Towards the acceleration of the attainment of sustainable growth, most countries have focused on agricultural exports as a means of driving their economy. Developing countries of Africa are highly dependent on the agricultural sector and agricultural exports are a major determinant of economic growth of these countries. However, the impact of agricultural exports on economic growth of ECOWAS countries remains unclear. This study therefore evaluates the impact of agricultural exports on the economic growth of fifteen ECOWAS countries using panel data for the period 1980-2013. Variables employed are labour force participation rate, capital stock, agricultural exports, non-agricultural exports, inflation and economic growth. The results of the fixed-effect model show that agricultural exports have not impacted significantly on the economic growth of ECOWAS countries such as Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria with respect to the Republic of Benin, which is the selected baseline. The study also analysed the country combined effect of the agricultural exports and found that it was significant but the rate of impact was weak. The study recommends, among others, that even though agricultural exports had a significant impact on economic growth, there is still a need for ECOWAS governments to improve their agricultural sector as its significance is more noticeable in some countries such as Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop and apply a distributional impact assessment methodology to empirically analyze distributional impact of public expenditure on human development using data from 20 states in Nigeria. For robustness of the analysis, expenditure on education, health, agriculture, rural development, energy, housing, environmental protection and portable water resources are employed as predictors of human development. The result reveals that expenditure on education, health, agriculture, rural development and water resources has positive marginal impact on human development. In contrast, the marginal impact of energy, housing and environmental protection is negative. Among the sectors, education, health, agriculture, rural development and water resources expenditure has positive marginal impact while energy, housing and environmental protection have decreasing marginal impact on human development. Design/methodology/approach Panel approach. Findings The result reveals that expenditure on education, health, agriculture, rural development and water resources has positive marginal impact on human development. Originality/value A panel approach is used to investigate whether expenditure on education, health, agriculture, rural development and water resources has positive marginal impact on human development.

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Marine plastic pollution is a critical environmental challenge facing policymakers globally. To reduce marine plastic pollution by engaging the people, this study estimated the determinants of waste disposal approach by households, their willingness to participate in road gutters/drainage channels cleanup program and the number of man-days they are willing to contribute. The study used a total of 600 households drawn from 30 enumeration areas. A semi-structured questionnaire was employed in data collection. Means, percentages, multinomial logit model and Heckman selection model were employed in data analysis. The study found that most (67.42 percent) of the households in the coastal city of Lagos engage in illegal waste disposal. Some variables, household size, involvement in previous community cleanup activities, receipt of waste management information, payment of waste management fee, and having a dumpster in a locality, significantly reduce the likelihood of illegal waste disposal. The study also found that most (75.50 percent) of the households were willing to clean up road gutters/drainage channels; however, most (83.20 percent) were only willing to contribute one man-day (eight hours) in a week. Gender and previous participation in voluntary service significantly influenced both households’ willingness to participate and the number of the man-days they are willing to contribute. Women are more likely to participate and contribute man-days to the activity. Education, household size and amount paid as waste management fee significantly reduced the number of man-days households are willing to contribute. In contrast, the provision of information on waste management significantly increased the number of days they are likely to participate. The study recommended providing waste management information and dumpsters to reduce illegal waste disposal, mobilizing citizens, especially women, the less educated and low waste fee-paying households, through well-packaged information about plastic pollution.