Impact of Agricultural Extension Package Program on Poverty

The multi-dimensional nature of poverty requires policy remedies one among which is agricultural extension package program. While extensive efforts are going on in implementing household extension package program in Tigrai region of northern Ethiopia, there is limited attempt to assess the impact of the program on poverty and household asset formation. The purpose of this book was to examine the impact of agricultural extension package program on poverty and household asset formation. As participation into the program is not randomly assigned but there is self-selection into articipation, the authors used propensity score matching methods in assessing the causal effect of the program on poverty and household asset formation. The results of the study indicated that the program had a positive and significant impact on food and total expenditure per-adult equivalent. Likewise, the program impacted household fixed and livestock assets positively and significantly. This book, therefore, provides important input to development planners and policy makers in developing countries to design policy interventions that are geared towards the poor.

Autorentext

Kidanemariam Berhe Hailu (see photo) is a lecturer at Aksum University, Ethiopia. He obtained his MSc. Degree in Economics (Development Policy Analysis) from Mekelle University, Ethiopia in July 2010. Kidanemariam G.egziabher is a lecturer at Mekelle University. Currently, he is a PhD research fellow, katholieke Universiteit, Leuven