College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics

Non-AFRE Co-Principle Investigators: Other AEC/AFRE Visiting Faculty: Peter Matlon and Dustan Spencer

Project Name:            Poor Rural Households,Technical Change and Income Distribution in Developing Countries (Sierra Leone and Nigeria) *
Donor:                        United States Agency for International Development
Contract No:              AID/ta-C-1328 
Account No:               MSU 71-2023
Location:                    Sierra Leone and Nigeria  
Duration;                    July 1976-September 1979
Budget:                       $345,354
Documents:               (Click here to view)

Project Goals:           To analyze the effects of rural development policies and projects, including pricing policies and technological packages, on the rural and urban poor.

Project Plans/Objectives:

• To analyze the direct benefit incidence of rural development policies and projects.
• To analyze the direct and indirect benefit incidence of rural development projects and policies through an analysis of farm, rural non-farm, and urban linkages.
• To develop methodologies for measuring the benefit incidence of rural development policies and projects.
• To analyze the cost effectiveness of alternate information systems for incorporating benefit incidence in project appraisal and ongoing project evaluation.

Cooperating Institutions: Cornell University (undertaking a similar project in the Philippines, Indonesia, and India) and Purdue University (undertaking a similar. project in Brazil); Njala University College, University of Sierra Leone

Project Summary: MSU, in cooperation with West African colleagues, analyzed the direct and indirect benefit incidence of rural development projects and policies by examining farm, rural non-farm, and urban linkages in two case study countries - Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The study team then developed methodologies for measuring the benefit incidence of rural development policies and projects and analyzed the cost-effectiveness of alternate information systems for incorporating this data into project evaluations.

Selected Documents From/About This Project:

• Poor Rural Households, Technical Change, and Income Distribution in Developing Countries: Two Case Studies from West Africa. 1979. by Peter Matlon, Steve Franzel, Thomas Eponou, Derek Byerlee, and Doyle Baker.   African Rural Employment/Economy Working Paper No. 29. Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University.
• Income Distribution Among Farmers in Northern Nigeria: Empirical Results and Policy Implications. 1979.  by Peter J. Matlon.   African Rural Employment/Economy Paper No. 18. Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University.
• Employment-Output Conflicts, Factor Price Distortions and Choice of Technique: Empirical Results From Sierra Leone. 1979. by Derek Byerlee, Carl K. Eicher, Carl Liedholm, and Dustan S. C. Spencer.   African Rural Employment/Economy Working Paper No. 26. Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University.
• Annual Costs, Returns, and Seasonal Labor Requirements for Selected Farm and Nonfarm Enterprises In Rural Sierra Leone. 1979. by Dunstan S.C. Spencer, Derek Byerlee, and Steven Franzel.  African Rural Employment/Economy Working Paper No. 27. Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University.
• Poor Rural Households, Technical Change, and Income Distribution in Less Developed Countries : A Summary Report of Findings From West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Brazil. 1981. By Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural Economics, Cornell University, New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Purdue Research Foundation.
• Much of the Research/Outreach from this Project was published in the following publication series:
  • African Rural Employment Papers    and African Rural Economy Papers.   1972 -1980.
  • African Rural Employment (Economy) Working Papers  1974 -1982.
• USAID Development Clearing House Archive.  Search for Downloadable Documents from this Project.

*This description is adapted from work by Nancy E. Horn, an MSU alumnus from the Anthropology Department, published in 1985 “A Project History of Michigan State University’s Participation in International Development for the period 1951 – 1985”.  See AFRE Emeritus Faculty Acknowledgements