Completed research projects Prof. Dr. Hermann Waibel

Economic theory suggests that risk aversion and time discounting should decline in wealth. As a conclusion, poorer households, especially in developing countries, are considered to be more risk averse and more impatient than wealthier households, which in turn lead the poorer to take management decisions that could perpetuate their lives in poverty. However, our understanding of the complex and dynamic interactions between risk and time preferences, risk management and poverty, especially in different dimensions of well-being, is still quite limited, because of data limitations and highly compartmentalized research methods.

This research project applies a holistic approach, where the dynamic interrelations between risk and time preferences, risk management and the multiple dimensions of poverty will be disentangled in order to derive longer-term prospects for sustainable development of rural households in transition economies.

The emerging market economy of Thailand, which has seen a considerable decline in poverty but remains strongly vulnerable to adverse risks, is a suitable stage to effectively investigate the dynamic interactions between preferences, risk management and poverty.

The research project investigates these interactions by differentiating between two levels of risk management strategies, i.e. (i) risk management at the individual level such as diversifying income sources, and (ii) risk management at the group level such as sharing risks with other households in social networks. Drivers and impacts of risk management strategies at both levels are the objects of investigation. The investigation of drivers of risk management decisions will go beyond standard economic theory and incorporate alternative theories such as prospect theory and quasi-hyperbolic discounting. Among the impacts of risk management strategies, both monetary indicators and non-monetary indicators of well-being will be taken into account.

Overall objectives: To assess the extent to which certified alternative agricultural systems like organic agriculture and fair trade management can contribute towards sustainable livelihoods of smallholder farmers in developing countries.

Specific objectives:

• To examine the drivers that influence the adoption of such alternative farming systems;
• To investigate the extent to which organic and fair trade certified agriculture impacts production and welfare of smallholder farmers;
• To compare and do a meta-analysis on how these systems effects smallholder farmers in the continents on Asia, Africa and Latin America and derive the success factors of such farming technologies.

Overall objectives:
To improve the sustainable livelihoods of resource-poor livestock producers in smallholder production systems through improved control of trypanosomiasis.

Special objectives:

• To improve capacity and capability of African laboratories and veterinary services to detect trypanocide resistance  and to conduct quality control of trypanocidal drugs;
• To improve the effectiveness of available trypanocides in livestock;
• To promote and monitor the use of the technical and structural innovations developed in partnership at a regional and continental scale.

The main objective of this project is to establish a better understanding of the potential to introduce a sustainable rubber plantation system in Yunnan province in Southwestern China. To achieve this objective an ex-ante impact analysis of sustainable Natural Resource Management (NRM) innovations of farmers in this area will be carried out.

Specific objectives:
1. Analyze different adoption decisions by using econometric models to identify key factors that drive smallholder rubber farmer’s decision.
2. Conduct a comprehensive economic analysis of different farming systems (rubber monoculture, intercropping, traditional agriculture), giving account of the cost structures, productivity, cash income generation and poverty levels.
3. Conduct an economic impact assessment by use of a “difference-in-difference model” and “normative household models” based on the concept of typical farms.
4. Investigate the potential economic effects of alternative land use strategies in terms of income generation, income inequality, food security, and poverty and vulnerability reduction.
5. Analyze the barriers and required incentives for small-scale farmers to adopt economically sustainable land use and management concepts.

This research aims to assess the acceptance and economic consequences of standards for sustainable oil palm farming among small holders in the province of Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia.

This study will draw from an existing panel data set of some 291 small holder oil palm farmers from 2010 and 2012 in two districts of Jambi.

Three hypotheses will be tested:
(1) smallholder oil palm farmers are aware of the environmental standards promoted by the Government in oil palm plantations;
(2) the benefits of sustainable oil palm management practices are uncertain;
(3) woman can play a major role in implementing sustainable oil palm management practices.

Fieldwork to test the first hypotheses has already been conducted during July - August 2012.

For 2013, additional data collection is proposed with the objective to test the second and the third hypotheses. Individual interviews, focus group discussions with village groups and a stakeholder workshop will be conducted to establish the empirical base for developing and applying cost benefit analysis.

The overall goal of this research proposal is to analyze livestock disease control options that can ensure the sustainability of livestock dependent household systems in West Africa.

The research project has two specific objectives, i.e.:
(i) Analyse the data on risk and time preferences as well as subjective probabilities that have been elicited by economic field experiments from January to February 2011
(ii) Assess the long-term productivity of AAT disease control strategies including trypanocides in a dynamic modeling framework