Source: MICHIGAN STATE UNIV submitted to NRP
DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS, AGRICULTURE AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0232079
Grant No.
(N/A)
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Dec 1, 2012
Project End Date
Nov 30, 2017
Grant Year
(N/A)
Program Code
[(N/A)]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
MICHIGAN STATE UNIV
(N/A)
EAST LANSING,MI 48824
Performing Department
Agricultural, Food, & Resource Economics
Non Technical Summary
Properly addressing the challenges of low productivity, poverty and malnutrition across the developing world requires methods and approaches for proper identification of the poor. It also requires a proper understanding of the various constraints faced by different kinds of rural households and how these affect their investment decisions and consequent outcomes. Similarly, successful evaluation of poverty reduction programs also requires a recognition of and proper identification of the different types of rural households to better isolate the heterogeneous effect(s) of policies. The research agenda described here focusses on addressing these issues and is geared to improve the development and evaluation of programs to alleviate poverty. Over the last few years, I have explored how to better define, measure and locate the poor and used this information to evaluate the effect of poverty reduction strategies and programs on rural household behavior and livelihood. Liverpool-Tasie and Winter-Nelson (2011) found that asset based poverty measures were better able to predict a household's medium to long term poverty status than income based measures. The asset poverty measure predicted both future income and future asset poverty status more accurately than the income measure.and was better able to identify households more likely to fall into poverty in the future. Current and expected future approach incorporates these findings in research design and methodology. For example, using data from rural north India, we examine how participation in a female empowerment program alters the composition of a woman's social network and exposes her to a broader range of options and experiences. The research checks for systematic variation in expected outcomes of the program along poverty lines. Such analysis provides important information for anti-poverty program development and evaluation. Evaluating input policies is another area of interest. Understanding the effect of targeted input subsidies on farmer access to timely and affordable fertilizer is key to agricultural productivity growth as it informs the likelihood that such programs can effectively increase farmer use of modern technologies. Empirical research on this issue is still limited. A better understanding of how and if input subsidies affect other farm investment decisions and rural household welfare outcomes is necessary. Current and proposed future research intends to explore issues like the diverse profitability of fertilizer use across farmers in different agro ecological zones, farmer conditions and characteristics; important in understanding farmer decisions to adopt and continue using various inputs. General equilibrium effects of subsidies such as price reduction or rural wage rate effects are important for understanding the effect of subsidizing farmer access to various inputs and how this might affect poorer farmers relative to wealthier farmers. How farmers learn about the profitability and proper use of modern technologies from their peers and networks is also important since government extension systems in many developing countries are weak.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
6015210301020%
6015299301010%
6016010301010%
7046020301010%
6016030301020%
6097310301020%
6066120301010%
Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management; 609 - Economic Theory and Methods; 704 - Nutrition and Hunger in the Population; 606 - International Trade and Development;

Subject Of Investigation
6120 - International economy and sectors thereof; 5299 - Agricultural supplies, general/other; 7310 - Experimental design and statistical methods; 6010 - Individuals; 6020 - The family and its members; 6030 - The farm as an enterprise; 5210 - Fertilizers;

Field Of Science
3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
The two main research objectives below are broad, ongoing areas for development economics research to increase farmer productivity and alleviate rural poverty.The sub-objectives focus on specific application areas where this research program will be directed during the next few years.Objective 1: Improving programs and strategies to alleviate poverty. This area encompasses a wide range of topics geared towards improving how poverty reduction programs, policies and strategies are developed and evaluated. It includes projects directly evaluating the impact of actual poverty alleviation programs and other projects focused on more general programs or strategies geared towards rural households and with a poverty alleviation goal. This research objective plans to use various approaches to improve programs and policies to address rural poverty.Specific research topics envisaged include: 1. How social networks affect female bargaining power differ across poverty levels 2. How targeted subsidy programs affect different kinds of rural households 3. How social networks affect farmer adoption of new technologies 4. How nutrition interventions affect household behavior and welfare Objective 2: Making input markets and modern technologies work for the poor: This area encompasses a number of topics geared towards better understanding the constraints rural households face in their decision to invest in various modern technologies. It studies innovative strategies (to increase farmer access to various modern inputs) being promoted by private sector as well as NGO and government actors. Though not exclusively, it focusses on innovative strategies with scale up potential. While it focusses on improving agricultural input markets, it also encompasses the functioning of output markets. Specific research topics include: 1. Under what conditions is Urea deep placement technology profitable for rice farmers in developing countries 2.How is information about the profitability and appropriate use of new technologies disseminated in rural communities 3.How does the profitability of new technologies vary by farmer characteristics 4. What factors influence the potential to scale up the adoption of modern technologies
Project Methods
This research program uses a range of different techniques and methods. Most research questions require primary data on household characteristics, assets and agricultural practices. Household surveys and field experiments will be used to gather such primary data from rural households in developing countries. Sample sizes will be based on power calculations to ensure that there is sufficient statistical power to detect expected effects at least at the 10% level of statistical significance. Various cross section and panel data techniques used in the past to address similar issues highlighted in this proposal will be applied as appropriate. For example, to evaluate the heterogeneous effect of programs to expand access to certain inputs on farmer use of these inputs and their consequent welfare, it is important to recognize that an unmeasured household-level variable could affect both participation in a program geared to provide such inputs and the use of technology. With panel data, consistent estimators of the effect of such programs on modern technology use can be produced using models like a conditional fixed effects logit model (Liverpool and Winter-Nelson, 2010).In this sort of analysis,it is possible to account for household differences by poverty status using different poverty measures. To understand the efficiency of poverty alleviation programs and strategies when dealing with data on households at only one point in time, techniques such as propensity score matching, instrumental variables analysis and double hurdle models can be used. Primary data from appropriately selected locations that are representative of the population of interest will be used. There is a pool of methods the researcher is familiar with that will be drawn upon in this research project. Additional methods that will be used include field experiments which improve on a researcher's ability to attribute causal effects to the program under study (List, 2004). For example, to investigate how various constraints affect farmers input use and productivity, social experiments are increasingly being used. A randomized control trial approach is proposed for some upcoming research. This design feature ensures that on average, estimates of adoption rates and productivity gains between treatment and control groups will be balanced and unbiased (Duflo et al. 2008; Banerjee and Duflo, 2009). This will involve selecting a subset of farmers into interventions which permit the assessment of their impact relative to other potential interventions and the status quo or absence of treatment. As returns to many inputs are variable across farmers, investigating whether these returns vary according to farmer characteristics including risk aversion and a farmer's social network is critical. The measurement of social networks permits the investigation of spillover effects of adoption by one member of a community on other members of their social network (Foster and Rosenzweig 1995, Conley and Udry 2004, Munshi 2004, and Bandiera and Rasul 2006, Liverpool-Tasie and Winter Nelson, 2012 among others).

Progress 12/01/12 to 11/30/17

Outputs
Target Audience:My target audience includes policy makers in developing and developed countries. It also includes my peer in the agricultural economics discipline and development economics, more generally. Finally, my target audience includes the teaching and research community here at Michigan State University. During this reporting period, several of my research projects were accepted for publication (or published) in either peer-reviewed discussion paper series or in peer-reviewed journals. Some of these were related to my projects on input use in sub-Saharan Africa and land issues which fall under my research objective 1 (improving programs and strategies to alleviate poverty) and objective 2( making input markets and modern technologies work for the poor). During the reporting period, I also made several presentations of research output in Nigeria and the US. In the US, I presented work on the rise of processed food consumption in Nigeria at the Annual meeting of the Agricultural and Applied economics association meeting in Boston. My research with co-authors that was presented at the Applied economics association meeting in Chicago a During the year I organized several training courses in Nigeria. These include a training course on value chains alongside several trainings on data collection and analysis at institutions of higher learning and ministries of agriculture across Nigeria. In addition to presentations at conferences, I also presented outcomes of my research to policymakers and other stakeholders in government. On the UDP project in Nigeria, the research team put together a stakeholder consultation in Abuja, Nigeria in March 2017 where the results of 3 years of joint research were presented to stakeholders and discussed. These presentations were all focused on sustainable agricultural intensification (also linked to my research objectives 1 and 2) there was a discussion among stakeholders on the way forward on fertilizer and other input use in Nigeria. One of my research collaborators in Nigeria visited MSU under another project I am leading. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Generally during the reporting period, I have leveraged on additional resources from other projects I have to engage in providing training opportunities for nigerian researchers (faculty and graduate students) and graduate students here in the US. I partcipated as a coach in a session for young scholars on how to secure research grants at our annual Professional Association meeting. I also presented a poster during the MSU Spring teaching conferences on how I have incorporated research into my teaching to help me improve on my teaching style and structure. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results in the reporting period have been diseminated via various journal publications, resarch reports and briefs, seminars, workshops and other presentations. They have also been diseminated through a series of policy papers that was generated to increase the accesibilit of some of the technical nature of research to various stakeholders such as policy makers and these have been widely disseminated in the US and in Nigeria What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the reporting period, I completed the work on the GISAIA project including the analysis of the UDP project in Nigeria. A draft paper was produced and the preliminary results were presented to stakeholders at a consultation meeting held in March in Abuja,Nigeria. This event was well attended and entailed a fruitful discussion with stakeholders from private sector and government on the benefits associated with the technology and various policy implications to encourage more sustainable agricultural intensification in Nigeria. This is in line with .my research obejective 2. An academic article is currently being written for publication in a peer reviewed Journal and about 8 journal articles have been published from this work. During the reporting period I have been able to engage in other research that has produced academic articles either published or under review for publication in peer reviewed journals. Several of these are centered around farmer behavior related to improved welfare and poverty reduction, in line with objective 1 of this project. During the review period, I have continued to work with my former doctoral students. I have been able to combine efforts under this project with other projects (with similar objectives). I am currently the lead principal investigator for a multi million dollar project focussedon strengthening the agricultural policy process in Nigeira. The project is designed to address the need for policy research and capacity building in Nigeria and to ensure that Nigerian institutions are equipped to respond effectively and in a timely manner to the increasing capacity, knowledge and information needs of the government. The project is funded by USAID-Nigeria. Through this project several research studies have been launched and numerous trainings for stakeholders in the policy process including Nigerian researchers have been trained and have also worked with faculty at MSU. We have several research papers on various aspects of the rapidly transforming food systems in sub saharan Africa and how this relates to smallholder farmers in terms of new opportunities and challenges. This work has generated two publications soon to be published in the Nigerian Journal of Agricultural Economics. The results of my work have been well received among policy makers. Policymakers at the federal and state government levels in Nigeria have commended my research efforts and output. Currently, linked to the above research topics, there are over 10 journal articles published or under review. Furthermore, I am increasingly taking on leadership roles as a scholar in international development. Given my success managing large grants while maintaining an active international research profile, I presented some tips on how to successfully raise funds for research at the 2016 meeting of the Association of African Agricultural Economists in Ethiopia. I am also the 2017 President of the Africa Section of our primary national professional association, the Agriculture and Applied Economics Association (AAEA).

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Adjognon, S.G., Liverpool-Tasie, L. S.O. & T. Reardon. (2017). Agricultural input credit in Sub-Saharan Africa: Telling myth from facts, Food Policy, 67, 93-105.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, L. S.O., Omonona, B. T., Sanou, A., & Ogunleye, W. (2017). Is increasing inorganic fertilizer use in Sub-Saharan Africa a profitable proposition? Evidence from Nigeria. Food Policy, 67, 41-51.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Wineman, A. Y., & Liverpool-Tasie, L. S.O. (2017). All in the Family: Bequest Motives in Rural Tanzania. Economic Development and Cultural Change
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Wineman, A. Y., & Liverpool-Tasie, L. S.O. (2017). Land Markets and Womens Land Access in Northwestern Tanzania. World development
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Schmitt Olabisi, L. K., Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O., Rivers, L., Ligmann-Zielinska, A., Du, J. Denny, R., Li, J. Marquart-Pyatt, S. & Sidibe, A. (2017). Using Participatory Modeling Processes to Identify Sources of Climate Risk in West Africa. Environment Systems and Decisions.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Riva, C., Marquart-Pyatt, S., Ligmann-Zielinska, A., Schmitt Olabisi, L.K., Rivers, L., Du, J., & Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O. (2017). Food Security in Africa: A Cross-scale, Empirical Investigation using Structural Equation Modeling. Environment Systems and Decisions.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2017 Citation: Adjognon, S., Liverpool-Tasie, L.S. O. and T. Reardon. (2017). Challenging Conventional Wisdom about Farm Input Credit in Sub-Saharan Africa, Chapter in Christiaensen, L. and L. Demery, eds., 2017, Agriculture in Africa - Telling Facts from Myths, World Bank: Washington D.C.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2017 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, L. S.O., Omonona, B., Sanou, A., & Ogunleye, W. (2017). Is increasing inorganic fertilizer use in Sub-Saharan Africa a profitable proposition? Evidence from Nigeria, Chapter in Christiaensen, L. and L. Demery, eds., 2017, Agriculture in Africa - Telling Facts from Myths, World Bank: Washington D.C.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Tschirley, D., Reardon, T., Haggblade, S., Jayne, T.S., Liverpool-Tasie, L. S. O.,Awokuse, T., Muyanga, M., Wangalachi, A., & Makani, A. (2017). Engaging the Agribusiness Sector in Inclusive Value Chain Development, Chapter in Africa Agriculture status report 2017.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Accepted Year Published: 2017 Citation: Ligmann-Zielinska, A., Du, E. J., Rivers III, L., Schmitt Olabisi, L. K., Marquart-Pyatt, S. T., Liverpool-Tasie, L. S. O., Sanga, U., & Paudel, R. (2017). Principles of Participatory Ensemble Modeling to Study Complex Socioecological Systems, Chapterr in Innovations in Collaborative Modeling


Progress 10/01/15 to 09/30/16

Outputs
Target Audience:My target audience includes policy makers in developing and developed countries. It also includes my peer in the agricultural economics discipline and development economics, more generally. Finally my target audience includes the teaching and research community here at Michigan State University. During this reporting period, several of my research projects were accepted for publication (or published) in either peer reviewed discussion paper series or in peer reviewed journals. Majority of these were related to my projects on input use in sub Saharan Africa which falls under my research objective 1 (improving programs and strateges to alleviate poverty) and objective 2( making input makrets andmodern technologies work for the poor). During the rerporting period, I also made several presentations of research output in Nigeria and the US. In the US, I was invited to a round table on cities and the implication of their growth for food systems organized by USAID in Washington DC. I also presented work on the implications of changing consumption patterns on rural household activities in Nigeria at the Annual meeting of the Agricultural and Applied economics association meeting in Boston. My research with co-authors was also presented at the Applied economics association meeting in Boston and at the World Bank Land conference. During the year I organized several training courses in Nigeria. These include a virtual training course was organized for 2 graduate students at a Nigerian University on panel data analysis with STATA. It was a 6 week course organized and facilitated by myself and a graduate student. It was organized in response to identified skills gap of the students in terms of panel data analysis. Various policy briefs from my work on input markets and input use have been diseminated among stakeholders in government, private sector and academia in Nigeria and among private sector and academics in the USA. On the UDP project in Nigeria, the research team paid a visit to the study communities to present the preliminary findings of the study and to engage with farmers about their experience with the technology under study. Changes/Problems:There are no major changes or problems. As mentioned in previous reports, the nutrition dimension did not take root in this project nor did the gender empowerment. However, woth the rapid changes in consumption patterns occurin in sub saharan Africa and its implications for food systems broadly and various actors along relevant value chains, I have begun to engage in this area more. It has direct links to my research objective given the opportunities for improved livelihoods and poverty reduction that could be possible with these changes. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Rather than being trained, during the reporting period, I have leveragedon additional resources from other projects I have to engage in several trainig opportunities for nigerian researchers (faculty and graduate students) and graduate students here in the US. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results in the reporting period have been diseminated via publications, seminars, workshops adn other presentations. they have also been diseminated through a seried of policy papers that was generated to increase the accesibilit of some of the technical nature of research to various stakeholders such as policy makers. Thus over 6 policy briefs or reflection pieces were developed and have been widely disseminated in the US and in Nigeria. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I plan to continue to finish up the current research papers I am working on. I also plan to continue to engage with various stakeholders in as purposeful and effective a manner as possible. A larger dissemination event when the results from the social experiment have been refined is planned and a conference bringing scholars, private sector, government and other stakeholders in Nigeria is being organized for Sept 27 and 28 in Abuja Nigeria. I will also be presenting research findings at the African association of agricultural economists meetin gin Addis Ababa Ethiopia between Sept 24th and Sept 26th, 2016.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the reporting period, I have been able to makde significant progress on the analysis of the UDP project in Nigeria. A draft report with descriptive statistics and preliminary results was produced and the preliminary results were presented to farmers, agricultural officers and input dealers in a stakeholder consultation in May 2016. This event was well attended and entailed a fruitful discussion with farmers on the benefits and challenges associated with the proposed technology and is in ine iwth my research obejective 2. An academic article is currently being written for publication in a peer reviewed Journal. During the reporting period I have been able to engage in other research that has produced academic articles either published or under review for publication in peer reviewed journals. Several of these are centered around farmer behavior related to improved welfare and poverty reduction, in line with objective 1 of this project. During the review period, I graduated 2 PhD students who have both been successfully placed at an academic institution and the World Bank. One of the PhD students dissertation also won the departments best doctoral dissertation award. I have been able to combine efforts under this project with other projects (with similar objectives). I am currently the lead principal investigator for a multi million dollar project focussedon strengthening the agricultural policy process in Nigeira. The project is designed to address the need for policy research and capacity building in Nigeria and to ensure that Nigerian institutions are equipped to respond effectively and in a timely manner to the increasing capacity, knowledge and information needs of the government. The project is a joint effort between Michigan State University (MSU) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)'s Nigeria Strategy Support Program (NSSP) funded by USAID-Nigeria. Through this project several research studies have been launched and numerous trainings for stakeholders in the policy process including Nigerian researchers have been trained and have also worked with faculty at MSU. I have also been engaged in the production of over 6 manuscripts related to input use, farmer behavior and livelihood related to my research objective 1.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, LS.O. (2016). Is fertilizer use really suboptimal in sub-Saharan Africa? The case of rice in Nigeria.Journal of Agricultural Economics
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, LS.O, B. T.Omonona, A. Sanou and W. Ogunleye (2016).Is Increasing Inorganic Fertilizer Use in Sub-Saharan Africa a Profitable Proposition? Evidence from Nigeria.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2016 Citation: Adjognon, S., Liverpool-Tasie, L. & Reardon T. (2015). Updating the Landscape on Farm Input Credit in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2016 Citation: Adjognon, S., Liverpool-Tasie, L. & Reardon T. (2015). Updating the Landscape on Farm Input Credit in Sub-Saharan Africa in Christiaensen, L. and L. Demery, eds., 2016, Agriculture In Africa - Telling Facts from Myths, World Bank: Washington D.C.
  • Type: Book Chapters Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2016 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, LS.O, B. T.Omonona, A. Sanou and W. Ogunleye (2016).Is Increasing Inorganic Fertilizer Use in Sub-Saharan Africa a Profitable Proposition? Evidence from Nigeriin Christiaensen, L. and L. Demery, eds., 2016, Agriculture In Africa - Telling Facts from Myths, World Bank: Washington D.C.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O., Reardon, T and S. Adjognon. Food processing and distribution  A boom for female employment? Evidence from rural Nigeria. Presented at the AAEA 2016 meeting in Boston
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2016 Citation: Wineman, A. and L. Liverpool-Tasie. Land Markets and Equity of Land Distribution in Northwestern Tanzania. Presented at the AAEA 2016 meeting in Boston
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2016 Citation: Adjognon, S. and L.S.O. Liverpool-Tasie. Learning through peer discussion: Do group characteristics matter?
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2016 Citation: Adjognon, Serge, L.S.O. Liverpool-Tasie, R. Benfica and A. De La Fuente. The Heterogeneous Welfare Effects of Rural Non-Farm Employment: Recent Evidence from Malawi."


Progress 10/01/14 to 09/30/15

Outputs
Target Audience:In the last year from October 1, 2014 to September 30th, 2015 there were several target audiences reached by my effort. My research findings have been presented at various fora within and outside the USA. In March 2014, work on addressing market failures in input credit markets in developing countries was presented at the Center for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) annual conference at Oxford University in the United Kingdom. Work on the profitability of fertilizer use in Nigeria was presented at a World Bank Disemination event based on research conducted by various scholars on the myths and facts of african agriculture. The event held in Washington DC in June and was well attended (176 attendees recorded) with about 370 web views. Following the presentation, I contributed a blog on the issue that is featured on the World Bank website. Two other sets of research findings coming from analysis conducted on the adoption and profitability of a particular technique of fertilizer application (microdosing) among millet farmers were presented at the Annual American Agricultural and Applied Economics Association meeting in San Francisco in July, 2015. During the preconference for the same professional meeting, ongoing work on farmers use of credit to finance agricultural input purchases was presented. I also presented the findings from my research on fertilizer use among rice farmers in Nigeria during the International Conference of Agricultural Economics (ICAE) that took place in Milan, Italy in August 2015. Work on the effect of social networks on the adoption of modern technologies in Nigeria as well as research findings from work on the poverty implications of a government program meant to improve smallholder wellbeing in Zambia were both also presented at the conference in Milan. Based on my research and scholarly work, I was invited to serve as a resource person on agricultural value chains in a meeting of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) that took place in Togo, West Africa. Through these various mechanisms, information from my research has informed discussions among scholars in academia and policy makers. Changes/Problems:There are no major changes but while the project will continue to look at the wellbeing of smallholders with a focus on input use and technology adoption, there is not likely to be a strong nutrition dimension. As the project has developed this area has not taken strong footing and as the project builds up momentum towards a more focussed contribution to the literature and policy discussion, this issue is not likely feature too prominently in the project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The presentation of research findings has stimulated a lot of useful discussions that have improved the quality of the reasearch done under this project. The approach used to collaborate with researchers in Nigeria has also promoted a useful exchange of ideas between the project leader and these collaborators. working with Nigerian professors at Nigerian Universities and their students has helped to improve the contextual appropriateness of the projects analysis but has also enabled the strengthening of the analytical tools and skills of the Nigerian researchers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Various interaction with scholars and policy makers during the various presentation of research finding have enabled the dissemination of restults across various key stakeholders in the policy making process. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The data from the social experiment will be analysed during the next reporting period. Further dissemination exercises within Nigeria and other African countries will also be conducted for further dissemination of the research findings.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The publications and working papers mentioned (which were produced and published during the evaluation period) are all in line with the various goals of this research project. Majority of the work this past year are directly related to objective 2 which addresses making input makrets work for the poor. The data collected from the social experiment is currently being cleaned and will be analysed to provide information related to the 4 specific questions posed in the second overal objective of this project. The work conducted during the review period has either contributed to a better understanding of the behavior of smallholder farmers in sub saharan Africa (necessary for the development of appropritate programs for improving their productivity and welfare) or were directly towards securing the data for the upcoming analysis on potential technologies that can increase farmer productivity.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O., Adjognon, S and Kuku-Shittu, Y (2015).Productivity effects of sustainable intensification: The case of Urea deep placement for rice production in Niger State, Nigeria. African Journal of Agriculture and Resource Economics: 10:1
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Takeshima, H and Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O. (2015). Fertilizer subsidy, political influence and local food prices in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Nigeria. Food Policy
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, LS.O, B. T.Omonona, A. Sanou and W. Ogunleye (2015a). Is Increasing Inorganic Fertilizer Use in Sub-Saharan Africa a Profitable Proposition? Evidence from Nigeria. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No 7021
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O. (2015). Is fertilizer use really suboptimal in sub-Saharan Africa? The case of rice in Nigeria - Presented at the International Conference of Agricultural Economists, Milan Italy, August 8-15
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Adjognon, S and Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O (2015). Spatial neighborhood effects in agricultural technology adoption amongst rice farmers in Niger State, Nigeria.- Presented at the International Conference of Agricultural Economists, Milan Italy, August 8-1
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O, B. T.Omonona, A. Sanou and W. Ogunleye (2015). Profitability and use of inorganic Fertilizer Use in Sub-Saharan Africa a Profitable Proposition? Evidence from Nigeria.-Presented at the World Bank/IFPRI, Telling Facts from Myth - June Dissemination Event- June 15, 2015
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Adjognon,S., L.S.O Liverpool-Tasie and R. Shupp (2015). Sustaining credit arrangements for modern input use: Lessons from a lab-based field experiment  Presented at the Center for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) conference at Oxford University, UK. March, 2015
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Sanou, A., L.S.O. Liverpool-Tasie and R. Shupp (2015). Technology Adoption When Risk Attitudes Matter: Evidence from Incentivized Field Experiments in Niger  Presented at the Annual American Agricultural Economics Association meeting in SanFrancisco, July 26-28, 2015
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O, Sanou, A and K. Mazvimavi (2015). How profitable is sustainable intensification? The case of fertilizer micro-dosing in Niger- Presented at the Annual American Agricultural Economics Association meeting in SanFrancisco, July 26-28, 2015
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O, S. Adjognon, D.Tschirley, M.Dolislager and T.Reardon (2015).Challenging Conventional Wisdom on Trader-Farmer interlinked input-credit markets with evidence from Africa. Presented at the Annual American Agricultural Economics Association Preconference workshop on Rapid Agrifood System Transformation, Globalization, and International Development in SanFrancisco, July 25, 2015
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Fung, W. L.S.O Liverpool-Tasie, N. Mason and R. Uwaifo Oyelere (2015). Can crop purchase programs reduce poverty and improve welfare in rural communities? Evidence from the Food Reserve Agency in Zambia  Presented at the Economics of Global Poverty Conference. Gordon College. January 5-7, 2015


Progress 10/01/13 to 09/30/14

Outputs
Target Audience: In the last year from October 1 2013 to September 30th 2014, there were several instances where target audiences were reached. Presentations of research findings on fertilizer subsidies and farmer use of fertilzer in Nigeria were presented in faculty seminars at Michigan State university and in Ibadan Nigeria. Two articles on "The role of social capital in the implementation of subsidy programs" and the effect of fertilzier subsidy on the fertilizer private sector were published in peer reviewed journals in the Spring of 2014. Another presentation of the results of fertilzier subsidies in Nigeria was also presented at an international development economics conference focussed on sub saharan Africa held at Oxford University, UK. Through these mechanisms, information from my research was communicated and discussed among various policy makers and academics. Trainings on survey methodolody and data collection was also conducted in Kwara state Nigeria in October/November 2013 and in January, 2014. This was part of the randomized control trial (RCT) on UDP in rice production in Nigeria. This training was part of the process of data collection on the use of this potential approach to fertilzer application on rice production in Nigeria that could increase yields and reduce nitrogen loss. Additional work on the productivity of UDP for rice production in another Nigerian state (Niger) and the potential role of social networks within this process was also presented at our annual professional association meeting in Minneapolis. Significant progress was made on the proposed work on the profitability and use of fertilizer across diverse agro ecological and market conditions in Nigeria. I focussed on 3 crops; rice, maize and cassava. Results from rice were presented at the Annual World Bank conference on Africa held in Paris on June 23 and 24th and have been submitted for review at an agricultural economics peer reviewed journal. Preliminary results from maize were also recently completed and are currently being circulated for feedback. Results on sorghum will be completed this Fall. Changes/Problems: The major change that has happened in my research program is on the work on bargaining power and welfare implications of poverty alleviation programs geared to empower women. It has been a struggle due to a poor response from my co author on this project. After numerous efforts to push the research project further, I have decided to adjust my interest on gender and poverty reduction slightly. Now I am focussing on a gendered consideration on the adoption of various technologies and the consequent effects on production and welfare. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? By being able to present the work from this project to different audiences, I have been able to gain useful ideas and extend my approach and view on the issue. this has been very helpful. I have worked with my graduate students on many of these topics which has provided not only an apportunity for me to provide guidance for the conducting of research but also enabled us to work together as we think through difficultt issues of data management and empirical estimation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Through various presentation at department meetings locally and internationally, presentation at conferences and and through the publication of journal articles and working papers What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Continue to fine tune the research. attempt to get the completed works published in peer reviewed journals. complete outstanding projects through completing data collection and analysis. presentation of these and other soon to be available results at various fora to get further insights and refine accordingly. continue to engage my students in these very interesting and important issues.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? There were 2 journal articles published and several presentations given that relate to goal 1. The research papers on the fertilizer subsidy program in Nigeria informed the potential role that temporary subsidy programs can play in increasing farmer use of inputs like fertilizer. They also demonstrate the role of social networks in the process of implementing development programs that need to be taken in to consideration in the development as well as evaluation of such programs. two working papers on the adoption of UDP on rice production in Niger state also contribute to goal 1. They have been presented at professional conferences and are currently being prepared for submisssion to peer reviewed journals. For goal 2, significant progress on the randomized control trial has been made in the last year. We conducted the social network census as planned as well as a baseline data collection exercise. We have also implemented our treatment which was the training of local innovative farmers on the use of the technology and the provision of the technology to the trained farmers for sale in their communities. We are currently rounding up the implementation phase and plannign our endline data collection exercise. these will be useful information to answer/address goal 2. on how information about new technologies is disseminated in rural communities, I have worked on a paper on the spatial neighborhood effects in agricultural technology adoption among rice farmers in Niger state. This is a working paper with a graduate student and has been presented at our annual professional conference. Feedback from that presentation as well as from circulating the draft with other colleagues have been incorporated and the working paper is is currently being prepared for submission to a journal. Under the goal of making input markets work for the poor, several studies on the profitability of fertilzer use across various agro ecological and market conditions has also been explored in the last year. These studies have raised some interestnig issues about potential mechanisms that could increase farmer adoption of fertilizer and other technologies in Nigeria. Ongoing work on Niger state, Nigeria is also likely to provide some information on this topic in the near future. Progress was also made on my proposed work on the general equilibrium effects of subsidizing farmer access to various inputs and how thismight affect poorer farmers relative to wealthier farmers. My co author at the International Food policy research institute have been invitee to revise and resubmit that paper for possible pubication in a peer reviewed journal on international development.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis. Saweda. O. (2014), Fertilizer subsidies and private market participation: the case of Kano State, Nigeria. Agricultural Economics. doi: 10.1111/agec.12114
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, Lenis, Saweda.O. (2014). Farmer groups and input access: When membership is not enough. Food Policy. 46, 3749


Progress 12/01/12 to 09/30/13

Outputs
Target Audience: My target audience includes policy makers in developing and developed countries. It also includesmy peer in the agricultural economics discipline and development economics, more generally. Finally my targetaudience includes the teachingand research community here at Michigan State University. During this reporting period, severalof my research projectswere accepted for publication (or published) in either peer reviewed discussion paper series or in peer reviewed journals. Majority of these were related to my projects on input use and input subsidies in sub Saharan Africa which falls under my research objective 1 (improving programs and strateges to alleviate poverty) and objective 2( makinginput makrets and modern technologies work for the poor).These publicationsinclude Fertilizer subsidies and private market participation in Kano State,Nigeria, Moving forward with fertilizer in Nigeria, Fertilzier promotion strategie withing a complex fertilzier sub sector,A paradigm shift in fertilizer distribution: Do vouchers improve on government distribution. I also co authored a development related paper which incorporated the technical skills used in my work on technology adoption amongrural farmerswas also accepted for publicatin in the international journal of of information science and computer mathematics. This paper applied evaluation techniques I use in technology adoption evaluations to a development project in education. During this reporting period, I also organized and presented a stakeholder consultation wth policy makers, researchers and the private sector in Nigeria. This was part of the launch of a research project on sustainable intensification in sub saharan Africa where I will be focussing on the profitbility of urea deep placement for rice production. I also co presented some work on the effect of subsidized fertilzier on food prices in Nigeria at an international conference. Apart from teaching a course on development, I have participated in student activities on campus to share ideas related to my researchbut more importantly related to current issues of food security and hunger in sub Saharan Africa. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? During the reporting period, I have worked extensively with colleagues here at Michigan State University and with others in variousother institutions.In the research project ongoing in Nigeria, I am collaborating closely with a professor and his students at a local university; University of Ibadan, Nigeria.This process has enabled me to learn a lot through various exchanges andit has also provided an opportunity for me to mentor students in Nigeria. Wth regards to our investment in quality data we organizedtraining for data collection in Nigeria. I was a keyorganizer and facilitator during this training. During the reporting period, I have begun developing links with other researchers in developing countries interested in similar issues. In one collaboration, I have exchanged teachingn material i developed for my class here at MSU with a colleague in a Ghanain University. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The results of my research thus far have been communicated with communities of interest largely through peer reviewd publications, presentations and popular media (local and international). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? In addition to publsishing more papers, I also hope to continue to engage with stakeholders in whatever community/context I find myself working in. I hope to continue to develop networks and research projects with colleagues that share similar interests within and outside of MSU as well as within and outside the USA. More specificaly, I hope to make significant progress on the UDP project in Nigeria. I hope to expand my reach toother countries; possibllyNiger, looking at simiar issues I am looking at in Nigeria.Withthese interactions andinteresting research issues,I hope to be on the path to developing an outstanding research project that meets my stated goals and objectives.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the reporting period, I was able to successfully launch a project in Nigeria that looks specifically at Objective 2 (making input markets and modern technologies fork for the poor). In 2013,my proposedproject to look at the profitability of Urea deep placement for rice farmers in Kwara State Nigeria was launched. The draft design of the randomized control trialthat will be applied has been completed and refinements are in progress. Given our intention to understand how information about the technology and its profitability disseminates, a social network census was designed and launched during the reporting period. Training for data collectionwas conducted anddata iscurrentlybeing collected.A stakeholder consultation was organized to bring varoius stakeholders acrossNigeriato deliberate on the research question and proposed study. This activity was successfully held in Abuja Nigeria in June 2013. In addition to gettinga research projectstarted on the ground,Threeof my publications published in peer review journals in 2013 are based on my work on targetted input subsidy. My work on female bargaining is slowly advancing. We are currentlyupdating the analysis.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2013 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O. (2013). A paradigm shift in fertilizer distribution: Do vouchers improve on government distribution? . Forthcoming in Agricultural Economics
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O. and Takeshima, H. (2013). Moving Forward with Fertilizer in Nigeria: Fertilizer Promotion Strategies within a Complex Fertilizer Subsector. Agricultural Economics. doi: 10.1111/agec.12075
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2013 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O. (2013). Fertilizer subsidies and private market participation: The case of Kano State, Nigeria. forthcoming in Agricultural Economics
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2013 Citation: Liverpool-Tasie, L.S.O. and L.S.O. Liverpool. (2013). Exploring The Impact of Blended eLearning on Student Performance Using a Social Experiment: The Case of Calculus at University of Jos, Nigeria, forthcoming in International Journal of Information Science and Computer Mathematics