Can Big Push Interventions Take Small-Scale Farmers out of Poverty? Insights from the Sauri Millennium Village in Kenya

Are “good guys” more likely to participate in local agriculture?

“…Second, both groups must share a common economic environment. Third, both groups of individuals must have the same distribution of observed attributes (Wanjala & Muradian, 2013). In our case studies the three pre-conditions are fully met: we used the same questionnaire for both groups (first requirement); both groups were selected in the same city, Palermo, so that the socio-economic environment is the same (second pre-condition); the propensity score function, the logit function estimate, included the same relevant independent variables or covariates (third requirement).…”

Is rainfed agriculture really a pathway from poverty?

“…A recent study of households graduating from poverty in Bangladesh shows the importance of improving household food security as a first step from poverty (Orr et al 2009b). Similarly, while the Millennium Village programme in Kenya increased per capita income in 2005 PPP values by only $29 per year (a PDI of eight US cents), there was a significant impact on household food security, with a 78 % increase in the quantity of maize produced and consumed by the household (Wanjala and Muradian, 2013). However, the impact of new technology on household food security has not received the same attention as the impact on poverty.…”

Assessing the Effectiveness of Projects Supporting On-Farm Conservation of Native Crops: Evidence From the High Andes of South America

“…Social capital (e.g., participation in social networks) can provide access to seed and planting material, enabling diversification (Badstue et al, 2007), as well as increasing the likelihood of participation in projects (Gelo & Koch, 2014). Personal characteristics of the household head, such as: language as an indicator of ethnicity and cultural identity; age as an indicator of experience and knowledge about native varieties; sex which can influence social status within the community and access to opportunities, as well as formal education as an indicator of skills to participate in markets and access new information, have been shown to influence crop diversity (Benin et al, 2007;Brush et al, 1992;Isakson, 2011;Perales et al, 2005;Smale, 2006) and likelihood of project participation (Abebaw, Fentie, & Kassa, 2010;Wanjala & Muradian, 2013;Zbinden & Lee, 2005). The specific locations (e.g., villages) where households are located provide the infrastructure and institutional contexts in which decisions to grow diversity or participate in projects take place, and thus should be included as fixed factors (de Janvry & Sadoulet, 2001).…”