Accurate targeting is key for the success of any development policy. While a number of factors might explain low targeting efficiency such as governance failure, political interference or lack of political will, this paper focuses on improving indicator-based models that identify poor households...

Guided by the frame work of a household model under credit market failure, this paper aims at investigating the impact of access to credit on the adoption of hybrid maize among households that vary in their credit constraints. The data used in the study is from Malawi collected by the...

Guided by the frame work of a household model under credit market failure, this paper aims at investigating the impact of access to credit on the adoption of hybrid maize among households that vary in their credit constraints. The data used in the study is from Malawi collected by the...

The recent international financial crisis and the steady decrease in development assistance have put many poor countries under increasing pressure to target more accurately their public spendings at the poor and the population in need. However, further progress is hampered by the lack of...

This paper assesses the cost efficiency of indicator-based targeting. Using household survey data from Malawi, we examine whether an indicator-based targeting of the poor is more target- and cost-efficient than the currently used mechanisms for targeting agricultural subsidy programs in the...

Women rice farmers in Africa are often constrained in accessing resources and technologies adapted to their requirements. AfricaRice has targeted women in disseminating NERICA to consider their needs. Along with top-down strategies, also processes that strengthen women rice growers at the...

Many development projects seek to reach the poorest in the provision of agricultural inputs, extension, credit, education, and many other services. However, low-cost and reliable methods for assessing whether a project reaches the poor are lacking at present. In this paper, we present an...

Jatropha projects have been set up worldwide as solution to reduce competition between food and biofuel production. Jatropha is mostly produced on marginal land in developing countries and production is labour-intensive. The subject of this study is an existing Jatropha plantation in central...

This paper examines potential of contract farming as a rural development tool by revealing its effect on productivity and income of small holders in tea production in north-western Vietnam. In the present research, three economic analyses are applied. First, the technical efficiency of tea...

This paper examines potential of contract farming as a rural development tool by revealing its effect on productivity and income of small holders in tea production in north-western Vietnam. In the present research, three economic analyses are applied. First, the technical efficiency of tea...