Impact of nigerian agricultural policies on crop production and the environment
SummaryNigerian efforts in agricultural development over the past three decades have failed to improve the country's economy. A review of the sector depicts a gloomy picture. Performance is reflected in environmental degradation, mounting food deficits, and decline in both gross domestic product and export earnings, while retail food prices and import bills have been increasing. These effects have further impoverished the smallholder farmers, locking them into a poverty web. The Government must seek to establish agricultural strategies which promote political stability, self reliance, public participation, sustained production and environmental security.
Integrating environmental considerations in the agricultural policy process : evidence from Nigeria
Abstract Policy processes that design, develop, and implement sectoral policies often leave environmental considerations to a central environmental authority. As a result, the environmental implications and consequences of policies and programs, even when they are explicitly recognized as a part of their mandate, are often ignored at the time of implementation. In this paper, we show how the role of individual, organizational, and system level factors in enhancing the ability of policy actors is crucial in better integration of environmental considerations in policy processes. Using data collected in Nigeria, we develop empirical evidence on such factors so that the sectoral policy process can be improved for environmental outcomes. The results indicate that explicit identification of environmental challenges, better collaboration and communication between research and policymaking, and a combination of the expertise of young analysts with the experience of senior policymakers can improve explicit consideration and follow-up of environmental issues in sectoral policy process. The lessons from this paper are also applicable to the environmental considerations of the current policy roadmap for the promotion of the agricultural sector in Nigeria, the Agriculture Promotion Policy (APP), and to other developing countries attempting implementation of such sectoral policies.
Public Hospitals : Options for Reform through Public-Private Partnerships
Globally, health expenditures rose from an average of 3 percent of GDP in 1950 to 8 percent (US$3 trillion) in 1999 (WHO 2000). The increase in spending has been driven by rising income, changing demographic and epidemiological trends, and costly new pharmaceuticals and technology. Although technology is allowing a shift to outpatient care, hospitals still account for 30–50 percent of health expenditures. Public funding has not kept pace with the growth in spending. Much of the increase has been financed from private sources (out-ofpocket payments and private insurance), while the share funded publicly (by tax revenue and national insurance) declined by 6 percent between 1977 and 1997. Constraints on public funding, combined with rising costs, have forced public hospitals to cut costs wherever possible while still endeavoring to guarantee universal (and often free) access to public patients.1 Governments have used different strategies to address these problems, such as shifting financing from general tax revenue to payroll-financed national health insurance, narrowing the basic package of services available to all citizens, linking hospital funding to outputs and efficiency, amalgamating hospitals into networks, increasing autonomy and incentives for management, and reducing the number of hospital beds. Some governments have also turned to public-private partnerships to bring private sector efficiency into public hospitals.