The effect of improved storage innovations on food security and welfare in Ethiopia
Wondimagegn Tesfaye & Nyasha Tirivayi
#2016-063
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.
Keywords: storage economics; postharvest loss; food security;
climate-smart technology; endogenous switching regression; Ethiopia.
JEL Classification: Q12, Q16, Q18, O33, D13