Umeå Economic Studies, Department of Economics, Umeå University
No 807:
Can a Social Safety Net Affect Farmers’ Crop Portfolios? A Study of the Productive Safety Net Programme in Ethiopia
Camilla Andersson ()
Abstract: In this paper, we examine whether a minimum level of
ensured consumption from a social safety net has the potential of breaking
the vicious circle of risk avoidance and low return in African agriculture.
We study how the implementation of a social safety net programme in
Ethiopia has affected the value, risk and composition of farmers’ crop
portfolios. The effects of programme participation on the value and risk of
the crop portfolio are examined in a Just-Pope production function, and the
effects of programme participation on composition of the crop portfolio are
tested in a set of acreage response models. The empirical analysis is based
on unique household panel data that allow us to control for unobserved
heterogeneity. No significant effect on the value and risk of the crop
portfolio could be found. However, the programme seems to have brought
about some changes in the land allocated to different crops. The greatest
effect is towards increased cultivation of perennials, which are
high-value, high-risk crops in this part of Ethiopia.
Keywords: Crop choice; Social safety nets; Food-for-work programmes; PSNP; Ethiopia; (follow links to similar papers)
JEL-Codes: O22; Q12; Q18; (follow links to similar papers)
50 pages, May 19, 2010
Before downloading any of the electronic versions below
you should read our statement on
copyright.
Download GhostScript
for viewing Postscript files and the
Acrobat Reader for viewing and printing pdf files.
Full text versions of the paper:
DownloadAsset.action?contentId=131684&languageId=3&assetKey=ues807 
Download Statistics
Questions (including download problems) about the papers in this series should be directed to Kjell-Göran Holmberg ()
Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson ()
or Helena Lundin ().
Programing by
Design by Joachim Ekebom
