Publication:
An analysis of agricultural productivity & investment in the Gambia: proposing an integrative waqf model for women farmers
Abstract
The agony of poverty in the world is rather a perplexing one, despite the growth of global economies and advances in science and technology yet over 700 million people live in extreme poverty globally. While donor organisations, researchers and governments have recommended and implemented orthodox policies to solve this conundrum. It is only fair to explore the potentials of Islamic social financing, which can complement the global efforts in eradicating poverty on the face of mother earth. This study employed an Error Correction Model (ECM) and OLS technique to empirically analyse the nexus between agricultural investment and productivity. Using a time-series data of 27 years annually, we estimate six different regression models in determining the causal effects of the following explanatory variables; Fertiliser, Pesticide, Land availability for agricultural activities and government aid to farmers on the six dependent variables such as; Vegetables, Paddy Rice, Groundnut, Maize, Millet and Sorghum. The results indicate a positive relationship between investment in agricultural input and productivity, however, fertiliser has a negative relation with Paddy rice, Groundnuts, Maize, Millet and Sorghum, this could be explained as a result of the inadequate supply of fertilisers by the government to farmers. Thus, as a proxy of poverty in this study, productivity is empirically established to be affected by the quality and amount of investment in agricultural inputs. Through Islamic social financing, the study proposes an Integrative Waqf Model to fund agricultural investment for women farmers in The Gambia. This model describes a sustainable funding structure for women farmers in The Gambia, as they account for about 78% of the active population in the agricultural sector. Hence, the paper recommends the establishment of a Waqf Institution in the Gambia to complement the efforts of the state in the battle against poverty alleviation amid the post-COVID-19 recovery strategic planning.
Keywords
Poverty , Agricultural productivity , Waqf , Sadaqah , Takaful , COVID-19 , Project paper (MSc)
Citation
Hydara, M. (2020). An analysis of agricultural productivity & investment in the Gambia: proposing an integrative waqf model for women farmers (Master dissertation). INCEIF, Kuala Lumpur. Retrieved from https://ikr.inceif.org/handle/INCEIF/3978
Publisher
INCEIF
Available in PDF format. Kindly email to kmc@inceif.org to access the item