Title: Public financing in agricultural research development and rural poverty alleviation: Evidence from West African Economic and Monetary Union States

Abstract

The paper examines the effects of public financing for agricultural research and development on rural poverty based on the variable farm income in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) States. To conduct this analysis, a dynamic panel comprising seven (07) WAEMU States has been built based on secondary data from World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) databases for the period 2000 to 2016. To correct the endogeneity generated by the dynamic panel, the estimation is made by the system Generalized Moment Method (GMM). The results show that public spending on agricultural research and development contributes to reducing rural poverty through the increase of farm income. Thus, it is recommended that the WAEMU States make efforts in the allocation of public resources in the field of agricultural research and development to boost the development of the agricultural sector and significantly reduce rural poverty.