Semi-nonparametric Evidence of Young Women’s Participation in the Congolese Labour Market

This article analyses the determinants of young women’s participation in the labour market. For this purpose, the Employment Policy Enhancement Survey (EAPE), conducted by the Laboratoire de Recherches et d’Etudes Economiques et Sociales (LARES) in collaboration with CERDI in 2018 was used as the database. The results of Gallant and Nychka’s (1987) semi-nonparametric procedure show that health status, household size, marital status, and educational attainment are explanatory factors of young women’s labour market participation in Congo.

Linking Markets to Smallholder Agro-forestry Farmers as a Strategy for Poverty Alleviation in the Tropics

The objective of the study was to assess factors affecting market participation of agro-forestry smallholder farmers in Uganda. Primary data on household, farm and marketing characteristics were collected from 153 farming households using a semi-structured, pre-tested questionnaire. The determinants of market participation were assessed using the Probit model. Descriptive statistics showed that a combination of crop, livestock and tree products were marketed by farmers. The main products included maize, cassava and coffee （crops）; firewood and poles （tree products）; and birds and goats （livestock products）. Results from the Probit model showed that farm size, household size, education level, access to credit and extension visits had positive and statistically significant effects on market participation of farmers in agro-forestry products＇ markets. Age of farmer had a negative and statistically significant effect on the participation. Emphasis on improving the quality and coverage of extension services, extending credit facilities to farmers and intensifying agro-forestry training among farmers are suggested as avenues to enhance participation of farmers in agro-forestry products＇ markets.

Contribution of Rural Roads to Access to-and Participation in Markets:Theory and Results from Northern Ethiopia

Road accessibility is considered to be one of the major factors influencing (or correlated to) rural households’ access to- and participation in markets. However, there are few studies that investigate this important topic. This paper, therefore, explores the issue from both theoretical and practical perspectives with household and village level data from Northern Ethiopia. It is generally assumed that road accessibility significantly contributes to both access to- and participation in markets by rural households. The results in this study, however, suggest that neither participation in major markets nor the amount of purchased agricultural inputs use are significantly different for households with respect to the degree of road accessibility in the study area. Nevertheless, the situation seems somewhat better in locations with good access to roads. On the other hand, the results in this study confirm that road accessibility significantly contributes to reducing farm gate prices of manufactured goods and increasing farm gate prices of agricultural goods.