IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/aaea01/20641.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Modeling The Motivation For Diversification On Subsistence Farms In The Ethiopian Highlands

Author

Listed:
  • Preckel, Paul V.
  • Ahmed, Mohamed A. M.
  • Ehui, Simeon K.

Abstract

Mathematical programming analysis has been quite effective for commercial farm planning in developed countries, but less so for subsistence farms in developing countries. In particular, it is difficult to reproduce the level of diversification observed on subsistence farms using a simple profit maximization framework. This paper proposes an alternative to the minimum consumption requirement approach for modeling subsistence farming households by treating consumption explicitly through a demand system motivated by Cobb-Douglas utility. A typical, linear programming-based production system is incorporated, allowing for the production of crops and livestock subject to constraints on resource availability. The approach successfully predicts consumption behavior of subsistence households in Holetta area of the Ethiopian highlands, but diversification of the cropping plan occurs only when marketing behavior is incorporated in terms of restriction on purchases of major consumption goods. The results suggest that integrating markets economy to improve their performance may improve the welfare of poor households in developing countries. This requires improvement of both input and output markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Preckel, Paul V. & Ahmed, Mohamed A. M. & Ehui, Simeon K., 2001. "Modeling The Motivation For Diversification On Subsistence Farms In The Ethiopian Highlands," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20641, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
  • Handle: RePEc:ags:aaea01:20641
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.20641
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/20641/files/sp01pr03.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.20641?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Janury, A. de & Fafchamps, M. & Raki, M. & Sadoulet, Elisabeth, 1992. "A Computable Household Model Approach to Policy Analysis: Structural Adjustment and the Peasantry in Morocco," 1992 Occasional Paper Series No. 6 197890, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. John Pender & Berhanu Gebremedhin & Saumuel Benin & Simeon Ehui, 2001. "Strategies for Sustainable Agricultural Development in the Ethiopian Highlands," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(5), pages 1231-1240.
    3. Bruce A. McCarl & Wilfred V. Candler & D. Howard Doster & Paul R. Robbins, 1977. "Experiences With Farmer Oriented Linear Programming For Crop Planning," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 25(1), pages 17-30, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. World Bank, 2005. "Ethiopia : Well-Being and Poverty in Ethiopia, The Role of Agriculture and Agency," World Bank Publications - Reports 8707, The World Bank Group.
    2. Linacre, Nicholas & Falck-Zepeda, José & Komen, John & MacLaren, Donald, 2006. "Risk assessment and management of genetically modified organisms under Australia's Gene Technology Act:," EPTD discussion papers 157, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Pender, John L. & Jagger, Pamela & Nkonya, Ephraim M. & Sserunkuuma, Dick, 2001. "Development pathways and land management in Uganda: causes and implications," EPTD discussion papers 85, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Kassie, Menale & Zikhali, Precious & Pender, John & Köhlin, Gunnar, 2009. "Sustainable Agricultural Practices and Agricultural Productivity in Ethiopia: Does Agroecology Matter?," RFF Working Paper Series dp-09-12-efd, Resources for the Future.
    5. Mössinger, Johannes & Troost, Christian & Berger, Thomas, 2022. "Bridging the gap between models and users: A lightweight mobile interface for optimized farming decisions in interactive modeling sessions," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    6. Pardey, Philip G. & Alston, Julian M. & Chan-Kang, Connie & Magalhães, Eduardo C. & Vosti, Stephen A., 2002. "Assessing and attributing the benefits from varietal improvement research: evidence from Embrapa, Brazil," EPTD discussion papers 95, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Chamberlin, Jordan & Schmidt, Emily, 2012. "Ethiopian Agriculture: A dynamic geographic perspective," IFPRI book chapters, in: Dorosh, Paul A. & Rashid, Shahidur (ed.), Food and agriculture in Ethiopia: Progress and policy challenges, chapter 2, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    8. Valbuena, Diego & Tui, Sabine Homann-Kee & Erenstein, Olaf & Teufel, Nils & Duncan, Alan & Abdoulaye, Tahirou & Swain, Braja & Mekonnen, Kindu & Germaine, Ibro & Gérard, Bruno, 2015. "Identifying determinants, pressures and trade-offs of crop residue use in mixed smallholder farms in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 107-118.
    9. Pender, John & Nkonya, Ephraim & Jagger, Pamela & Sserunkuuma, Dick & Ssali, Henry, 2004. "Strategies to increase agricultural productivity and reduce land degradation: evidence from Uganda," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 31(2-3), pages 181-195, December.
    10. Ruben, Ruerd & Pender, John, 2004. "Rural diversity and heterogeneity in less-favoured areas: the quest for policy targeting," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 303-320, August.
    11. Kato, Edward & Nkonya, Ephraim & Place, Frank M., 2011. "Heterogeneous treatment effects of integrated soil fertility management on crop productivity: Evidence from Nigeria," IFPRI discussion papers 1089, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    12. Martynenkov, Valentyn, 2016. "Innovative Activities Of Agricultural Consultative Networks As A Factor In Strengthening The Economy Of Rural Areas Of Ukraine," EUREKA: Social and Humanities, Scientific Route OÜ, issue 6, pages 15-22.
    13. Deininger, Klaus & Jin, Songqing, 2006. "Tenure security and land-related investment: Evidence from Ethiopia," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(5), pages 1245-1277, July.
    14. Drynan, Ross G., 1986. "On Resolving Multiple Optima in Linear Programming," Review of Marketing and Agricultural Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 54(02), pages 1-5, August.
    15. Gruère, Guillaume P., 2006. "An analysis of trade related international regulations of genetically modified food and their effects on developing countries:," EPTD discussion papers 147, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    16. Hertzler, Greg & MacAulay, T. Gordon, 2006. "Small Holders under Risk," 2006 Conference (50th), February 8-10, 2006, Sydney, Australia 139791, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    17. Haileslassie, Amare & Priess, Joerg A. & Veldkamp, Edzo & Lesschen, Jan Peter, 2007. "Nutrient flows and balances at the field and farm scale: Exploring effects of land-use strategies and access to resources," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 459-470, May.
    18. Chamberlin, Jordan & Pender, John & Yu, Bingxin, 2006. "Development domains for Ethiopia: capturing the geographical context of smallholder development options," EPTD discussion papers 159, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    19. Gebremedhin, Berhanu & Pender, John L., 2004. "Strategies To Improve Land Management, Crop Production, And Household Income In The Highlands Of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20161, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    20. World Bank, 2007. "Determinants of the Adoption of Sustainable Land Management Practices and Their Impacts in the Ethiopian Highlands," World Bank Publications - Reports 7938, The World Bank Group.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Farm Management;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:aaea01:20641. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaeaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.