Poverty Alleviation Through Technology-Driven Increases in Crop Production by Smallholder Farmers in Dryland Areas of Sub-Saharan Africa: How Plausible Is This Theory of Change?

The current paradigm of agricultural research and extension in support of rural development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is to disseminate improved technologies designed to increase the generally low crop yields per hectare on individual farms. Using data from a baseline survey (n = 7,539) from a large rural development programme implemented in five countries in SSA, we calculate the increases in yield per hectare required to significantly contribute to poverty alleviation for households managing such farms. We estimate the gap between current crop productivity and the productivity required to reach a poverty line of $1.90 per capita per day adjusted for Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). We find this gap to be very large, both in percentage and absolute terms. Median additional gross crop productivity required to reach this poverty threshold was: $324/ha/year (254% increase) in Mali; $1,359/ha/year (1,157% increase) in Niger; $4,989/ha/year (665% increase) in Ethiopia; $1,742/ha/year (818% increase) in Burkina Faso; $2,893/ha/year (1,297% increase) in Kenya. The required additional productivity taking account of production costs including the opportunity cost of family labor would need to be even higher. Given that (a) values of net productivity of improved rainfed crop technologies reported in the literature rarely exceed $1,000/ha/year; and (b) the majority of arable farms in SSA are two hectares or less with increasing trends toward land fragmentation, we argue that closing the yield gap among smallholder farmers in SSA will never—alone—be sufficient to meaningfully alleviate the high levels of poverty and deprivation many currently experience.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)

Indian economy is agricultural economy and real India lies in villages. Without the development of the rural economy, the objectives of economic planning cannot be achieved. Hence, banks and other financial institutions are considered to be a vital role for the development of the rural economy in India. NABARD are playing a pivotal role in the economy development of the rural India. In the Indian context rural development assumes greater significance as nearly 70% of its population lives in rural areas. Most of the people living in rural area draw their livelihood from agriculture and allied sectors. Such areas are distinct from more intensively settled urban and suburban areas. Life styles in rural area are different than those in urban areas, mainly because limited services are available. Governmental services like law enforcement, schools, fire departments may be distant, limited in scope, or unavailable. Rural development is a national necessity and has considerable importance in India. The main objective of the rural development programme is to raise the economic and social level of the rural people. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) is set up as an apex institution by the Government of India with the main objective of providing and regulating credit and other facilities for the promotion of rural development. It is a single integrated organisation which looks after the credit requirements of all types of agricultural and rural development activities. The present study is a modest attempt to the credit potential for agriculture during the year 2021-22. The study covered aspects such as functions, objectives, management and organizational structure, sources of funds, activities achieved, loan assistance to various institutions, Methodology for preparation of potential linked credit plans (PLPs) and Development Projects in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Keywords: NABARD, Rural Development, RBI and SHGs..

Support for Restricting the Possibility of African Swine Fever (ASF) Spread Under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020

Of the many measures under Polish Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014–2020, the aid instrument entitled “Support for investments in preventive measures aimed at reducing the effects of probable natural disasters, adverse climatic phenomena and catastrophes” is the focus of this publication. This mechanism is intended to support, inter alia, agricultural producers at risk of damage caused by natural disasters such as African swine fever (ASF). The aim of the article is to attempt to analyse whether, and to what extent, this form of support ensures the sustainability of an agricultural producer’s business by restricting the possibility of African swine fever spread. The author focuses on an analysis of normative solutions contained in the instrument to support investments aimed at preventing the destruction of agricultural productive potential, offered by RDP 2014–2020. The aid form concerned encourages agricultural producers to initiate preventive measures arising from the biosecurity programme aimed at restricting the spread of African swine fever. These are preventive in nature and enable making specific investments to prevent the destruction of agricultural productive potential due to the emergence of specific epizootic events.

Dynamics of Rural Development in India

India is the second largest populous country in the world and more than half of its population lives in rural areas. This leads to widespread unemployment, low standard of living, inadequate productive skills and malnutrition in the country. In the developing countries especially like India, rural development is always been an important issue related to country’s economic progress. The rural development programmes are the key devices for the development of the rural areas in the country. As we know that, the people of rural area have seen difficulties from the time immemorial, the time has come to give them their deserving rights. India cannot shine without the shinning of the Rural India. National Development is almost synonymous with the Rural Development. This paper makes an attempt to measure actual performance and Government’s initiatives to accelerate the process of rural development through rural development programme in India and would be dealing with the changing life of the vulnerable people. The study reveals that the target number of houses to be constructed by the year 2021–2022, is 2.95 crore. The target set is to be achieved in phases and in the 1st phase 1 crore houses have been taken up for construction and in the 2nd phase 1.95 crore houses are being taken up for construction. 35.27 lakh houses have been constructed during 2020–2021 under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana (PMAY-G) scheme. The pace of construction of PMGSY roads a nine years high of 135 kms per day in 2018–2019 as against an average of 73 kms during the period 2011 to 2014. Hence, the pace of construction has increased by 93%. Under PMGSY about 6, 26,910 Km road length completed where as 41000 Km road length constructed by using green technology and 14312 Km road length constructed by using plastic waste. MGNREGA has provided employment to 6.9 crore households by generating more than 305.71 crore person-days of wage employment covering 74.74 lakh works during financial year 2020–2021 and 5 crore works completed since inception. During COVID-19 pandemic, migrant workers were allowed to work under the scheme by being applying for job card. Approximately 1.44 crore Job Cards have been issued in FY 2020–2021. Total person-days generated in FY 2020–2021 have been 305.71 crore against approved LB for FY 2020–2021 of 333.09 crore. There has been 47% increase in person-days generated in comparison to FY 2019–2020. Further, the paper will give an idea how it will be beneficial for our country and how this little effort to rebuild the rural life and livelihood will make our country from developing to the developed country.

Mapping of EU Support for High Nature Value Farmlands, from the Perspective of Natural and Landscape Regions

Decoupling economic growth from the exploitation of natural resources, protecting vulnerable ecosystems, restoring habitats and species, and supporting areas used for organic farming are, along with achieving climate neutrality, key tenets of the European Green Deal (EGD)—the EU’s new sustainable economic strategy. One direction of activities to implement several of these goals simultaneously is the provision of financial support for agricultural activities aimed at protecting valuable plant and animal habitats and species. This study aims to present research results that include an analysis of the spatial diversification of EU support for nature value habitats in Poland against the background of physico-geographical regions. To date, no such studies have been conducted; instead, analyses of the spatial differentiation in how selected forms of EU funding are taken up in Poland and other European countries have mainly referred to regional or local territorial divisions, and not to regions distinguished based on natural environmental features. Payments from Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) funds to support farms using nature value habitats were selected for the analysis. The analysis employed data from the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARMA), as a disburser of EU funds for agriculture in Poland; the data related to two packages (No. 4 and 5) of Agri-Environment-Climate Measures (AECM), which constitute one of the measures of the Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014–2020. The spatial and statistical analyses not only supported a general description of EU support for the protection of nature value habitats in Poland but also allowed a detailed evaluation of the distribution and areal coverage of nature value habitats subsidised by RDP funds to be presented, and a comprehensive assessment of the scale of support for the natural habitats covered by the programme.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PUBLIC AGRICULTURAL ADVISORY IN THE FUNCTIONING OF THE NATIONAL RURAL NETWORK (NRN) IN THE FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE 2014-2020

The aim of the article is to present the importance of public agricultural advisory services, which are an important link of the National Rural Network (NRN) in the process of its functioning in the 2014-2020 financial perspective. The indirect objective is to assess the degree of use of financial instruments supporting the NRN by agricultural advisory services, which are resources of Technical Assistance in the framework of the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 (RDP). The NRN is part of the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD).The main stakeholders of the ENRD are agricultural advisory services. The regulations concerning the organization of the NRN in the financial perspective 2021-2027 were presented. The study was conducted using different research methods. The basic methods include an (comparative-descriptive) analysis of national and international legal acts and literature on the subject, and the method of synthesis and deduction. The importance of agricultural advisory units (AAU) in the functioning of the NRN system was assessed in six selected Polish voivodeships (Podkarpackie, Opolskie, Lubelskie, Zachodniopomorskie, Lubuskie and Śląskie) based on the results of a study of empirical material published by the Minister of Agriculture. It was shown that the resources of AAU ensured the efficient performance of statutory tasks in the scope of supporting the functioning of the NRN for the years 2014-2020. However, an unfavourable phenomenon was the significant proportion of funds that were not used for NRN and returned to the Ministry of Agriculture. A significant share of unused funds indicated ineffective operational planning of tasks under the NRN for individual voivodeships.

Organic Farming Support Policy in a Sustainable Development Context: A Polish Case Study

This paper assesses the extent, scope and importance of financial support for Polish organic farming from 2004 to 2019. The analysis focuses particularly on how the changes in the amount and structure of organic farming payments affected farmers’ interest in specific organic crops during three financing periods: the 2004–2006 Rural Development Plan, the 2007–2013 Rural Development Programme (RDP) and the 2014–2020 Rural Development Programme. This paper aims to answer the question of whether and to what extent the organic farming support policy impacted the development trends followed by, and transformation processes affecting, this sector. It follows from this analysis that in the first decade after joining the European Union, Poland implemented a policy of making payments easily available. It was primarily focused on the quantitative growth of organic farming rather than on stimulating supply. As the payments were easily accessible and decoupled from production, subsidy-oriented farmers were additionally encouraged to seek political rent. This resulted in the instability of a large group of farms who discontinued their organic farming activity in 2014. That year, the policy was amended because of the need to improve the allocation efficiency of subsidies and to couple them with the provision not only of environmental public goods but also of private goods in the form of organic farming products. The current support policy opens up greater opportunities for leveraging the potential of organic farming while reaping environmental and socioeconomic benefits and contributing more than ever to sustainable development.

A Results-Oriented Approach for the Animal Welfare Measure of the European Union’s Rural Development Programme

Farm animal welfare is a major concern to the European Union’s citizens, addressed in the Rural Development Programmes by a specific animal welfare support measure. Previous evaluation results reveal that the implemented action-oriented measures fail when it comes to improving animal health, an important dimension of animal welfare. Results-oriented measures could compensate for this deficiency, but little is known about their design. In order to improve the effectiveness of current animal welfare measures for dairy cows, we analysed the elements of such a measure in an interdisciplinary, application-oriented research project involving agricultural economists and livestock scientists. We have used a mixed methods approach including a written Delphi survey, group-discussions and on-farm data-collection to select suitable indicators, develop an approach for the identification of threshold values and to design a support measure. Results suggest that, in animal welfare support measures, action- as well as results-oriented elements are necessary to address all dimensions of animal welfare.

Factors Correlated with Home Gardening in Gauteng Province, South Africa

Background: In addition to increasing access to fresh and affordable produce, home gardening enhances food security. This notwithstanding, there is no evidence of studies that have investigated factors correlated with home gardening in Gauteng Province (GP), South Africa. The present study investigated home gardening across the GP. Methods: Retrospective data of residents of GP (n = 30002) collected by the Gauteng City Region Observatory were used. A binary logistic regression was employed to determine factors correlated with home gardening. Results: Overall participation in home gardening was low (12.37%). If a respondent was a resident of the poorest areas, resided in a house received under the Rural Development Programme, had a borehole/well as the main source of water, belonged to a social club, received a social grant, was >65 years, and rated his/her health as poor, then they were more likely to participate in home gardening. Factors that were negatively correlated with home gardening included if the respondent rented from private individuals and if the respondent’s health status prevented him/her from doing daily work. Conclusion: The low participation levels in home gardening observed suggest the failure of the current policies geared at fostering home gardening in the province. Policy makers and relevant authorities should target identified groups to improve participation in home gardening.