D
URING THE PERIOD OF NEPAL’S NINTH FIVE-YEAR PLAN (1997–2002), agricultural growth in the predominantly rural society was disappointing. The recent peace process, however, gives the country new opportunities to develop
its economy with less interference due to internal conflict. This research monograph investigates how Nepal might seize these opportunities by increasing agricultural growth and poverty reduction through improvements in roads, irrigation, and rural extension. The authors evaluate the impact of public investments in these areas by using two types of data and methodology: a hedonic approach that relates access to public infrastructure and services to land value and a panel of household-level data on consumption, poverty, and income. The hedonic methodology suggests a positive relationship between investments in irrigation and extension and household welfare, although the panel data approach suggests otherwise. This result reinforces the importance of methodology in evaluating rural investments. Rural roads yielded more clear-cut findings, however: both approaches agree that investment there has a positive relationship with household welfare, as measured in land values, consumption growth, poverty reduction, or agricultural income growth. The authors recommend increased public investments in rural roads, irrigation, and extension, as well as further research into precisely how infrastructure and services affect rural households’ welfare and how their effectiveness can be improved. This monograph will be useful to policymakers, researchers, and others concerned with Nepal’s future development.
Andrew Dillon is a research fellow in the Poverty, Health, and Nutrition Division of the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC.
Manohar Sharma is a senior poverty spe- cialist in the Poverty Reduction and Eco- nomic Management Unit, East Asia Region, of the World Bank, Washington, DC.
Xiaobo Zhang is a senior research fellow in the Development Strategy and Governance Division of the International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC.
Infrastructure Extension in Rural Nepal en
ISBN 978-0-89629-188-1
2033 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006-1002 USA Tel.: +1.202.862.5600 • Skype: ifprihomeoffice Fax: +1.202.467.4439 • Email:
ifpri@cgiar.org
www.ifpri.org Cover design: David Popham
9 780896 291881
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50