Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: Evaluating grain banks and their impact on food security

经济学博士论文研究：评估粮食银行及其对粮食安全的影响

• 批准号: 0518424
• 负责人: Ravi Kanbur
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Cornell Univ - State: AWDS MADE PRIOR MAY 2010
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2005
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2005-08-15 至 2006-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0518424&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Economics; Evaluating

The aim of this research project is to gather and analyze village and household survey data in order to determine the impact of grain banks, a recent innovative food security intervention, on the nutritional and health status of participating households as well as the institutional features and socioeconomic factors which affect their successful operation in Orissa, India. Grain banks have so far not been subject to any rigorous evaluation. What presently exists by way of evidence is largely qualitative based on case studies of a few "model" grain banks. In spite of this gap in knowledge, both the government of India as well as NGOs view grain banks as highly promising and have promoted them as an integral component of their food security strategy for rural tribal communities. In meeting the goals of the project, it is hoped that the findings will be useful to policymakers and practitioners interested in improving existing and designing new, more effective food security interventions in India and elsewhere. In terms of the research design, the impact evaluation will be quasi-experimental in nature and exploits the fact that not all villages in the survey area have grain banks, while the institutional analysis will primarily exploit variation in the design and implementation of grain banks across villages. Orissa was selected for the study as the state has a particularly poor food security record and is also home to a high incidence of grain banks. A village and household survey will be conducted in a predominantly tribal area in rural Orissa, where a high concentration of grain banks were established by Agragamee, a prominent rural development NGO which has set up the largest number of grain banks in the state. A previous visit to the proposed survey site has allowed the co-PI to initiate contact with Agragamee's management, field staff as well as residents of that area. Agragamee's management has endorsed this project and has agreed to provide the required logistical and facilitation support in the field. BROADER IMPACTS This project will be the first to conduct a systematic, quantitative impact and institutional analysis of grain banks. This will be made possible by partnering with a major NGO, facilitating greater cooperation and the direct exchange of knowledge between practitioners and researchers. It is hoped that the findings of the study will better inform and benefit individuals and organizations within and outside India who are interested in learning how grain banks have fared in terms of meeting their stated food security objectives, what their major strengths and weaknesses are, and what environmental factors and institutional design and implementation features have aided or impaired their operation measured in terms of various key performance criteria. The findings will be disseminated broadly through interactions with policymakers and practitioners in various settings as well as through scholarly and non-scholarly publications. A valuable by-product of the project will be the creation of a dataset with extensive demographic and socio-economic information at the household- and individual-level including, for example, on anthropometry, perceptions on food insecurity, dietary diversity, morbidity, migration, productive assets, agricultural output, credit, and savings. This information will be collected for a random sample of tribal households in southwest Orissa, one of the most disadvantaged sections of Oriya as well as Indian society. This relatively unique dataset will be made publicly available, and it is hoped that it will promote further research into the circumstances and needs of this largely neglected sub-population.

该研究项目的目的是收集和分析村庄和家庭调查数据，以确定粮食银行，最近的创新粮食安全干预措施，对参与家庭的营养和健康状况的影响，以及影响其在印度奥里萨邦成功运作的机构特征和社会经济因素。粮食银行迄今尚未受到任何严格的评价。目前存在的证据主要是基于对几个“模范”粮食银行的个案研究的定性证据。尽管存在这种知识差距，印度政府和非政府组织都认为谷物银行前景广阔，并将其作为农村部落社区粮食安全战略的一个组成部分加以推广。为了实现该项目的目标，希望研究结果将有助于印度和其他地方有兴趣改进现有的和设计新的、更有效的粮食安全干预措施的政策制定者和从业人员。就研究设计而言，影响评估将是准实验性质的，并利用了调查区域内并非所有村庄都有粮食银行的事实，而制度分析将主要利用不同村庄粮食银行的设计和实施。奥里萨邦之所以被选中进行这项研究，是因为该州的粮食安全记录特别差，而且粮食银行的发生率也很高。将在奥里萨邦农村地区一个以部落为主的地区进行村庄和家庭调查，那里的粮食银行高度集中，由一个著名的农村发展非政府组织Agragamee建立，该组织在该州建立了数量最多的粮食银行。先前对拟议调查地点的访问使联合PI能够与Agragamee的管理层、实地工作人员以及该地区的居民进行接触。Agragamee的管理层已认可这一项目，并同意在实地提供所需的后勤和便利支助。该项目将是第一个对粮食银行进行系统的、定量的影响和机构分析的项目。这将通过与一个主要的非政府组织建立伙伴关系来实现，促进从业人员和研究人员之间的更大合作和直接知识交流。希望这项研究的结果将更好地为印度国内外有兴趣了解粮食银行在实现其既定粮食安全目标方面表现如何、其主要优势和劣势是什么的个人和组织提供信息，以及哪些环境因素、制度设计和实施特征有助于或损害了它们的运作，这些运作是根据各种关键绩效来衡量的的搜索.调查结果将通过与各种环境中的政策制定者和从业者的互动以及学术和非学术出版物广泛传播。该项目的一个宝贵副产品将是创建一个数据集，其中包含家庭和个人层面的广泛人口和社会经济信息，包括人体测量学、对粮食不安全的看法、饮食多样性、发病率、移徙、生产性资产、农业产出、信贷和储蓄等。这些信息将在奥里萨邦西南部的部落家庭中随机抽样收集，奥里萨邦是奥里亚和印度社会最贫困的地区之一。这一相对独特的数据集将公开提供，希望它将促进对这一基本上被忽视的亚人口的情况和需求的进一步研究。