Draft field study recommendations for a credit policy in drought- prone rural areas in India - covers cost of credit, incentives for increased requests for agricultural credit, timing of loans, debt repayment, instalment collection, risk diffusion, etc.

The Book Sustainable Agriculture In Drought Prone Regions Consists Of 50 Selected Research Papers Prepared In Honour Of Professor N. Narayana (Professor Of Economics, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh) Focusing Its Attention On Theoretical And Empirical Findings On Different Aspects Of Agricultural Development And Its Sustainability In India In General And Drought Prone Areas In Particular In Andhra Pradesh State. The Book Is Divided In To Five Parts. Part-I Deals With The Agricultural Situation In India Especially Rainfed Agriculture In Drought Prone Regions And Main Challenges That Agricultural Sector Is Facing In The Context Of Economic Reforms And Globalisation. Part-Ii Of The Book Covers Papers On Sustainable Agricultural Development And The Issues And Problems Involved In Maintaining Stable Agricultural Growth. Papers In Part-Iii Analyse The Role Of Irrigation, Water Management And Land Utilisation In Sustaining Agriculture In Rayalaseema-A Drought Prone Region In Andhra Pradesh. Issues Of Institutional Credit To Agriculture, Agricultural Insurance, Marketing Of Agricultural Produce And The Effects Of Globalisation On Prices Of Agricultural Products Etc Are Thoroughly Discussed In Part- Iv. The Papers In The Last Part Of The Book Analyse The Causes For Crisis In Indian Agriculture And Farmers Distress With Particular Reference To Farmers Suicides In Drought Prone Regions; Rural-Urban Labour Migration; And Policy Measures Needed To Sustain Agricultural Development. The Book Contains Thought Provoking Papers With High Relevance To The Current Agricultural Situation In India Particularly In Drought Prone Regions. The Book Will Be Useful To The Students And Teachers In Social Sciences In General And Agricultural Economics In Particular, Researchers In Academic And Research Institutions, Government Departments And Non-Governmental Organisations Involved In The Programmes Of Agriculture And Rural Development.

Ethiopia is currently embroiled in a large-scale civil war that has continued for more than a year. Using unique High-Frequency Phone Survey (HFPS) data, which spans several months before and after the outbreak of the war, this paper provides fresh evidence on the ex durante impacts of the conflict on the food security and livelihood activities of affected households. We use difference-in-differences estimation to compare trends in the outcomes of interest across affected and unaffected regions (households) and before and after the outbreak of the civil war. Seven months into the conflict, we find that the outbreak of the civil war increased the probability of moderate to severe food insecurity by 38 percentage points. Using the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) on households’ exposure to violent conflict, we show that exposure to one additional battle leads to 1 percentage point increase in the probability of moderate to severe food insecurity. The conflict has reduced households’ access to food through supply chain disruptions while also curtailing non-farm livelihood activities. Non-farm and wage related activities were the most affected by the conflict while farming activities were relatively more resilient. Similarly, economic activities in urban areas were much more affected than those in rural areas. These substantial impact estimates, which are likely to be underestimates of the true average effects on the population, constitute novel evidence on the near-real-time impacts of an on-going civil conflict, providing direct evidence on how violent conflict disrupts the functioning of market supply chains and livelihoods activities. Our work highlights the potential of HFPS to monitor active and large-scale conflicts, especially in contexts where conventional data sources are not immediately available.