Are soil conservation technologies "win-win?" A case study of Anjeni in the north-western Ethiopian highlands

Natural Resources Forum

Volumn 35, Issue 2, 2011, Pages 89-99

  Kassie, Menale ^a   Köhlin, Gunnar ^b   Bluffstone, Randy ^c   Holden, Stein ^d  

^a INTERNATIONAL MAIZE AND WHEAT IMPROVEMENT CENTER   (Kenya)

^b UNIVERSITY OF GOTHENBURG   (Sweden)

^c PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^d NORWEGIAN UNIVERSITY OF LIFE SCIENCES   (Norway)

Author keywords

Agro ecology; Ethiopia; Propensity score matching; Soil conservation; Value of crop income

Indexed keywords

AGROECOLOGY; CROP PRODUCTION; INNOVATION; PROFITABILITY; SOIL CONSERVATION; SOIL EROSION; TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION; UPLAND REGION;

ETHIOPIA;

EID: 79956215591     PISSN: 01650203     EISSN: 14778947     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1477-8947.2011.01379.x     Document Type: Article

References (51)

1. Ali, A., Abdulai, A., 2010. The adoption of genetically modified cotton and poverty reduction in Pakistan. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 61: 175-192.
2. Amede, T., Belachew, T., Geta, E., 2001. Reversing the degradation of arable land in the Ethiopian Highlands. International Institute for Environment and Development Managing Africa's Soils Paper no. 23. International Institute for Environment and Development, London.
3. Angrist, J.D., Krueger, A.B., 2001. Instrumental variables and the search for identification: From supply and demand to natural experiments. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15(4): 69-85.
4. Barrett, C.B., Lynam, J., Place, F., Reardon, T. and Aboud, A.A., 2002.Towards improved natural resource management in African agriculture. In Barrett, C.B., Place, F. and Aboud, A. (eds.), Natural Resource Management in African Agriculture: Undersigning and Improving Current Practices, CABI Publishing, Wallingford, UK, pp. 287-96.
5. Bekele, W., 2005. Stochastic dominance analysis of soil and water conservation in subsistence crop production in the Eastern Ethiopian highlands: the case of Hunde-Lafto area. Environmental Research Economics, 32(4): 533-550.
6. Benin, S., 2006. Policies and programs affecting land management practices, input use and productivity in the Highlands of Amhara Region, Ethiopia. In Pender, J., Place, F. and Ehui, S. (eds.), Strategies for Sustainable Land Management in the East African Highlands, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC.
7. Bluffstone, R.A., Yesuf, M., Bushie, B., D. Damite, D., 2007. Rural livelihoods, poverty, and the Millennium Development Goals: Evidence from Ethiopian survey data. Unpublished working paper. Environmental Economics Policy Forum for Ethiopia/Ethiopian Development Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
8. Byiringiro, F., Reardon, T., 1996. Farm productivity in Rwanda: Effects of farm size, erosion, and soil conservation investments. Agricultural Economics, 15: 127-36.
9. Caliendo, M., Kopeinig, S., 2008. Some practical guidance for the implementation of propensity score matching. Journal of Economic Surveys, 22: 31-72.
10. Central Statistical Authority of Ethiopia, 1995. Agricultural sample survey for 1994-95: Report in area and production for major crops, Statistical Bulletin, 132(1): 1.
11. Dehejia, H.R., Wahba, S., 2002. Propensity score matching methods for non-experimental causal studies. Review of Economics and Statistics, 84(1): 151-61.
12. Food and Agricultural Organization, 2002. New Partnership for Africa's Development: Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme. FAO, Rome.
13. Grunder, M., Herweg, K., 1991a. Soil conservation research project (SCRP): Eighth progress report. University of Berne, Switzerland, in association with the Ministry of Agriculture, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
14. Grunder, M., Herweg, K., 1991b. Soil conservation research project (SCRP): Seventh progress report. University of Berne, Switzerland, in association with the Ministry of Agriculture, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
15. Heckman, J., Navarro-Lozano, S., 2004. Using matching, instrumental variables and control functions to estimate economic choice models. Review of Economics and Statistics, 86(1): 30-57.
16. Heckman, J., Vytlacil, E., 2007. Econometric evaluation of social programs, part 2 of using the marginal treatment effect to organize alternative economic estimators to evaluate social programs and to forecast their effects in new environments. In Heckman, J. and Leamer, E. (eds.), Handbook of Econometrics, Vol. 6, Elsevier Science, Amsterdam.
17. Heckman, J., Ichimura, H., Smith, J. and Todd, P., 1998. Characterizing selection bias using experimental data. Econometrica, 66(5): 1017-1098.
18. Herweg, K., 1993. Problems of acceptance and adoption of soil conservation in Ethiopia. Tropics Applied Resource Management, 3: 391-411.
19. Jackson, L.A., Scherr, J.S., 1995. Non-degrading land use strategies for tropical hillsides. 2020 Brief no. 27. International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC.
20. Jalan, J., Ravallion, M., 2003. Does piped water reduce diarrhea for children in rural India? Journal of Econometrics, 112(1): 153-173.
21. Kassie, M., Zikahli, P., Pender, J., Kohlin, G., 2010. The economics of sustainable land management practices in the Ethiopian Highlands. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 61(3): 605-627.
22. Kassie, M., Pender, J., Yesuf, M., Kohlin, G., Bluffstone, R., Mulugeta, E., 2008. Estimating returns to soil conservation adoption in the northern Ethiopian highlands. Agricultural Economics, 38: 213-232.
23. Krüger, H.J., 1994. The development of farmer friendly conservation measures. Ethiopian Soil Conservation News (Addis Ababa), 15: 14-18.
24. Lee, W.S., 2008. Propensity score matching and variations on the balancing test. In Third conference on policy evaluation, ZEW, Mannheim, Germany, 27-28 October.
25. Leuven, E., Sianesi, S.B., 2003. PSMATCH2: Stata module to perform full Mahalanobis and propensity score matching, common support graphing, and covariate imbalance testing. Available online at:
26. Lufumpa, L.C., 2005. The poverty-environment nexus in Africa. African Development Review, 17(3): 366-81.
27. Mail & Guardian Online, 2006. More bodies found in flood-hit Ethiopia. 10 August 2006. Available online at: Accessed: 4 December 2007.
28. Ministry of Finance and Economic Development of Ethiopia (MOFED), 2002. Development and Poverty Profile of Ethiopia. MOFED, Welfare Monitoring Unit, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
29. Ministry of Finance and Economic Development of Ethiopia (MOFED), 2006. Ethiopia-Building on Progress: A Plan for Accelerated and Sustained Development to End Poverty (PASDEP). MOFED, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
30. Nyangena, W., Köhlin, G., 2008. Estimating returns to soil and water conservation investments: an application to crop yield in Kenya, EfD EfD Discussion Paper 09-13, a joint publication of Environment for the Development Initiative and Resources for the Future (), Washington DC, May 2008.
31. Okoba, B.O., Tenge, A.J., Sterk, G., Stroosnider, L., 2007. Participatory soil and water conservation planning using an erosion mapping tool in the Central Highlands of Kenya. Land Degradation & Development, 18(3): 303-319.
32. Pagiola, S., 1999. The global environmental benefits of land degradation control on agricultural land. World Bank Environment Paper no. 16. World Bank, Washington, DC.
33. Pender, J., Gebremedhin, B., 2007. Determinants of agricultural and land management practices and impacts on crop production and household income in the Highlands of Tigray, Ethiopia. Journal of African Economies, 17: 395-450.
34. Pender, J.P., Kerr, J.M., 1998. Determinants of farmer's indigenous soil and water conservation investments in semi-arid India. Agricultural Economics, 19: 113-25.
35. Rosenbaum, P., 2002. Observational Studies. Springer, New York.
36. Rosenbaum, P.R., Rubin, D.B., 1985.Constructing a control group using multivariate matched sampling methods that incorporate the propensity score. The American Statistician, 39: 33-38.
37. Rosenbaum, P.R., Rubin, D.B., 1983. The central role of the propensity score in observational studies for causal effects. Biometrika, 70(1): 41-55.
38. Scherr, J.S., Yadav, S., 1997. Land degradation in the developing countries: Issue and policy options for 2020. 2020 Brief no.44. IFPRI, Washington, DC.
39. Shiferaw, B., Okello, J., Reddy, R., 2009. Challenges of adoption and adaptation of land and water management options in smallholder agriculture: Synthesis of lesson and experience. In Wani, S.P., John, R., and Oweis, T. (eds.), Rain-fed agriculture: Unlocking the potential. Comprehensive assessment of water management in agriculture series, CAB International, Wallingford, UK. 325 pp.
40. Shiferaw, B., Holden, T.S., 1998. Resource degradation and adoption of land conservation technologies in the Highlands of Ethiopia: a case study of Andit Tid, North-Shewa. Agricultural Economics, 21: 53-67.
41. Shively, G.E., 1999. Risks and returns from soil conservation: Evidence from low-income farms in the Philippines. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 62: 55-69.
42. Shively, G.E., 1998. Impact of contour hedgerows on upland maize yields in the Philippines. Agroforestry Systems, 39: 59-71.
43. Sianesi, B., 2004. An evaluation of the Swedish system of active labour market programmes in the 1990s. Review of Economics and Statistics, 86(1): 133-155.
44. Smith, J., Todd, J., 2005. Does matching overcome LaLonde's critique of non-experimental estimators? Journal of Econometrics, 125(1-2): 305-353.
45. Stocking, M., Abel, N., 1989. Labour costs: a critical element in soil conservation. Paper presented at the 6th International Soil Conservation Conference, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 6-8 November 1989.
46. Tadesse, M., Belay, K., 2004. Factors influencing adoption of soil conservation measures in Southern Ethiopia: the case of Gununo area. Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Tropics and Subtropics, 105(1): 49-62.
47. Tiffen, M., Michael, M., Francis, G., 1994. More People, Less Erosion: Environmental Recovery in Kenya. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.
48. World Bank, 2007. Ethiopia: Accelerating equitable growth. Country Economic Memorandum, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Unit, Africa Region, World Bank, Washington, DC.
49. World Bank, 2009. Ethiopia: Climate risk factsheet. World Bank, Washington, DC. Available online at: Accessed December 2009.
50. World Food Programme, 2005. Report on the cost-benefit analysis and impact evaluation of soil and water conservation and forestry measures. Managing environmental resources to enable transitions to more sustainable livelihoods (MERET) project, World Food Programme, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, February 2005.
51. Zeleke, G. (2006). Cost benefit framework for pro-SLM decision-making process: Ethiopian case study, frameworks for quantifying the biophysical processes of land degradation. Presentation at World Bank workshop, May 2, 2006, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.