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Browsing by Author "Barrett, C. B."

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Agrifood industry transformation and small farmers in developing countries
    Reardon, Thomas; Barrett, C. B.; Berdegué, J. A.; Swinnen, J. (2009)
    The agrifood industry has undergone dramatic transformation in the last 60 years. There is mixed evidence on the transformation’s impact on small famers in developing countries. This article reviews the literature on these impacts from the 1980’s to present, and introduces a special issue focusing on agrifood industry transformation. It identifies two primary stages of the transformation of the agrifood industry as pre-liberalization/pre-globalization and liberalization/globalization. Various aspects of restructuring of the wholesale, processing, and retail sectors are covered, including: the modernized system of procurement; the switch from public to private standards; the increasingly significant role of credit and determinants for and effects of farmers’ participation in this transformation. It introduces the special issues’ contributions to the understanding of famers’ inclusion/exclusion, the benefits of inclusion, and the role of policy in the industry’s transformation.
  • Food-for-work for poverty reduction and the promotion of sustainable land use: Can it work?
    Holden, S.; Barrett, C. B.; Hagos, F. (2003)
    Food-for-work (FFW) programs are commonly used both for short-term relief and long-term development purposes. In the latter capacity, they are increasingly used for natural resource management projects. This paper assesses the suitability of FFW programs as insurance to cushion the poor against short-term, adverse shocks that could, in the absence of a safety net, have permanent repercussions. The complementary question of FFW programs' potential to reduce poverty and promote sustainable land use in the longer run through induced changes in investment patterns is also discussed.
  • Nonfarm income diversification and household livelihood strategies in rural Africa: Concepts, dynamics, and policy implications
    Reardon, Thomas; Barrett, C. B.; Webb, Patrick (Elsevier Science Ltd., 2001)
    Asset, activity, and income diversification lie at the heart of livelihood strategies in rural Africa. This paper introduces a special issue on the topic "Income Diversification and Livelihoods in Rural Africa: Cause and Consequence of Change." We concentrate on core conceptual issues that bedevil the literature on rural income diversification and the policy implications of the empirical evidence presented in this special issue.
  • Participatory risk mapping for targeting research and assistance: With an example from East African pastoralists
    Smith, K.; Barrett, C. B.; Box, P. W. (Elsevier Science Ltd., 2000)
    This paper introduces a systematic but simple approach to classifying and ordering sources of risk faced by subject populations. By distinguishing between the incidence and severity of subjective risk perceptions, this method enhances understanding of the nature and variation of risks faced within a population. We demonstrate the usefulness of the method as applied to pastoralist communities in the arid and semi-arid lands of southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya. This method reveals the considerable heterogeneity of risk exposure and severity that exists within this seemingly homogeneous sector, particularly across strata defined by gender, wealth, and primary economic activity.
  • Soil quality and fertilizer use rates among smallholder farmers in western Kenya
    Marenya, P. P.; Barrett, C. B. (International Association of Agricultural Economists, 2009)
    Low fertilizer use perpetuates the slow yield growth in Sub Saharan Africa (in comparison to Asia and Latin America) as well as subsequent rates of hunger and malnutrition. Current models use primarily market-level factors in their analyses on fertilizer input use. However, increasing research indicates that nonmarket factors are also important determinants. The purpose of this study is to validate the accuracy of a soil carbon content (SCC) threshold in a switching regression model to determine fertilizer use in 260 farm households in Kenya. The model revealed that, in addition to market factors, fertilizer use was dependent upon SCC, and improved market level factors were less likely to increase its use in low SCC households. These results suggest that SCC improvement and favorable fertilizer market conditions must occur in tandem.