The effect of improved storage innovations on food security and welfare in Ethiopia

Type Working Paper
Title The effect of improved storage innovations on food security and welfare in Ethiopia
Author(s)
Publication (Day/Month/Year) 2016
URL http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2016/wp2016-063.pdf
Abstract
Postharvest loss exacerbates the food insecurity and welfare loss of farming households in
developing countries. This paper analyses the effect of improved storage, a climate-smart crop
management technology, on household food and nutrition security, market participation and
welfare using nationally representative data from Ethiopia. Endogenous switching regression
models are employed to control for selection bias and unobserved heterogeneity. The results
show that improved storage use is mainly associated with climatic factors, access to extension
service, liquidity constraints, infrastructure and market access. Improved storage significantly
increases the dietary diversity, reduces child malnutrition and negative changes in diet. In
addition, use of improved storage technologies increases farmers’ participation in output markets
as sellers, the proportion of harvest sold and their marketing flexibility by altering the choice of
market outlets. Further, the paper provides evidence that households that did not use improved
storage would have benefited significantly had they decided to adopt. Overall, the study suggests
that improved storage technologies are effective tools for risk coping and enhancing food
security and would play a key role in the current debate of feeding a growing population in the
face of climate change.

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