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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Farm Level Impacts of Food-for-Work in a Semi-Arid Region of Kenya
Authors:Bezuneh, MesfinISNI
Deaton, Brady
Norton, GeorgeISNI
Year:1989
Periodical:Eastern Africa Economic Review
Volume:5
Issue:1
Period:June
Pages:1-8
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs., ills.
Geographic terms:Kenya
East Africa
Subjects:labour
wages
agricultural production
Labor and Employment
Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Development and Technology
rural development
Baringo District (Kenya)
food supply
Food requirements
Abstract:Food-for-work (FFW) was conceived in the mid-1970s as both a short-run assistance programme for meeting basic food needs of low income households, and as a long-run developmental tool for building infrastructure and for providing income to ease capital constraints on farm production. However, it was feared that FFW might divert labour from own farm production and reduce the level of locally produced food crops. This paper empirically examines these hypotheses on the basis of data collected in 1983-1984 in the Ewalel and Marigat locations of Baringo District, Kenya. The results indicate that FFW in the study area augments own farm output by contributing to the minimum nutrient requirement, eases the capital constraint by the second year of participation, increases the marketable surplus from both own crop and livestock production, increases hired labour in farm production, causes a shift from maize to millet production, and increases savings. As a result, the net income for the representative farm households with FFW is 52 percent higher than those without FFW. Thus, the existence of a disincentive effect on own farm employment and output were not found in this study. Bibliogr., notes. (Republished in: Eastern Africa Economic Review. New Series, vol. 7, no. 1 (1991), p. 77-83, with the surname of the first author incorrectly spelled as Benuneh.)