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Introduction: The objective of this study was to analyze how innovations in Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) contribute to improving the food and nutrition security of smallholder households, thereby promoting sustainable food systems. Methods: A cross-sectional household survey was conducted among a multi-stage sample of 424 smallholder farmers drawn from five different agroecosystems. To examine households' food and nutrition security, we used food consumption score (FCS) and modified household dietary diversity score (HDDS) in propensity score matching (PSM) and endogenous switching regression (ESR) estimation models. Results: PSM results showed that crop residue management, compost, and agroforestry have a significant effect on improving households' food and nutrition security by 21.3, 13.6, and 16.6%, respectively, whereas Soil and water conservation (SWC) has reduced adopters' food security by 12.9%. However, the conditional average treatment effect, or ESR result, reveals that households' food and nutrition security has improved as a result of the adoption of crop residue management, compost, SWC, and agroforestry. Discussion: Although the impact of crop residue management, compost, and agroforestry is positive, the effect of SWC on household food security has been inconclusive. Hence, it is important to upscale the adoption of multiple CSA innovations to improve smallholder household's food security in the face of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smallholder farmers' capacities need to be strengthened to enable them to better withstand the upcoming impacts of climate change; these capacities not only include the responsive capacity, but also consider innovation, learning, and anticipation to be prepared for the projected impacts of a changing climate on the agriculture system. The objective of this paper is to examine the impact of climate smart agriculture (CSA) innovations on building climate resilience capacity in smallholder agriculture systems. A cross-sectional household survey was conducted among a multi-stage sample of 424 smallholder farmers selected from five agroecosystems of the Upper Blue Nile Highlands in Ethiopia. The study used an endogenous switching regression (ESR) model to examine the impact of CSA innovations on building climate resilience capacity among smallholder farmers. The true average adoption effects of climate resilience capacity under actual and counterfactual conditions showed that different CSA innovations have different effects on the climate resilience capacity of households. Except for SWC adopters, all CSA innovations significantly increased the climate resilience capacity of households. However, improved variety, crop residue management, and SWC have more profound effects on the non-adopters than adopters, =if non-adopters had adopted these CSA innovations. Strong absorptive, adaptive, and transformative capacities through strong disaster and early warning systems, climate-resilient infrastructure, a strong public agricultural extension system, a strong informal safety net, and social networks build a climate-resilient agriculture system among smallholder farmers. Thus, scaling up of CSA innovations may expand the benefit of CSA innovation on building the climate resilience capacities of households. Thus, strong risk management, disaster mitigation and early warning systems, adaptive strategies, information and training, informal safety nets, social networks, and infrastructure use may build the climate resilience capacity of smallholder farmers by facilitating the adoption of CSA innovation. Therefore, policies that strengthen good governance, social cohesion, disaster communication and early warning systems, input supply of drought-resistant varieties, climate smart extension service, and climate-resilient infrastructure are necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scientific basis for conceptualizing how farm households achieve the three climate-smart agriculture (CSA) pillars, the "triple benefit", is not well developed. This paper examined the impacts of CSA innovations on simultaneously enhancing food security, climate adaptation, and reducing GHG emissions. A cross-sectional household survey was collected from a multi-stage sample of 424 smallholder farmers selected from five agroecosystems of the upper Blue Nile highlands in Ethiopia and analyzed using an endogenous switching regression (ESR) model. CSA innovations, improved variety, compost, row planting, and agroforestry, provide farmers with the benefits of enhanced food security and climate change adaptation, reducing GHG emissions from farm plots. Crop rotation provides farmers with enhanced food security and reduced livelihood vulnerability, while SWC meets the goal of enhancing food security and reducing GHG emissions. Unfortunately, adopting crop residue management, one of the recommended CSA practices in Ethiopia, does not deliver at least two of the CSA pillars. Farmers should be encouraged to adopt improved variety, crop rotation, compost, row planting, soil and water conservation, and agroforestry as the best portfolio of CSA innovation for highland smallholder agriculture systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows that strengthening land rights via a land certification program may reduce the negative economic impact of climatic anomalies in the highlands of Ethiopia. The results support the hypothesis that certification enhances the likelihood of adapting some of the land-related investments, thus supporting adaptation enhancing mechanisms and the resilience of the farming sector. Institutional factors may play a key role in supporting farmers' adaptive capacity to climatic challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we study the impact of an institutional intervention on market efficiency in Ethiopia. More specifically, we analyze to what extent the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) in combination with regional warehouses have contributed to a reduction in price spreads between regional markets. Our hypothesis is that warehouses connected to the ECX reduce the dispersion between export prices and local retail prices in different coffee growing areas, as well as the dispersion between export prices and local retail prices in different coffee growing areas. By doing so, the ECX has the potential to improve the market efficiency. To identify the causal effect, we combine retail price data with information on the gradual rollout of warehouses connected to the ECX from 2007 to 2012. Our results suggest that, when two markets both have access to an operating warehouse, the average price spread is 0.86–1.78 ETB lower than it is for markets where at least one part lacks warehouse access. This is a substantial reduction considering that the average price spread over the full period is 3.33 ETB. The main results are robust to various econometric specifications, and our analysis thus suggests that local warehouses connected to the ECX have indeed improved market efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses data from the Central Highlands of Ethiopia to assess the productivity and production risk impacts of crop diversification. Using count index as a measure of crop biodiversity, results show that increasing crop biodiversity contributes positively to farm level productivity. In addition, the findings suggest that the level of production risk significantly responds to the level of diversity, with the effect highly conditional on the skewness. The major contribution of the paper is that, unlike previous similar studies that tended to focus on intra-crop diversity, it incorporates the mutual interdependencies across crops within a farm by focusing on inter-crop diversity. Hence the study adds to the growing empirical literature, particularly in Africa, that tests empirical relationships between productivity, risk and crop diversity. An important policy implication for a diversity rich country such as Ethiopia is that agro-biodiversity can be used to improve agricultural productivity while promoting in situ conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a farm level panel data from Ethiopia and a comprehensive empirical strategy to investigate the contribution of crop biodiversity on food production. We find that increasing the number of crop variety increases production. This result is stronger when rainfall level is lower. Moreover, the productivity analysis is complemented with the study of the determinants of farm level crop biodiversity. Empirical results suggest that rainfall, tenure security and household endowments tend to govern crop diversity decisions at the farm level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper analyses the role of risk and rate of time preference in the choice of land contracts. The analysis builds on the risk-sharing and imperfect market explanations of contract choice. Unique data from Ethiopia, which contain land contract information and experimental risk and rate of time preference measures on matched landlord–tenant partners, are employed in the empirical analysis. The results show that landlord and tenant time preferences are significant determinants of contract choice. For landlords (but not tenants), risk preference is also significant, indicating the importance of financial constraints and production risk in the determination of contract choice. The results are of particular relevance to land market policy in Ethiopia, where production is risk-prone, financial markets are imperfect, and where there is a major need for the development of vibrant land rental markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Open access post-harvest grazing discourages conservation agriculture, which keeps the soil surface covered with crop residues. • We study farmers' perceptions about post-harvest grazing and identify incentives that motivate forage production. • Majority of farmers would prefer post-harvest grazing restrictions to the existing reciprocal post-harvest grazing. • Farmers also had strong preferences for forage production policy incentives with considerable preference heterogeneity. Open access post-harvest in situ grazing is widespread in areas where a mixed crop-livestock system is common. Where this is not discouraged, because livestock is important, conservation agriculture, which depends on keeping the soil surface covered with crop residues is unlikely to be implemented. One way to reduce open access grazing is through restricting communal grazing access to allow rights of exclusion, while simultaneously improving the production of livestock feeds. This paper analyzes farmers' perceptions about post-harvest free grazing on agricultural lands and identifies incentives that motivate forage production, to help inform forage development and policy. We collected data from randomly selected farm households in the Nile Basin of Ethiopia and used a choice experiment method. We found that a majority of farmers would prefer post-harvest grazing restrictions to the existing reciprocal post-harvest grazing. Farmers also had strong preferences for forage production policy incentives, but the results reveal considerable preference heterogeneity. The study provides policy makers with needed information in formulating policy incentives for smallholder forage production systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We examine adoption of multiple climate smart innovations (CSAP) and their impact on household nutrition. • When a climate is hot and rainfall is variable, farmers prefer a combination of practices over practice in isolation. • We find adoption of combination of CSAP improves household nutrition relative to adopting an innovation in isolation. • Gender difference in nutrition is observed due to difference in household characteristics and returns to resources. Since the beginning of the decade, climate resilient green economy strategies have been proposed in many African countries. One of the pillars of the strategies is the adoption and diffusion of various climate smart agricultural practices for improving crop and livestock production and farmer income while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The effects of these innovations on household nutritional security, including gender-differentiated nutritional status, have hardly been analyzed. We examine the determinants of adoption of combinations of multiple climate smart agricultural innovations and their impact on different nutrition outcomes. We find that adoption of climate smart innovations increases dietary diversity and improves calorie and protein availability. These benefits increase with adoption of combinations of innovations, relative to adopting an innovation in isolation. Gender-disaggregation results suggest nutritional outcome differentials between male and female headed households due to both differences in household characteristics, including household resources, and differences in returns to resources. The study provides insight into the interaction between climate change adaptation and nutrition security among male and female headed households, with implication for the Sustainable Development Goals of ending hunger, achieving gender equality, and taking action on climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • This paper uses exogenous variation during the growing season to identify the role of income on discounting in the Highlands of Ethiopia. • We take advantage of the availability of panel data to control for individual specific sources of heterogeneity. • We find that income variations driven by anomalies in rainfall are strong predictors of farmers' subjective discount rates. • We estimate that a 10% increase in negative rainfall anomalies, increases subjective discount rates by 20%. • Discounting is significantly correlated with the likelihood of undertaking agricultural investments. Abstract We have combined farm household panel data, weather data and discount rates, as measured by a hypothetical survey question, to estimate the impact of income on discounting. This paper has found that income variation driven by anomalies in rainfall during the main growing season is a strong predictor of farmers' subjective discount rates. Farmers prefer a smaller immediate reward to a larger deferred one when affected by negative income shocks, while they display lower discount rates when the income shocks are positive. We have also found that higher discount rates are negatively correlated with profitable agricultural investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]