The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encoura... more The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.
Countries in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) heavily rely on rice imported from Asia, partly because of r... more Countries in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) heavily rely on rice imported from Asia, partly because of rapidly increasing rice demand and partly because of consumers' preference for high-quality Asian rice. A few entrepreneurial rice millers in Kenya adopted large-scale improved milling machines, including the component called destoners, around 2010, which they learned from China. Later, smaller-sized improved machines were introduced and more widely adopted. These adopters successfully improved the quality of milled rice, which can compete with imported rice, and their business performance. In contrast, many other millers without adopting improved machines were forced to reduce their business or exit the industry.
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) rely heavily on imported rice from Asia that is of superior... more Countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) rely heavily on imported rice from Asia that is of superior quality compared to local rice. The objective of this study is to assess the impacts of the adoption of improved milling technologies and the associated structural transformation of the rice value chain from 2011 to 2019 using the original census of the rice millers in the Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kenya. Our empirical analysis uses the doubly robust method and the endogenous switching model, which collectively reveal that the adopters of improved milling machines successfully improved the quality of locally milled rice. This allows it to compete with imported rice, thereby increasing the amount of domestic rice sold to supermarkets as well as urban traders and consumers. Through probit regression, it is also found that a few educated, entrepreneurial rice millers operating in rice milling clusters began using large-scale improved milling machines that included destoning capacity, importing them from China around 2010. Later, smaller improved machines were also introduced and these were more widely adopted into the rice milling clusters. In contrast, the many other millers that did not adopt improved machines were forced to downsize their business or exit the industry. These results suggest that adopting improved milling technologies-including destoners-is critical to improving the competitiveness of SSA's domestic rice against imported rice. This chapter draws heavily on Mano et al. (2022).
PART III of this volume discusses complementary strategies toward the rice Green Revolution in su... more PART III of this volume discusses complementary strategies toward the rice Green Revolution in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), including mechanization, irrigation, and marketing efforts to enhance demand for domestic rice. In Asia, population pressure on land and high rice prices relative to input prices induced farming intensification, while mechanization and irrigation development boosted rice productivity. However, in SSA, increased rice demand has been partly met by rice imports without adequate investments in these important technologies. This chapter reviews the available evidence on the constraints and potentials of these complementary strategies in SSA. In particular, we argue that inadequate understanding of the complementarity of each strategy with rice cultivation training may be an important reason behind low technology adoption. The remaining chapters in PART III attempt to narrow this gap and provide relevant empirical evidence. Intensive land preparation using tractors facilitates the adoption of management-intensive practices, while the provision of rice cultivation training is associated with the improved economic viability of irrigation investment. Increased demand for domestic rice is also expected to raise the returns to rice cultivation training and technology investment. The adoption of modern milling technologies improves the quality of domestic milled rice and promotes rice value-chain transformation. Local traders offer quality-based pricing that incentivizes farmers to supply high-quality paddy, while urban traders and supermarkets sell domestically produced and milled rice with brand names at a premium. In sum, the use of tractors, irrigation investment, and modern milling, combined with improved rice marketing, play critical roles that complement rice cultivation training in achieving the rice Green Revolution in SSA.
Technological innovation is vital to economic growth and food security in sub-Saharan Africa wher... more Technological innovation is vital to economic growth and food security in sub-Saharan Africa where agricultural productivity has been stagnant for a long time. Extension services and learning from peer farmers are two common approaches to facilitate the diffusion of new technologies, but little is known about their relative effectiveness. Selection bias, whereby well-motivated training participants would perform better even without extension services, as well as knowledge spillovers, where non-participants can indirectly benefit from extension services, are among the major threats to causal inference. Using a unique sequential randomized experiment on agricultural training, this chapter attempts to meet the dual objectives of executing rigorous impact evaluation of extension services and subsequent spillovers on rice production in Cote d'Ivoire. Specifically, to reduce selection bias, we randomly assigned eligibility for training participation; and to satisfy the stable unit treatment value assumption, control-group farmers were initially restricted from exchanging information with treated-group farmers who had received rice management training. Once the positive impacts were confirmed one year after the training, information exchange between the treated and control farmers was encouraged. We found that the initial performance gaps created by the randomized assignment disappeared over time, due presumably to social learning from peer farmers. A detailed analysis concerning the information network and peer effects provided suggestive evidence This chapter draws heavily on Takahashi et al. (2019b).
It is critically important to intensify farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa by disseminating im... more It is critically important to intensify farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa by disseminating improved agronomic practices and increasing the application of modern inputs (Chaps. 1 and 2 of this volume). One of the region's challenges is that proper land preparation is difficult due to the scarcity of draft animals and the underdevelopment of the tractor rental market (Chap. 7). Our analysis of rice production in Cote d'Ivoire reveals that farmers who use two-wheel tractors in land preparation are more likely to adopt proper, labor-intensive rice cultivation practices and apply fertilizer more intensively, thereby raising productivity. Thus, the diffusion of two-wheel tractors appears to be critical to the intensification of rice-farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa. This chapter draws heavily on Mano et al. (2020).
The main purpose of this book is to provide an appropriate strategy for realizing a rice Green Re... more The main purpose of this book is to provide an appropriate strategy for realizing a rice Green Revolution in SSA with a special focus on the role of training and other complementary strategies, comprising the diffusion of power tillers, the expansion of irrigated areas, and the quality improvement of milled rice. Through the research presented here, we found that the central strategy for achieving this goal ought to be strengthening the extension system to promote rice farming intensification by adopting improved rice management practices. We also identified the important roles played by complementary strategies and policies to further strengthen those roles. We conclude that a full-fledged rice Green Revolution is possible if adequate supporting policies are implemented.
During the past decade, investments in large-scale irrigation development in sub-Saharan Africa (... more During the past decade, investments in large-scale irrigation development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have re-emerged. Given past experiences, this revival is not without controversy. This chapter examines whether large-scale irrigation construction in SSA is economically viable by estimating how much it would cost if the Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kenya, one of the best-performing irrigation schemes in SSA, were to be constructed today. The results show that constructing the Mwea Scheme today would be economically viable except in a situation where (1) the shadow price of modern rice varieties falls as low as the world price that prevailed during the late twentieth century, i.e., in 1986-2004, when large-scale irrigation projects mostly disappeared at any project cost level; or (2) the shadow price is at the medium level prevailing in 2014-2018 for a high project cost. There is undoubtedly untapped physical potential in SSA for large-scale irrigation development, but the economically viable potential remains limited. International donor agencies and This chapter draws heavily on Kikuchi et al. (2021).
The time is ripe to pursue a Green Revolution in rice in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as a means of p... more The time is ripe to pursue a Green Revolution in rice in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as a means of promoting food security and poverty reduction. This is partly because rice is an up-and-coming crop in this region, and partly because, as will be demonstrated in this volume, we have now accumulated deep knowledge about rice cultivation in SSA. With the aim of generating relevant policy recommendations, this book attempts to show what needs to be done to realize a rice Green Revolution in SSA. It is based on more than ten years of empirical inquiries into rice production by our research team in selected countries, namely Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, and Senegal, along with the newly added case of Cote d'Ivoire. This chapter explains why rice is important, provides a conceptual framework for realizing a rice Green Revolution, and proposes several major hypotheses to be tested in this book.
Emerging-economy state and international policy studies, Dec 2, 2022
Governments in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have made concerted efforts to improve farmers' adoption ... more Governments in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have made concerted efforts to improve farmers' adoption of modern technologies in their farm operations to realize a rice Green Revolution, improve food security, and alleviate poverty. However, smallholder farmers' access to farm mechanization in SSA remains constrained due to supply-side and demand-side challenges. On the supply side, the market for agricultural machinery services is often underdeveloped. On the demand side, the smallholders with inadequate knowledge of improved rice cultivation practices have limited demand for mechanized services despite increasing wage rates. This study analyzes the mechanization process of rice farmers in the Mwea Irrigation Scheme, Kenya. The Mwea Irrigation Scheme is the most advanced rice production area in SSA, with farmers familiar with improved rice cultivation practices, wellfunctioning input credit markets, and millers adopting modern milling technologies, enabling local rice to compete with imported Asian rice. Analyzing original data collected in 2011, 2016, and 2018, we found that most farmers in Mwea implemented rotavation using tractor services provided by farmers' cooperatives, while they implemented leveling using draft animals. Non-cooperative members reduced tractor use and adopted draft animals to implement both harrowing and leveling, implying the importance of a well-developed mechanization service market.
There is a growing awareness to the role that natural resources, such as water, land, forests and... more There is a growing awareness to the role that natural resources, such as water, land, forests and environmental amenities, play in our lives. There are many competing uses for natural resources, and society is challenged to manage them for improving social well-being. Furthermore, there may be dire consequences to natural resources mismanagement. Renewable resources, such as water, land and the environment are linked, and decisions made with regard to one may affect the others. Policy and management of natural resources now require interdisciplinary approaches including natural and social sciences to correctly address our society preferences. This series provides a collection of works containing most recent findings on economics, management and policy of renewable biological resources, such as water, land, crop protection, sustainable agriculture, technology, and environmental health. It incorporates modern thinking and techniques of economics and management. Books in this series will incorporate knowledge and models of natural phenomena with economics and managerial decision frameworks to assess alternative options for managing natural resources and environment.
Community-based health insurance (CBHI) has been implemented in many low- and middle-income count... more Community-based health insurance (CBHI) has been implemented in many low- and middle-income countries to increase financial risk protection in populations without access to formal health insurance. While the design of such social programmes is fundamental to ensuring equitable access to care, little is known about the operational and structural factors influencing enrolment in CBHI schemes. In this study, we took advantage of newly established data monitoring requirements in Senegal to explore the association between the operational capacity and structure of CBHI schemes—also termed ‘mutual health organizations’ (MHO) in francophone countries—and their enrolment levels. The dataset comprised 12 waves of quarterly data over 2017–2019 and covered all 676 MHOs registered in the country. Primary analyses were conducted using dynamic panel data regression analysis. We found that higher operational capacity significantly predicted higher performance: enrolment was positively associated wi...
In Sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in spontaneously developed industrial clusters are... more In Sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in spontaneously developed industrial clusters are very small in size, have low productivity, and stagnate except when they are young. The literature has related the preponderance of such enterprises to their socio-economic surroundings. This paper reconsiders the issue by looking at the way small entrepreneurs engage in business in a car repair and metalworking industrial cluster in Ghana. We hypothesize that these entrepreneurs are unaware of or unskilled in basic techniques in marketing, management, and accounting, which is necessary for enterprise growth. Evidence suggests that small entrepreneurs in the cluster are thirsty for such techniques.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in industrial clusters are very small in size and ... more In Sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in industrial clusters are very small in size and stagnant except when they are young. While the literature attributes the stagnancy to their socio-economic surroundings, a question arises as to whether it can also be attributed to their low skills in marketing, production management, and accounting. To answer this question, we provided an entrepreneurial training program for small metalworking entrepreneurs in Kenya in cooperation with the World Bank in 2008. This paper attempts to evaluate the impact of the program and finds that the training led to improved business practice, value added, and gross profit. (100) 2
Very preliminary In Sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in industrial clusters tend to la... more Very preliminary In Sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in industrial clusters tend to lack basic business skills, and are very small in size and stagnant except when they are young. In the experience of East Asia, a number of industrial clusters have successfully overcome such difficulty by upgrading management and marketing as well as their products. We hypothesize that imparting basic skills in management and marketing to entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa will help them achieve such upgrading. In order to substantiate this hypothesis, this joint study with the World Bank carries out a randomized experiment in
The main reason for the success of the 20th century Green Revolution in Asia was the development ... more The main reason for the success of the 20th century Green Revolution in Asia was the development of large-scale irrigation projects. But, since the late 1990s, these investments were out of the development agenda, partly because the success of the Green Revolution reduced the need for such irrigation development and partly because the lower-than-expected performance of many large-scale irrigation projects resulted from difficulties in designing, constructing, operating, and managing large-scale irrigation schemes. This was the case in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as well. During the past decade, however, large-scale irrigation development seems to be coming back in SSA as a means to promote a Green Revolution there. This revival has evoked heated discussion as to whether the conditions that made the large-scale irrigation projects an infeasible option have been overcome. This paper examines whether large-scale irrigation construction in SSA is economically feasible by estimating how much it would cost if the Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kenya, one of the best performing irrigation schemes in SSA, were to be constructed today as a brand-new scheme. The results show that the new construction of the Mwea Scheme may be economically viable if the shadow price of rice is as high as the world price that prevailed during the mini-rice crisis in 2008-2013; however, the viability is marginal, by no means robust. The project costs per unit of beneficiary irrigated area of our 'Mwea Project' and a few 21stcentury large-scale irrigation projects under planning or under construction are two to four times higher than those of 20th-century counterparts. For such expensive projects to be economically viable, the agricultural performance of these projects must be two to four times higher as well, which means, in terms of rice yield, 9 t/ha/year to 20 t/ha/year. There is certainly untapped
The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encoura... more The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.
Countries in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) heavily rely on rice imported from Asia, partly because of r... more Countries in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) heavily rely on rice imported from Asia, partly because of rapidly increasing rice demand and partly because of consumers' preference for high-quality Asian rice. A few entrepreneurial rice millers in Kenya adopted large-scale improved milling machines, including the component called destoners, around 2010, which they learned from China. Later, smaller-sized improved machines were introduced and more widely adopted. These adopters successfully improved the quality of milled rice, which can compete with imported rice, and their business performance. In contrast, many other millers without adopting improved machines were forced to reduce their business or exit the industry.
Countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) rely heavily on imported rice from Asia that is of superior... more Countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) rely heavily on imported rice from Asia that is of superior quality compared to local rice. The objective of this study is to assess the impacts of the adoption of improved milling technologies and the associated structural transformation of the rice value chain from 2011 to 2019 using the original census of the rice millers in the Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kenya. Our empirical analysis uses the doubly robust method and the endogenous switching model, which collectively reveal that the adopters of improved milling machines successfully improved the quality of locally milled rice. This allows it to compete with imported rice, thereby increasing the amount of domestic rice sold to supermarkets as well as urban traders and consumers. Through probit regression, it is also found that a few educated, entrepreneurial rice millers operating in rice milling clusters began using large-scale improved milling machines that included destoning capacity, importing them from China around 2010. Later, smaller improved machines were also introduced and these were more widely adopted into the rice milling clusters. In contrast, the many other millers that did not adopt improved machines were forced to downsize their business or exit the industry. These results suggest that adopting improved milling technologies-including destoners-is critical to improving the competitiveness of SSA's domestic rice against imported rice. This chapter draws heavily on Mano et al. (2022).
PART III of this volume discusses complementary strategies toward the rice Green Revolution in su... more PART III of this volume discusses complementary strategies toward the rice Green Revolution in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), including mechanization, irrigation, and marketing efforts to enhance demand for domestic rice. In Asia, population pressure on land and high rice prices relative to input prices induced farming intensification, while mechanization and irrigation development boosted rice productivity. However, in SSA, increased rice demand has been partly met by rice imports without adequate investments in these important technologies. This chapter reviews the available evidence on the constraints and potentials of these complementary strategies in SSA. In particular, we argue that inadequate understanding of the complementarity of each strategy with rice cultivation training may be an important reason behind low technology adoption. The remaining chapters in PART III attempt to narrow this gap and provide relevant empirical evidence. Intensive land preparation using tractors facilitates the adoption of management-intensive practices, while the provision of rice cultivation training is associated with the improved economic viability of irrigation investment. Increased demand for domestic rice is also expected to raise the returns to rice cultivation training and technology investment. The adoption of modern milling technologies improves the quality of domestic milled rice and promotes rice value-chain transformation. Local traders offer quality-based pricing that incentivizes farmers to supply high-quality paddy, while urban traders and supermarkets sell domestically produced and milled rice with brand names at a premium. In sum, the use of tractors, irrigation investment, and modern milling, combined with improved rice marketing, play critical roles that complement rice cultivation training in achieving the rice Green Revolution in SSA.
Technological innovation is vital to economic growth and food security in sub-Saharan Africa wher... more Technological innovation is vital to economic growth and food security in sub-Saharan Africa where agricultural productivity has been stagnant for a long time. Extension services and learning from peer farmers are two common approaches to facilitate the diffusion of new technologies, but little is known about their relative effectiveness. Selection bias, whereby well-motivated training participants would perform better even without extension services, as well as knowledge spillovers, where non-participants can indirectly benefit from extension services, are among the major threats to causal inference. Using a unique sequential randomized experiment on agricultural training, this chapter attempts to meet the dual objectives of executing rigorous impact evaluation of extension services and subsequent spillovers on rice production in Cote d'Ivoire. Specifically, to reduce selection bias, we randomly assigned eligibility for training participation; and to satisfy the stable unit treatment value assumption, control-group farmers were initially restricted from exchanging information with treated-group farmers who had received rice management training. Once the positive impacts were confirmed one year after the training, information exchange between the treated and control farmers was encouraged. We found that the initial performance gaps created by the randomized assignment disappeared over time, due presumably to social learning from peer farmers. A detailed analysis concerning the information network and peer effects provided suggestive evidence This chapter draws heavily on Takahashi et al. (2019b).
It is critically important to intensify farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa by disseminating im... more It is critically important to intensify farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa by disseminating improved agronomic practices and increasing the application of modern inputs (Chaps. 1 and 2 of this volume). One of the region's challenges is that proper land preparation is difficult due to the scarcity of draft animals and the underdevelopment of the tractor rental market (Chap. 7). Our analysis of rice production in Cote d'Ivoire reveals that farmers who use two-wheel tractors in land preparation are more likely to adopt proper, labor-intensive rice cultivation practices and apply fertilizer more intensively, thereby raising productivity. Thus, the diffusion of two-wheel tractors appears to be critical to the intensification of rice-farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa. This chapter draws heavily on Mano et al. (2020).
The main purpose of this book is to provide an appropriate strategy for realizing a rice Green Re... more The main purpose of this book is to provide an appropriate strategy for realizing a rice Green Revolution in SSA with a special focus on the role of training and other complementary strategies, comprising the diffusion of power tillers, the expansion of irrigated areas, and the quality improvement of milled rice. Through the research presented here, we found that the central strategy for achieving this goal ought to be strengthening the extension system to promote rice farming intensification by adopting improved rice management practices. We also identified the important roles played by complementary strategies and policies to further strengthen those roles. We conclude that a full-fledged rice Green Revolution is possible if adequate supporting policies are implemented.
During the past decade, investments in large-scale irrigation development in sub-Saharan Africa (... more During the past decade, investments in large-scale irrigation development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have re-emerged. Given past experiences, this revival is not without controversy. This chapter examines whether large-scale irrigation construction in SSA is economically viable by estimating how much it would cost if the Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kenya, one of the best-performing irrigation schemes in SSA, were to be constructed today. The results show that constructing the Mwea Scheme today would be economically viable except in a situation where (1) the shadow price of modern rice varieties falls as low as the world price that prevailed during the late twentieth century, i.e., in 1986-2004, when large-scale irrigation projects mostly disappeared at any project cost level; or (2) the shadow price is at the medium level prevailing in 2014-2018 for a high project cost. There is undoubtedly untapped physical potential in SSA for large-scale irrigation development, but the economically viable potential remains limited. International donor agencies and This chapter draws heavily on Kikuchi et al. (2021).
The time is ripe to pursue a Green Revolution in rice in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as a means of p... more The time is ripe to pursue a Green Revolution in rice in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as a means of promoting food security and poverty reduction. This is partly because rice is an up-and-coming crop in this region, and partly because, as will be demonstrated in this volume, we have now accumulated deep knowledge about rice cultivation in SSA. With the aim of generating relevant policy recommendations, this book attempts to show what needs to be done to realize a rice Green Revolution in SSA. It is based on more than ten years of empirical inquiries into rice production by our research team in selected countries, namely Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, and Senegal, along with the newly added case of Cote d'Ivoire. This chapter explains why rice is important, provides a conceptual framework for realizing a rice Green Revolution, and proposes several major hypotheses to be tested in this book.
Emerging-economy state and international policy studies, Dec 2, 2022
Governments in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have made concerted efforts to improve farmers' adoption ... more Governments in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have made concerted efforts to improve farmers' adoption of modern technologies in their farm operations to realize a rice Green Revolution, improve food security, and alleviate poverty. However, smallholder farmers' access to farm mechanization in SSA remains constrained due to supply-side and demand-side challenges. On the supply side, the market for agricultural machinery services is often underdeveloped. On the demand side, the smallholders with inadequate knowledge of improved rice cultivation practices have limited demand for mechanized services despite increasing wage rates. This study analyzes the mechanization process of rice farmers in the Mwea Irrigation Scheme, Kenya. The Mwea Irrigation Scheme is the most advanced rice production area in SSA, with farmers familiar with improved rice cultivation practices, wellfunctioning input credit markets, and millers adopting modern milling technologies, enabling local rice to compete with imported Asian rice. Analyzing original data collected in 2011, 2016, and 2018, we found that most farmers in Mwea implemented rotavation using tractor services provided by farmers' cooperatives, while they implemented leveling using draft animals. Non-cooperative members reduced tractor use and adopted draft animals to implement both harrowing and leveling, implying the importance of a well-developed mechanization service market.
There is a growing awareness to the role that natural resources, such as water, land, forests and... more There is a growing awareness to the role that natural resources, such as water, land, forests and environmental amenities, play in our lives. There are many competing uses for natural resources, and society is challenged to manage them for improving social well-being. Furthermore, there may be dire consequences to natural resources mismanagement. Renewable resources, such as water, land and the environment are linked, and decisions made with regard to one may affect the others. Policy and management of natural resources now require interdisciplinary approaches including natural and social sciences to correctly address our society preferences. This series provides a collection of works containing most recent findings on economics, management and policy of renewable biological resources, such as water, land, crop protection, sustainable agriculture, technology, and environmental health. It incorporates modern thinking and techniques of economics and management. Books in this series will incorporate knowledge and models of natural phenomena with economics and managerial decision frameworks to assess alternative options for managing natural resources and environment.
Community-based health insurance (CBHI) has been implemented in many low- and middle-income count... more Community-based health insurance (CBHI) has been implemented in many low- and middle-income countries to increase financial risk protection in populations without access to formal health insurance. While the design of such social programmes is fundamental to ensuring equitable access to care, little is known about the operational and structural factors influencing enrolment in CBHI schemes. In this study, we took advantage of newly established data monitoring requirements in Senegal to explore the association between the operational capacity and structure of CBHI schemes—also termed ‘mutual health organizations’ (MHO) in francophone countries—and their enrolment levels. The dataset comprised 12 waves of quarterly data over 2017–2019 and covered all 676 MHOs registered in the country. Primary analyses were conducted using dynamic panel data regression analysis. We found that higher operational capacity significantly predicted higher performance: enrolment was positively associated wi...
In Sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in spontaneously developed industrial clusters are... more In Sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in spontaneously developed industrial clusters are very small in size, have low productivity, and stagnate except when they are young. The literature has related the preponderance of such enterprises to their socio-economic surroundings. This paper reconsiders the issue by looking at the way small entrepreneurs engage in business in a car repair and metalworking industrial cluster in Ghana. We hypothesize that these entrepreneurs are unaware of or unskilled in basic techniques in marketing, management, and accounting, which is necessary for enterprise growth. Evidence suggests that small entrepreneurs in the cluster are thirsty for such techniques.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in industrial clusters are very small in size and ... more In Sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in industrial clusters are very small in size and stagnant except when they are young. While the literature attributes the stagnancy to their socio-economic surroundings, a question arises as to whether it can also be attributed to their low skills in marketing, production management, and accounting. To answer this question, we provided an entrepreneurial training program for small metalworking entrepreneurs in Kenya in cooperation with the World Bank in 2008. This paper attempts to evaluate the impact of the program and finds that the training led to improved business practice, value added, and gross profit. (100) 2
Very preliminary In Sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in industrial clusters tend to la... more Very preliminary In Sub-Saharan Africa, manufacturers operating in industrial clusters tend to lack basic business skills, and are very small in size and stagnant except when they are young. In the experience of East Asia, a number of industrial clusters have successfully overcome such difficulty by upgrading management and marketing as well as their products. We hypothesize that imparting basic skills in management and marketing to entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa will help them achieve such upgrading. In order to substantiate this hypothesis, this joint study with the World Bank carries out a randomized experiment in
The main reason for the success of the 20th century Green Revolution in Asia was the development ... more The main reason for the success of the 20th century Green Revolution in Asia was the development of large-scale irrigation projects. But, since the late 1990s, these investments were out of the development agenda, partly because the success of the Green Revolution reduced the need for such irrigation development and partly because the lower-than-expected performance of many large-scale irrigation projects resulted from difficulties in designing, constructing, operating, and managing large-scale irrigation schemes. This was the case in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as well. During the past decade, however, large-scale irrigation development seems to be coming back in SSA as a means to promote a Green Revolution there. This revival has evoked heated discussion as to whether the conditions that made the large-scale irrigation projects an infeasible option have been overcome. This paper examines whether large-scale irrigation construction in SSA is economically feasible by estimating how much it would cost if the Mwea Irrigation Scheme in Kenya, one of the best performing irrigation schemes in SSA, were to be constructed today as a brand-new scheme. The results show that the new construction of the Mwea Scheme may be economically viable if the shadow price of rice is as high as the world price that prevailed during the mini-rice crisis in 2008-2013; however, the viability is marginal, by no means robust. The project costs per unit of beneficiary irrigated area of our 'Mwea Project' and a few 21stcentury large-scale irrigation projects under planning or under construction are two to four times higher than those of 20th-century counterparts. For such expensive projects to be economically viable, the agricultural performance of these projects must be two to four times higher as well, which means, in terms of rice yield, 9 t/ha/year to 20 t/ha/year. There is certainly untapped
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Papers by Yukichi Mano