This study examines the effect of financial inclusion on poverty and vulnerability to poverty of Ghanaian households. Using data extracted from the seventh round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey in 2016/17, a multiple correspondence analysis is employed to generate a financial inclusion index, and three-stage feasible least squares is used to estimate households’ vulnerability to poverty. Endogeneity associated with financial inclusion is resolved using distance to the nearest bank as an instrument in an instrumental variables probit technique. Results showed that while 23.4% of Ghanaians are considered poor, about 51% are vulnerable to poverty. We found that an increase in financial inclusion has two effects on household poverty. First, it is associated with a decline in a household’s likelihood of being poor by 27%. Second, it prevents a household’s exposure to future poverty by 28%. Female-headed households have a greater chance of experiencing a larger reduction in poverty and vulnerability to poverty through enhanced financial inclusion than do male-headed households. Furthermore, financial inclusion reduces poverty and vulnerability to poverty more in rural than in urban areas. Governments are encouraged to design or enhance policies that provide an enabling environment for the private sector to innovate and expand financial services to more distant places. Government investment in, and regulation of, the mobile money industry will be a necessary step to enhancing financial inclusion in developing countries.

This paper attempts to examine and revisit the trends in agricultural productivity in Botswana. Using secondary data from six regions of Botswana for the period 1979 to 2012, we estimate components of total factor productivity (TFP) using the Färe-Primont index. Estimates of technical change and changes in technical efficiency, scale efficiency and mix efficiency are obtained. The results show that the annual TFP has declined gradually over the period, predominantly due to a decline in technical efficiency and a slight decline in mix efficiency and scale efficiency. The regions with a significant proportion of arable agriculture performed worse than those that specialise in livestock production, thus confirming the comparative advantage of extensive livestock production in semi-arid countries such as Botswana. This study shows how the finer decomposition of TFP into different measures may assist in the identification of the main drivers of productivity and associated policies.

The purpose of this study is to explore reasons for the decline in agricultural performance in Botswana that has occurred during the implementation of a variety of policy measures, as well as the introduction of new technologies, and to identify ways in which it might be reversed. Panel data from six regions in Botswana (period 1979-2012) is analyzed with a stochastic output distance function and inefficiency effects model. We decompose agricultural output growth into; total factor productivity (TFP) and changes in input use (factors of production). TFP is further decomposed into scale effects, technical efficiency and technological change. The results show that over the study period agricultural output grew at a very low rate of 0.072 percent per year, which is largely due to a growth in factors of production at 0.071 percent per year rather than TFP growth (which declined at 0.003 percent per year). We found that the decline in productivity has been due to technological regress and low growth in technical efficiency and scale efficiency. Policy options aimed at improving agricultural productivity and output growth will require the strengthening of extension services; improving the agronomic and husbandry management skills of farmers through training; and by encouraging farmers to adopt and utilize technologies that have been provided under existing policy programs.

Enhancing household welfare remains a major challenge in the developing world, and especially in sub-Saharan African (SSA). The provision of financial literacy and women’s empowerment training and improvements in financial inclusion have been widely acknowledged as key welfare-enhancing tools. The fundamental question is whether these tools are effective in achieving the welfare-specific components of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The main objective of this thesis is to examine the impact of financial literacy and women’s empowerment training on financial inclusion and household welfare in Ghana. We use household consumption expenditure, value of accumulated assets, poverty, and vulnerability to poverty as welfare indicators.

Using primary data collected through a randomised controlled trial (RCT) and secondary data extracted from the Ghana Living Standards Surveys (GLSS), this thesis employs various micro-econometric approaches to: (i) examine the impact of financial literacy training on financial inclusion and its intensity from a gendered perspective; (ii) ascertain the joint impact of financial literacy and women’s empowerment training on household consumption; (iii) study the joint impact of financial literacy and women’s empowerment training on rural household welfare; (iv) determine the role of financial literacy in the process of asset accumulation in households; (v) estimate the effect of financial inclusion on the growth of non-farm enterprises, and; (vi) analyse the effect of financial inclusion on poverty, and vulnerability to poverty. Household-level data from RCT experiments in 2015 and 2016 are used to address the first four objectives, while data extracted from GLSS6 (2012/13) and GLSS7 (2016/17) are used to accomplish the last two objectives. This thesis is organised in a journal paper-based structure composed of six interrelated papers with each paper presenting the empirical findings for each objective.

The focus of papers 1 to 4 is on the impact of financial literacy and women’s empowerment training on financial inclusion and selected welfare indicators. In general, the findings show that beneficiaries of financial literacy training are more likely to be financially included and that intensity of financial inclusion is higher for male and young beneficiary households. Our findings suggest important implications on the design of the training programs and its impact on selected welfare indicators. We find that solely offering financial literacy training has a weaker impact on household consumption than does training which incorporates a women’s empowerment module. Moreover, joint provision of financial literacy and women’s empowerment training increases impact on rural households compared to separate delivery of these training modules. The results indicate that financial literacy training plays a significant role in the asset accumulation process, especially in the accumulation of productive durable assets. Papers 5 and 6 centre on the effect of financial inclusion on the growth of family businesses and upon poverty. The evidence presented in Paper 5 suggests that improvement in the level of financial inclusion of non-farm entrepreneurs is growth enhancing, with higher probability in the urban relative to rural areas. Finally, the results in Paper 6 show that an increase in financial inclusion decreases a household’s likelihood of being poor and prevents households’ exposure to future poverty. Female-headed households stand a greater chance of experiencing a larger reduction in poverty and vulnerability to poverty through enhanced financial inclusion than do male-headed households. Furthermore, financial inclusion reduces poverty and vulnerability to poverty more in rural than in urban areas.

This thesis provides significant contributions to the literature and offers important policy implications. This is the first comprehensive analysis using empirical evidence on the relevance of financial literacy, women’s empowerment and financial inclusion, as welfare enhancing development tools in Ghana. This study also highlights the importance and practical significance of the use of experimental (RCT) and quasi-experimental designs in impact evaluation.

The results provide useful insights to policy makers and stakeholders. First, financial literacy training can be used to bridge existing gender gaps in financial inclusion and asset accumulation and enhance household welfare in sustainable ways. Second, we advocate for the inclusion of women’s empowerment modules into financial literacy training programmes to accelerate the achievement of their desired welfare-enhancing goals. Third, we envisage that strategies targeted at boosting financial inclusion will not only spur the growth of firms, but will also expand these enterprises and hence improve tax revenue for the economy as a whole. Fourth, we conclude that financial literacy, financial inclusion and women’s empowerment can be used as tools to achieve the welfare-specific components of the SDGs. Fifth, it will be prudent to improve on levels of FI by committing more resources to enhancing the regulatory and institutional frameworks that promote access to the financial system. Finally, there is a need to design policies that provide the business environment necessary for private banks to operate and expand services to more distant areas.

There is great need for research on climate change adaptation, especially for agricultural producers, including those involved in natural rubber production. Almost all of the traditional rubber growing areas in the world suffer from climate extremes, which have resulted from climate changes. The intensity of climate changes will vary across these areas, and it is difficult to anticipate exactly how these changes will occur in the future (RRII, 2010). In the meantime, the rubber industry is also highly vulnerable to market uncertainty (Viswanathan, 2008; Wijesuriya et al., 2007). These facts require special attention in formulating adaptation strategies (Wijesuriya & Dissanayake, 2009), and require rubber farmers to adapt (RRII, 2010). Many solutions through technologies and cultivation practices have been developed over time to offset losses caused by the negative effects of climate change on rubber plantations. They exist to improve latex yield and technical efficiency. These solutions are adopted in some regions, but not everywhere (Barlow & Muharminto, 1982). Assessment of the farm-level adoption of adaptation strategies available is crucial in order to provide information for the formulation of related policies (Charles & Rashid, 2007; Smit et al., 2001). There is a gap in farming systems research in developing countries regarding the comprehensive assessment of climate change adaptation at the farm level. The comprehensive approach used in this study, in terms of methods of analysis of climate change, climate variability, their negative impacts on crop performance, perception, vulnerability, adaptation and logical mechanisms of farmer adaptation, is a methodological contribution beyond what has been done in previous studies. Developing and applying a comprehensive analytical framework will allow local decision makers as well as related stakeholders to manage climate change adaptation in farming systems. The main purpose of this study is to investigate farmer households' adaptive responses, their preference patterns for climate change adaptation and the determinants of their adaptive responses. This knowledge is of great interest for designing climate change adaptation schemes; therefore, this research can assist local policy-makers to address the challenges of climate change and variability.

To improve the welfare of the rural poor and to decrease the dependence of the national economy on minerals, the government of Botswana has been spending 40% of the value of agricultural GDP on agricultural support services. Despite this massive investment, there is evidence that agricultural productivity has declined in recent years. This paper attempts to explore the reasons for this decline. We use secondary data from six regions of Botswana (covering the period 1979 to 2012) to construct a Fare-Primont index of productivity following the approach proposed by O'Donnell (2012). The results of the analysis show that annual TFP has gradually declined over the period. This decline is predominantly due to technological regress which is offset by some increase in scale and mix efficiency.

Agriculture plays an important role in Botswana, providing food, income, employment and investment opportunities for the majority of the rural population. However, over the last two decades, the contribution of agriculture to the economy and rural development has declined leading to a progressive increase in food imports. Low growth in the agricultural sector has been attributed to low productivity, which could be attributed to the recurring drought conditions that prevail in many parts of the country, and partly by the small scale of farms. Remarkably, this decline in agricultural performance in Botswana has coincided with a period of major policy reform, the objective of which is to improve agricultural performance. This study measures the performance of the agricultural sector and investigates the reasons for continuing decline in spite of considerable public expenditure. Using panel data from 1979 to 2012, the study calculates various indicators to assess the different drivers of the performance of the sector across different agricultural districts, agro-ecological regions, production systems and sub-sectors. A nonparametric approach is employed to examine trends in agricultural productivity in six regions of Botswana. Measures of total factor productivity (TFP) are obtained and decomposed into various sources including efficiency change (technical, scale and mix efficiency) and technical change. The results show that TFP declined due to a fall in overall efficiency at 3.1 per cent per annum. Moreover, a parametric stochastic distance frontier approach is used to examine sources of efficiency, productivity and output growth and the possible reasons for the decline in productivity. It was found that the main driver of productivity is improvement in technical efficiency. The results show that various programs introduced during the study period did not lead to any improvement in productive efficiency. Results from both parametric and nonparametric approaches indicate that overall efficiency varies from region to region, which suggest that there is a scope for improving productivity by taking a differential regional approach to efforts aimed at increasing efficiency.

The beef cattle production system in Botswana is dualistic in structure in that it includes both traditional and commercial production systems, which are distinct from one another in terms of objectives, land tenure, technology, and management practices. The purpose of this paper is to measure the key performance indicators of beef cattle production systems in Botswana and explore the drivers of change in those indicators. We examine differences in productivity and production technologies between the two beef production systems. The results show that traditional farms are technically inefficient and that their technology lags behind that of commercial farms. The use of improved breeds, off-take rates and selling to the Botswana Meat Commission (which control the only exporting abattoirs in Botswana) were found to improve technical efficiency in the commercial production system, but only off-take rates had a positive effect on efficiency in the traditional production system. Both farming systems have the potential to overcome technology constraints and achieve the highest attainable productivity level through improvements in; beef cattle technologies, farmer capacity in production and marketing, and the effectiveness of the technology transfer process.

This study assesses the impact of adoption of improved seed yam technology (the minisett technology) on yam yields and the income of smallholder farmers in the northwest region of Cameroon. This technology has the potential to increase yam yields by a factor of 2 to 3 compared to traditional techniques, however, adoption by smallholder farmers in Cameroon has so far been low. Survey data was collected from a total of 394 randomly sampled farmers in three of the five administrative divisions of the northwest region. Of this total sample a sub-sample of data from 274 farmers who had been exposed to the technology was analyzed using propensity score matching (PSM) and employing a variety of different matching algorithms that take into account counterfactuals and potential impact. PSM is a quasi-experimental research design which was adopted because it is known to address problems of selection bias resulting from sampling and selfselection issues. The results show that the adoption of the minisett technology has a positive and significant (p<0.01) effect on yam yields. We also find that this increase in yam yield is partly due to; the use of good agronomic systems (such as proper weed control practices and the use of stakes), access to information through farmer organizations, and access to the support provided by extension and research services. We also found a positive and statistically significant (p<0.01) effect of adoption on household income. With the adoption being more likely to have a positive and significant effect on household incomes of farmers that have access to fertilizers and those that are affiliated to farmers' organizations. Our results highlight the need to encourage the use of innovative agricultural technologies to boost crop production and the household incomes of smallholder farmers in Cameroon. This can be achieved provided appropriate measures are taken to facilitate access to agricultural inputs (especially fertilizers and stakes). Farmers should also be encouraged to employ good agronomic practices. The extension and research services should make use of existing farmers' organizations to enhance their capability of capturing potential adopters.

Access to quality seed yam is a major constraint to yam production in Cameroon. This study evaluated the performance of farm enterprises engaged in seed yam (minisett) production as a source of quality planting material for yam-growing communities. Using cross-sectional data from 131 smallholder seed yam farm enterprises, a translog stochastic production function with inefficiency effects model was estimated. The results show a wide variation in estimated technical efficiency, with an average score of 62%. Access to markets, number of extension visits, expected price of mature tubers, cropping system and training positively and significantly increase the technical efficiency of seed yam production. Our results highlight the importance of technical support and extension services, of improving access to markets and of pricing in order to enhance the productivity of smallholder seed yam farmers in developing countries.