved 100% set target on the provision of road construction in each of the participating States. Also, 83.0%, 76.0%, 69.0%, 79.0% and 72.0% of beneficiaries’ communities in Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna and Kwara States rated the roads quality as very good. The result has shown that in Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna and Kwara States, there was reduction in time of waiting for motor vehicle by 160, 15, 50, 40 and 10 minutes. There was also a concurrent reduction in the transportation fare (Naira/passenger) to the nearby town by ₦50, ₦200, ₦100, ₦150 and ₦50, respectively. The study equally revealed that average yield per hectare of maize has increased from 1500 kg to 2500 kg before and after the project in Adamawa State. In the same vein, average yield in Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna and Kwara States before the project were 1100 kg, 1200 kg, 1745.6 kg and 1223 kg, while after the project intervention the maize yields more than double to 2500 kg, 2800 kg, 2309 kg and 2309 kg, respectively. Likewise, average yield of cowpea per hectare has increased considerably across the five States of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna and Kwara by 69.8%, 65.9%, 51.6%, 73.8% and 46.5%, respectively. Percentage change in income of the sampled respondents indicates an average increase of 67.6% across the beneficiary States. The study concluded a strong positive NPVs and BCRs greater than 1 in all the States. The BCR in all cases indicates that the road projects were worth investing. The study recommended that a willingness to pay analysis to be undertaken as a way of gauging future tariff plan for the use of the road infrastructure to justify and attract private investment.

Motorized travel mode choices of smallholder farmers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The poor quality of rural road infrastructure may limit the transport services available to rural dwellers. The objective of this study is to understand the travel choices made by rural smallholder farmers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria in the face of poor rural road infrastructure. The study uses an existing sampling frame of smallholder farmers obtained from the World Bank-supported Fadama III Project in Akwa Ibom State, and employs multistage sampling to generate data. According to the data, motorcycles are the most owned means of transportation in the study area, and also the most used – even by persons who do not own any means of transportation. Further, we employ the multinomial logit model to examine the factors that influence their choices of means of transportation, and we use motorcycle as the reference category. The result shows that the preference of respondents for the different means of transportation is influenced mainly by the attributes of the means of transportation. In addition, among the socio-economic variables included in the model, only the coefficient of income under saloon cars is significant. Given that motorcycles and tricycles are now dominating the rural transport landscape as an economical way to meet the transport needs of people, rural transport policy in Nigeria should be revised to reflect this reality. The operation of motorcycles and tricycles should be properly mainstreamed in rural transport policy to improve rural transport services.

An application of Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) to the prioritization of rural roads to improve rural accessibility in Nigeria

Good quality rural road infrastructure seems to contribute substantially to improvements in several socio-economic indicators in rural areas: increases accessibility to markets, educational and health facilities, and stimulates economic activities. However, several millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa do not live in proximity to an all-season road. A robust process of prioritizing roads for upgrade is needed to ensure efficient allocation of scarce resources in a manner that will maximize accessibility to key social amenities and economic opportunities. This study uses Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) to examine how rural roads in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria may be prioritized for upgrade to maximize access to key socio-economic facilities. In our analysis, the rural roads to be prioritized are the alternatives while the decision criteria are: social, economic, demographic, financial, and political. The MAUT is preferred to the commonly-used Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) because the number of alternatives is large. Geographic information system (GIS) techniques are applied to process some of the data used in the performance matrix of the MAUT. We specify non-linear marginal utility functions for the criteria. Scenario analyses are also carried out to examine the impact of changes in the weights of the criteria on the utility score of each alternative. The study identifies 10 roads that will yield the highest socio-economic benefits and promote rural accessibility. Finally, the study recommends that decision-makers adopt a similar approach in selecting rural roads for upgrade, instead of selecting roads based on political considerations.

Road Asset Management Assessment

Albanian Road Authority (ARA) under the administration of the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure. It is responsible agency for the process of construction and maintenance of national and regional roads. Albanian Development Fund (ADF) is the agency for construction of rural and regional road infrastructure, also training for maintenance and management of municipalities responsible for maintenance of the urban and rural roads. ARA and ADF are using public funds for the construction of road infrastructure network, so due to restriction budgetary in road maintenance they the need to develop a strategy for the management and financial of maintenance, based on current accounting principles and efficiency of public funds in order to ensure safety and cost saving users. This includes the use of a balance of investments made to launch a database for years and the development of basic documents for the planning and control of public spending in these activities. The question that arises and requires an analysis is: a generally accepted value will be calculated for the infrastructure during its useful life, using the principles of sound accounting and valuation of real estate activities internationally applied. The results show that the existing accounting standards are suitable for use in infrastructure management, allowing a better control of public spending on infrastructure, while the principles of technical assessment of public infrastructure assets require the creation of a database and inventory for all road classification.

Smallholders’ replacement of groundnut varieties in Malawi: implications for adoption and conservation of improved and conventional varieties

Farm household survey data collected in rural districts of central and northern Malawi were used to investigate factors that influenced smallholders to replace groundnut varieties. The results of the study showed that smallholders have not entirely replaced conventional varieties with modern ones. For the group of smallholders that replaced conventional with the modern varieties, few reverted to the former. Further results of a bivariate probit regression model indicated that the production of groundnuts for food and income increased the probability of replacing both conventional and modern varieties. Farmers’ perception of the relevance of agricultural extension services to groundnut production and land allocated to the cultivation of groundnuts increased the likelihood to replace conventional varieties. Conversely, poor rural road infrastructure decreased the probability of replacing the same. In other results, experience in groundnut production, education level of the farmer, membership of farmer organisations, and inadequate access to quality seed increased the likelihood of replacing modern varieties. The study's findings suggest that promoting an integrated seed system of groundnut varieties is critical for the adoption and conservation of improved and conventional varieties and could contribute to the food and income security of farm households.

Adoption of Improved Maize Varieties as a Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in Eastern Ethiopia: Implications for Food and Nutrition Security

This paper examines factors determining farmers‘ adoption decision for improved maize varieties in the maize-common bean intercropping practices in two districts of East Hararghe zone, Eastern Ethiopia. It is based on data collected from 129 farm households using structured questionnaire. Descriptive results revealed that adopters of improved maize varieties had better food and nutrition security status. Furthermore, logit model output indicated that the decision to adopt improved maize varieties is influenced by location (district) dummy, education status of the household head, age of the household head, distance from the main road, and the number of plots owned. Major recommendations include improving the rural road infrastructure, educating and training farmers, organizing experience sharing events among farmers, and raising awareness about the food and nutrition security benefits of sustainable agricultural intensification practices like intercropping improved maize with improved common bean varieties.

Rural road infrastructure & agricultural production: Evidence from India

A large share of the world’s poor live in remote regions, where high costs associated with limited connectivity constrain economic activity. This paper estimates the effects of improvements in infrastructure under a large rural road-building program on production decisions in agriculture. Remote households that gain access to program roads diversify their crop portfolio, adopt modern agricultural technologies and increase hired-labor use. Supporting evidence suggests that program roads increase the mobility of agricultural workers by integrating village labor markets across space, in turn enabling the adoption of labor-intensive production practices. These findings highlight the importance of last-mile connectivity in remote areas across the developing world.

Transaction Cost of Sunflower Seed Production in Tanzania: Application of Transaction Cost Economics Theory

This paper analyses the effects of transaction costs of production of the sunflower seeds by small scale farmers in Tanzania. The study utilises cross-sectional farm household data collected from a randomly selected sample of 120 small scale farmers in two central regions of Singida and Tabora in Tanzania. The results showed that transaction cost variables associated with information search and negotiation had negative effect on total output of sunflower seed production while contractual enforcement cost had positive effect on sunflower production. The effects were however not supported statistically (at p<0.05). Transaction costs associated with inputs information, access to means of communication and transportation, had significant negative effects on sunflower seed production. We recommend that policies aimed at improving rural road infrastructure, market information systems, small scale asset accumulation, human capital and promotion of farmer association could reduce transaction costs and enhance sunflower production by small scale commercial farmers.

Impact of Rainfall Variability on Rural Tea Roads in Kericho, Kenya

Climate variability is a global phenomenon that is posing a threat to the infrastructure and agricultural sector. Intense precipitation often results in the deterioration of rural road infrastructure resulting in inaccessibility. Rainfall and temperature data from 1989 to 2019 was obtained from Kenya Meteorological Department. Data on Greenleaf and cost of repairs and maintenances are from selected tea factories managed by Kenya Tea Development Agency. Data on perception is based on a questionnaire survey of 398 randomly selected tea farmers. Results show that climate variability is experienced in Kericho (p < 0.005). There is a varsity variation in mean maximum temperatures F(0.05, 29) ꞊ 5.564 (p ꞊ 0.009) and mean minimum temperature F(29) =8.503 (p ꞊ 0.000). However, the linear regression analysis shows that rainfall has decreased (y ꞊ 2.5476x - 40.778) while the temperature has increased (y ꞊ 0.028x - 0.4473). There is a significant positive correlation between the amount of rainfall and cost of repairs and maintenances for five factories (r ꞊ 0.122, r = 0.046, r = 0.029, r = 0.255) except one (r = -.261, p ꞊ .466). Therefore, the climate has significantly varied from 1989-2019 and heavy rains occur periodically that damage rural tea roads, thus impacting negatively on tea transportation. There is a need, therefore, for heavy investment of emergency funds for repair and maintenance of rural tea roads based on rainfall variability and heavy rain return period pattern.

Probabilistic geotechnical designs in rural road infrastructure in Costa Rica

Rural road infrastructure normally lacks information to perform rigorous geotechnical designs, due especially, to budgeting restrictions. Three different transportation projects in rural areas in Costa Rica are presented, where a probabilistic approach was followed. The statistical parameters selected from previous research can be used as local literature values to perform probabilistic geotechnical designs and analyses when there is not enough data to execute a statistical analysis in a project. Moreover, these values could be used to better understand values obtained from geotechnical site exploration and possible regional tendencies. It is possible to conduct probabilistic geotechnical design even when a project does not include a throughout site exploration, like in low-budget projects. Probabilistic design for rural road projects can be a useful tool in the pursuit of optimal and efficient designs where soil behavior is better understood.