Seeds for livelihood: Crop biodiversity and food production in Ethiopia

Ecological Economics

Volumn 69, Issue 8, 2010, Pages 1695-1702

  Di Falco, Salvatore ^a   Bezabih, Mintewab ^b   Yesuf, Mahmud ^c  

^a LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH   (United Kingdom)

^c Environment for Development (EfD)   (Ethiopia)

Author keywords

Crop diversity; Ethiopia; Farm level productivity; Panel data; Rainfall

Indexed keywords

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION; CROP PLANT; EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS; FOOD PRODUCTION; PRECIPITATION INTENSITY; PRODUCTIVITY; SPECIES DIVERSITY; TENURE SYSTEM;

ETHIOPIA;

EID: 77953604490     PISSN: 09218009     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2010.03.024     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. Aarssen L.W. High productivity in grassland ecosystems: affected by species diversity or productive species?. Oikos 80 (1997) 183-184
2. Baumgärtner S., and Quaas M.F. Managing increasing environmental risks through agro-biodiversity and agri-environmental policies. University of Lüneburg Working Paper Series in Economics, Working Paper No. 80 (2008). http://ssrn.com/abstract=1104956 March 2008 (available at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1104956)
3. Baumgärtner S., and Quaas M.F. Agro-biodiversity as natural insurance and the development of financial insurance markets. In: Kontoleon A., Pascual U., and Smale M. (Eds). Agrobiodiversity, Conservation and Economic Development, Routledge, London (2009) 293-317
4. Benin S., Smale M., Pender J., Gebremedhin B., and Ehui S. The economic determinants of cereal crop diversity on farms in the Ethiopian highlands. Agricultural Economics 31 (2004) 197-208
5. Bertness M.D., and Callaway R.M. Positive interactions in communities. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 9 (1994) 191-193
6. Bezabih. Agrobiodiversity conservation under an imperfect seed system: the role of community seed banking schemes. Agricultural Economis 38 1 (2008) 77-87
7. Borrvall C., Ebenman B., and Jonsson T. Biodiversity lessens the risk of cascading extinction in model food webs. Ecology Letters 3 2 (2000) 131-136
8. Callaway R.M. Positive interactions among plant. Botanical Rev. 61 (1995) 306-349
9. Callaway R., and Walker L. Competition and facilitation: a synthetic approach to convention on biological diversity (1997). http://http:www.cbd.int WEB site: http:www.cbd.int
10. Chapin F.S., and Shaver G.R. Individualistic growth response of tundra plant species to environmental manipulations in the field. Ecology 66 (1985) 564-576
11. Cohen J., and Williams D. Ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources: global development and environmental concerns. Science 23 (1991) 866-872 Vol. 253. no. 5022
12. Di Falco, and Chavas J.-P. Rainfall shocks, resilience and the dynamic effects of crop biodiversity on the productivity of the agroecosystem. Land Economics 84 1 (2008) 83-96
13. Di Falco, S., Chavas, J.-P., 2009. On crop biodiversity, risk exposure and food security in the highlands of Ethiopia. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 91(3).
14. Di Falco, Chavas J.-P., and Smale M. Farmer management of production risk on degraded lands: the role of wheat variety diversity in the Tigray region, Ethiopia. Agricultural Economics 36 2 (2007) 147-156
15. Elton C.S. Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants (1958), Methuen, London
16. Ewel J.J. Designing agro-ecosystems for the humid tropics. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 17 (1986) 245-271
17. Gebregziabher T. Diversity of the Ethiopian Flora. In: Engels J.M.M., Hawkes J.G., and Worede M. (Eds). Plant Genetic Resources of Ethiopia (1991), University Press, Cambridge
18. Gill G. Seasonality and Agriculture in the Developing World: A Problem of the Poor and Powerless (1991), Cambridge University Press
19. Harlan J.R. Crops and Man (1992), American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI 2nd Edition
20. Harper J.L. Population Biology of Plants (1977), Academic Press, London and New York
21. Hooper D., Hawksworth D., and Dhillion S. Microbial diversity and ecosystem processes. In: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) (Ed). Global Biodiversity Assessment (1995), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK 433-443
22. Hooper D.U., Chapin F.S., Ewel J.J., Hector A., Inchausti P., Lavorel S., Lawton J.H., Lodge D.M., Loreau M., Naeem S., Schmid B., Setala H., Symstad A.J., Vandermeer J., and Wardle D.A. Effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning: a consensus of current knowledge. Ecological Monographs 75 1 (2005) 3-35
23. Huston M.A. Hidden treatments in ecological experiments: re-evaluating the ecosystem function of biodiversity. Oecologia 110 (1997) 449-460
24. Kefale D., and Ranamukhaarachchi S.L. Response of maize varieties to drought stress at different phenological stages in Ethiopia. Tropical Science 44 2 (2006) 61-66
25. Lawton J.H., and Brown V.K. Redundancy in ecosystems. In: Schulze E.-D., and Mooney H.A. (Eds). Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functions (1993), Springer, Heidelberg 255-270
26. Lehman C., and Tilman D. Biodiversity, stability, and productivity in competitive communities. The American Naturalist 156 (2000) 534-552
27. Loreau M. Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: recent theoretical advances. Oikos 91 (2000) 3-17
28. Loreau M., and Hector A. Partitioning selection and complementarity in biodiversity experiments. Nature 412 (2001) 72-76
29. MacArthur R.H. Fluctuations of animal populations and a measure of community stability. Ecology 36 (1955) 533-536
30. Meng E.C.H., Smale M., Bellon M.R., and Grimanelli D. Definition and measurement of crop diversity for economic analysis. In: Smale M. (Ed). Farmers, Gene Banks, and Crop Breeding (1998), Kluwer, Boston 19-31
31. MoFED (Ministry of Finance and Economic Development). Ethiopia: Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (2002), MoFED, Addis Ababa
32. MoFED. Ethiopia: Building on Progress: A Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (2006), MoFED, Addis Ababa
33. Mulder C.P.H., Uliassi D.D., and Doak D.F. Physical stress and diversity-productivity relationships: the role of positive interactions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98 12 (2001) 6704-6708
34. Mundlak Y. On the pooling of time series and cross-section data. Econometrica 46 (1978) 69-85
35. Naeem S. Species redundancy and ecosystem reliability. Conservation Biology 12 (1998) 39-45
36. Naeem S., and Li S. Biodiversity enhances reliability. Nature 390 (1997) 507-509
37. Naeem S., Thompson L.J., Lawler S.P., Lawton J.H., and Woodfin R.M. Declining biodiversity can affect the functioning of ecosystems. Nature 368 (1994) 734-737
38. Nkonya E. 2004. Strategies for Sustainable Land Management and Poverty Reduction in Uganda. International Food Policy Research Institute Washington, DC.
39. Norberg J. Phenotypic diversity and ecosystem functioning in changing environments: a theoretical framework. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98 20 (2001) 11376-11381
40. Petchey O.L., McPhearson P.T., Casey T.M., and Morin P.J. Environmental warming alters food-web structure and ecosystem function. Nature 402 6757 (1999) 69-72
41. Senay G., and Verdin J. Characterization of yield reduction in Ethiopia using a GIS based crop water balance model. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing 29 6 (2003) 687-692
42. Sinebo W. Trade off between yield increase and yield stability in three decades of barley breeding in a tropical highland environment. Field Crops Research 92 1 (2005) 14: 35-52
43. Simane B., Tanner D.G., Tarekegne A., and Asefa T. Agro-ecological decision support systems for wheat improvement in Ethiopia: climatic characterisation and clustering of wheat growing regions. African Crop Science Journal 7 1 (1999) 9-19
44. Smale M., Hartell J., Heisey P.W., and Senauer B. The contribution of genetic resources and diversity to wheat production in the Punjab of Pakistan. American Journal of Agricultural Economics 80 (1998) 482-493
45. Smale M., Meng E., Brennan J.P., and Hu R. Determinants of spatial diversity in modern wheat: examples from Australia and China. Agricultural Economics 28 (2003)
46. Tilahun A. Yield gain and risk minimization in maize (Zea mays) through cultivar mixtures in semi-arid zones of the rift valley in Ethiopia. Experimental Agriculture 31 (1995) 161-168
47. Tilman D., and Downing J.A. Biodiversity and stability in grasslands. Nature 367 (1994) 363-365
48. Tilman D., Wedin D., and Knops J. Productivity and sustainability influenced by biodiversity in grassland ecosystems. Nature 379 6567 (1996) 718-720
49. Tilman D., Reich P.B., Knops J., Wedin D., Mielke T., and Lehman C. Diversity and productivity in a long-term grassland experiment. Science 294 543 (2001) 843-845
50. Tilman D., Polasky S., and Lehman C. Diversity, productivity and temporal stability in the economies of humans and nature. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 49 3 (2005) 405-426
51. Trenbath B.R. Biomass productivity of mixtures. Advances in Agronomy 26 (1974) 177-210
52. Trenbath B.R. Multispecies cropping systems in India. In: Lefroy E.C., Hobbs R.J., O'Connor M.H., and Pate J.S. (Eds). Agriculture as a Mimic of Natural Systems (1999), Kluwer, Dordrecht 381-405
53. Van Dusen M.E., and Taylor J.E. Missing markets and crop diversity: evidence from Mexico. Environment and Development Economics 10 (2005) 513-531
54. Vandermeer J.H. The Ecology of Intercropping (1989), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
55. Vavilov N.I. The origin, variation, immunity and breeding of cultivated plants. Chronica Botanica 13 (1949) 1-364
56. Walker B., Kinzig A., and Langdridge J. Plant attribute diversity, resilience, and ecosystemfunction: the nature and significance of dominant and minor species. Ecosystems 2 (1999) 95-113
57. Widawsky D., and Rozelle S. Varietal diversity and yield variability in Chinese rice production. In: Smale M. (Ed). Farmers, Gene Banks, and Crop Breeding (1998), Kluwer, Boston
58. In: Wood D., and Lenné J.M. (Eds). Agrobiodiversity: Characterization, Utilization and Management (1999), CABI, Wallingford
59. Wooldridge J.M. Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data (2002), The MIT Press
60. World Bank. Ethiopia-Well-being and Poverty in Ethiopia: The Role of Agriculture and Agency Report No. 29468-ET (2005), World Bank, Washington, D.C.
61. Yadeta A., and Bejiga G. Evaluation of Ethiopian chickpea landraces for tolerance to drought. Genetic Resources & Crop Evolution 49 (2002) 557-564