Remittances, Inequality and Social Welfare
in Rural Nigeria
-- Olatomide Waheed Olowa, Timothy Taiwo Awoyemi,
Bolarin Omonona and Omowumi Ayodele Olowa
This study uses a nationwide household survey to analyze the impact of domestic and international remittances on household income and welfare in Nigeria. The impact of remittances on income distribution and social welfare is analyzed by source decomposition of income inequality and comparing the observed level of measures with the level of the complete termination of remittances. The empirical findings demonstrate that the aggregate impact of all remittances on overall income inequality is stable and that international remittances generally have unequalizing effects both at rural level and in all the geopolitical zones, while the opposite holds for the internal remittances. Although an unambiguous welfare gain is associated with all types of remittances, the magnitude of the welfare gain is dependent on the degree of income inequality induced by the remittances. Nevertheless, internal remittances from Nigeria are found to be the main contributors to net welfare gains by increasing income and decreasing inequality.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Agricultural Knowledge Management in Dairy
Production Improvement: The Case of Bure Woreda,
West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region
-- Habtemariam Assefa, Tegegni G/Egziabher, Ermias Sehai and Azage Tegegne
The Government of Ethiopia concentrates on agricultural and rural development for its economic development. Dairy development is one of the components of agricultural development. To improve dairy production in a certain locality, dairy producers should be able to access and use appropriate knowledge for a particular problem at the right time. This research was conducted to assess the agricultural knowledge management system in Bure district. Primary and secondary data were collected from primary (i.e., dairy producers and experts of different Governmental Organizations (GOs) and Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) using a semi-structured questionnaire and checklist) and secondary sources (literature reviews). The survey reveals that maintaining the health of animals, providing green pasture to their milch cows, animal selection and using crossbreed cows are the major mechanisms used by dairy producers to improve milk production in the district. This knowledge/mechanism was obtained from Woreda Agriculture and Rural Development Office (WARDO), their own experience, neighbors, family, by observing the activities on a farm, and listening to radio, and from sharing sessions and on-farm demonstrations. A majority of the dairy producers use the new knowledge with partial modification. They also transfer the knowledge to their neighbors, friends, relatives and children. Therefore, the concerned bodies should promote and strengthen the existing good practices in knowledge management processes.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Does Vertical Integration Benefit Cotton Farmers?
Encouraging Evidence from an Experiment
in Andhra Pradesh
-- R V Ramana Murthy
Cotton production in India needs to be reorganized in order to increase productivity, reduce cost of production, and secure stable returns to the farmers. Cotton is produced in India under varied conditions and entails certain heterogeneity in terms of yield, cost and return. The common cause of concern is how to reduce the ever rising costs of production and increase value addition to the farmer. Industry needs extra long staple and clean cotton for value-added production. In the presence of anonymous agents working through spot markets, production decisions suffer from inefficiencies owing to information asymmetry and bounded rationality. There is a need for an informed coordinating agent between farmer and other input providers on the one side, and to supply managerial technology and link up final buyer, on the other. Such vertical integration strategies are capable of avoiding the intermediate channels of middlemen, raising direct benefits by enhancing yield and quality and producing internal economies. This paper sets out to analyze the e-safal experiment in six villages of Andhra Pradesh in the light of such context of vertical integration.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Promotional Strategies for the Rollout of Rural Retail Store:
A Case of Triveni Khushali Bazaar
-- Sapna A Narula and Arun Garg
This case study deals with the planning and execution of a promotional campaign for an organized discount retail format in a rural area, and also measures the impact of this promotional campaign. The study was conducted in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh. Fifty store visitors and 120 prospects were surveyed through a questionnaire to measure the impact of promotional campaign. The study found a multifold increase in the footfall of visitors as well as increase in the number of bills per day, but not much change was observed in average ticket size. An increase in week-over-week sales was also found. It was found that the most successful source of awareness in the area was pamphlet, followed by door-to-door campaigning, posters, and cable TV advertisement. Store location, external as well as internal ambience, product line variety and availability are important parameters for a customer to visit a store. Hence, the study recommends the addition of more categories, such as fruits and vegetables, clothing, kitchen appliances, footwear, confectionery, bakery and stationery items to the product list. Further, replication of promotional campaign in other potential areas which are slightly far off from the store could also attract more visitors.
© 2011 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
