Effects of climatic conditions and agro-ecological settings on the productive efficiencies of small-holder farmers in Ethopia

This study argues that the adaptation measures farmers take to reduce the negative impacts of climate change do affect farmers’ efficiency of production. To support this argument, two steps were followed to understand how climatic factors especially long term average seasonal rainfall and temperature; and agro-ecological settings affect production efficiency in Ethiopian agriculture. In the first step, the stochastic frontier approach was employed to analyze the farm level technical efficiency. In the second step, the tobit regression model was adopted to analyze how climatic and agro-ecological settings affect efficiency scores derived from the first step. Results from the first step indicated that the surveyed farmers have an average technical efficiency of 0.50; with significant output elasticits of labor, draft power and tractor. Results from the tobit regression model showed that soil types, run-off, seasonal climatic conditions and agro-ecological settings affect technical efficiency in Ethiopian agriculture.Technical efficiency, seasonal climate, agro-ecology, Ethiopia

Enhancing Land-Use-Efficiency through Appropriate Land Policies in Ethiopia

The land tenure system has been a controversial issue in Ethiopia: The advocates of the existing land policy believe that if the farmers are given the right to own land privately and are allowed to sell, many farmers will become landless and exposed to various hardships. The critics argues that the existing land tenure arrangements has contributed towards increased degradation of farmers' land resulting in soil erosion and poor productivity level of various crops. Farmers with ownership right and secure land tenure are more likely to make long-term investment in their land. The meager land productivity is not because of the poor soil fertility rather as a result of ill management of the limiting factor of production i.e. land. Programming model was developed using primary information, collected from 110 farmers' households (82 High income group + 28 Low income group) from 4 peasant associations in Meket District of north wollo region of Ethiopia in order to study the potential of land productivity enhancement through better land management and land use planning in the country. The optimal solutions brought out that land productivity increased by 9.4 percent on high-income group and 8 percent on low-income group farmers with an overall improvement of 8 percent in the region if farmers cultivate their land with more vigor and long-term commitments. Thus there is an urgent need to revisit the government policies especially with regard to land use planning, land tenure and ownership right etc for achieving the long term agricultural development.Land Economics/Use,

Measuring the economic impact of climate change on Ethiopian agriculture : Ricardian approach

This study uses the Ricardian approach to analyze the impact of climate change on Ethiopian agriculture and to describe farmer adaptations to varying environmental factors. The study analyzes data from 11 of the country's 18 agro-ecological zones, representing more than 74 percent of the country, and survey of 1,000 farmers from 50 districts. Regressing of net revenue on climate, household, and soil variables show that these variables have a significant impact on the farmers'net revenue per hectare.The study carries out a marginal impact analysis of increasing temperature and changing precipitation across the four seasons. In addition, it examines the impact of uniform climate scenarios on farmers'net revenue per hectare. Additionally, it analyzes the net revenue impact of predicted climate scenarios from three models for the years 2050 and 2100. In general, the results indicate that increasing temperature and decreasing precipitation are both damaging to Ethiopian agriculture. Although the analysis did not incorporate the carbon fertilization effect, the role of technology, or the change in prices for the future, significant information for policy-making can be extracted.Environmental Economics&Policies,Climate Change,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Global Environment Facility,Common Property Resource Development

Measuring Ethiopian farmers' vulnerability to climate change across regional states:

"This study analyzes the vulnerability of Ethiopian farmers to climate change based on the integrated vulnerability assessment approach using vulnerability indicators. The vulnerability indicators consist of the different socioeconomic and biophysical attributes of Ethiopia's seven agriculture-based regional states. The different socioeconomic and biophysical indicators of each region collected have been classified into three classes, based on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC 2001) definition of vulnerability, which consists of adaptive capacity, sensitivity, and exposure. The results indicate that the relatively least-developed, semiarid, and arid regions—namely, Afar and Somali—are highly vulnerable to climate change. The Oromia region—a wide region characterized both by areas of good agricultural production in the highlands and midlands and by recurrent droughts, especially in the lowlands—is also vulnerable. The Tigray region, which is characterized by recurrent drought, is also vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change in comparison with the other regions. Thus, investing in the development of the relatively underdeveloped regions of Somali and Afar, irrigation for regions with high potential, early warning systems to help farmers better cope in times of drought, and production of drought-tolerant varieties of crops and species of livestock can all reduce the vulnerability of Ethiopian farmers to climate change." from authors' abstractClimate change, Vulnerability, adaptive capacity, regional states of Ethiopia,

The Private Rate of Return to Schooling: Evidence from Eritrea

The extent of links between education and earnings is a determining factor in making decisions about investment in education. The purpose of this study is to estimate the private rate of return to education in Eritrea using sample data from employees working in public and private sector of the economy. The main result obtained with the help of extended Mincerian earnings function indicates the financially rewarding effect of education. It is also found that the rates of return to education increase with the increase in levels of education. The findings imply a need for expanding access to education and the possibility of sharing the cost burden of education, especially at tertiary level of educatio

Extracting Blink Rate Variability from EEG Signals

Generally, blinks are treated on equal with artifacts and noise while analyzing EEG signals. However, blinks carry important information about mental processes and thus it is important to detect blinks accurately. The aim of the presented study is to propose a blink detection method and discuss its application for extracting blink rate variability, a novel concept that might shed some light on the mental processes. In this study, 14 EEG recordings were selected for assessing the quality of the proposed blink detection algorithm

Assessing household vulnerability to climate change: The case of farmers in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia

Vulnerability to climate extremes, Nile Basin of Ethiopia, Minimum daily income, Climate change,

Factors affecting the choices of coping strategies for climate extremes: The case of farmers in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia

This study adopted the multinomial logit model to analyze factors affecting the choice of coping strategies in response to climate extreme events for the Ethiopian Nile River Basin. Results from the multinomial logit model show that different socioeconomic and environmental factors affect coping with climate extreme events. Factors that positively influence coping include education of the head of household, gender of household head being male, farm income, livestock ownership, access to extension for crop and livestock production, farmer-to-farmer extension, temperature, ownership of radio, and better-quality house. Thus, to increase coping with covariate shocks, such as climate extreme events, policies should encourage income generation and asset holding (especially livestock), both of which will support consumption smoothing during and immediately after harsh climatic events. Moreover, government policies should focus on developing institutions that enhance access to education and extension services.climate extremes, coping, Nile Basin, multinomial logit model,