Vol.10(5), pp.
84-88, May 2018
DOI: 10.5897/JAERD2018.0952
Articles Number: D2032A056860
ISSN 2141-2170
Journal of Agricultural Extension and
Copyright © 2018 Rural Development
Author(s) retain the copyright of this article
[Link]
Review
Impact of productive safety net program in rural
community of Ethiopia: A review study
Wondim Awoke Kassa
Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture and Rural Transformation,
University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
Received 9 March, 2018; Accepted 28 March, 2018
Ethiopia lunched Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) as social protection program since 2005 to
tackle the causes of food insecurity. Even though, the country lunched the PSNP there are different
challenges that hinder proper implementation of program for attaining intended impact on rural
community. This paper seeks to review the impact of Ethiopia’s PSNP and its implementation
challenges through qualitative approach. Different literatures were reviewed on PSNP, which were done
at national, regional and district level. The literatures were obtained through internet search from
Google, Google scholar and database. Among 84 papers retrieved, only 28 of the published and
unpublished organization reports, research reports and policy briefs were reviewed based on their
relevance to the topic. According to the review, there are irreconcilable results regarding to the impacts
of PSNP. Accordingly, PSNP has both positive and negative impact on beneficiaries’ social, economic
and environmental development. Thus, before implementation, the government should consider social,
economic, environmental issues and available resources. Therefore, concerned bodies should consider
impact of the PSNP and family support on the beneficiaries’ livelihood, and they should depend on
panel data.
Key words: Challenges, Ethiopia, impact, Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), social protection.
INTRODUCTION
Even if there is a success story in reduction of hunger To reduce and/or prevent poverty and hunger, many
and poverty in some countries of South Asia and sub- countries in the developing world increasingly recognized
Saharan Africa, the overall prevalence of hunger and that social protection measures have paramount role.
poverty progress has fallen slowly. Most of the people in Many studies also support that social protection
these countries live in rural areas and rely on agriculture programs have been successful in reducing hunger and
as the source of their income. Due to the prevalence of poverty. Social protection program has positive impacts
hunger and poverty, they become chronically food on local communities and economies to increase and
insecure (FAO, 2015). diversify their food consumption, child and maternal
E-mail: wondimawoke@[Link]. Tel: +251 916352952.
Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License 4.0 International License
Kassa 85
welfare as well as fosters more investment in the on household-level investigation. Thus, the paper tried to
education and health of children, and reduces child labor review the different organizational reports and empirical
(FAO, 2015). studies to contribute knowledge on the challenges of
In the developing world, there are different challenges PSNP’s and its impact on rural community. The paper
that face rural community to be food secure (Anderson addresses the key questions like: What are the causes of
and Elisabeth, 2015; Wiseman et al., 2010). For the food insecurity? What are the challenges that encounter
chronically food insecure people, social protection PSNP implementations to attain intended objectives?
programs appear as innovative and radical solutions, What is impact of PSNP in Ethiopia? Therefore, the
even though they vary from place to place (Food objectives of the review were to: (1) Identify the causes of
Sovegnity Brief, 2013). The Social Safety Net (SSN) food insecurity, (2) Review the impact of PSNP and, (3)
programs which are well designed and operational Review the challenges that hinder PSNP implementation.
responds to natural hazard (World Bank, 2013). The information of the paper may be significant for the
In Ethiopia “the Food Security Program was launched government, policy makers, donor organizations and
in 2003, and the Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP) researchers. The paper may help the government to take
was formally launched in 2005” to tackle food insecurity corrective measures and considerations for
by government and fund providers. The PSNP is social implementation of PSNP and give insight to recognize the
protection, which makes household and community gap of the policy and strategies on PSNP. Further, the
responses to shock and stress more resilient and review will be significant for policy makers to settle
improves food security through provision of financial, successful PSNP and food security enhancement
literacy training, technical and business advice, and practices. Besides, the result of the review will benefit
linkages to credit or livelihood transfers, as well as follow- fund providers that operate in the field of PSNP generally
up support (Anderson and Elisabeth, 2015). It is the food security program by revealing the existing situation
largest social protection program in the world particularly in the country. Lastly, the review paper may be important
in sub-Saharan Africa to address food insecurity. In the for researchers to indicate gaps that should be filled in
developing world like Ethiopia, the PSNP as social future through their investigation.
protection program is the most ambitious and
comprehensive program to tackle food insecurity in the
rural poor. However, a number of challenges were facing METHODOLOGY
the program to achieve its objectives (Brown and
For this review, secondary information and study findings were
Teshome, 2007). utilized involving qualitative approach through narration. Secondary
The Ethiopian climate is multifaceted variability of data were obtained through internet search from Google and
rainfall and temperature. As a result, the country has a Google scholar. The author search papers by providing directly the
long history of large-scale famines triggered by an name of the title and with other related terms. Totally, 84 papers
extreme drought, most notably in 1973-1974 and 1984- were obtained from Google and Google scholar. In addition to
1985. To tackle such issues in the community, Google and Google scholar, the author also searches databases
(Science direct, Scopus and Pubmed), but there are no additional
government ratified and implemented a number of social literatures relevant to the topic. Subsequently, the author read the
protection programs like PSNP. Currently, the government literatures collected from different sources. After thorough reading
implements the fourth; 2015-2020 phase of the rural of the papers, only 28 of the published and unpublished
PSNP 4 as one major component of the government’s organization reports, research reports and policy briefs were
strategy to address climate vulnerability (MOA, 2014). screened based on their relevance to review topic. Out of 28
papers, 9 of them were written before 2013 year, but the rest of
The main function of the PSNP is to provide timely and
them were written within 2013 year and after. Almost all papers
predictable transfers to chronically food insecure were recent within five years later. The review study was made
households. Nevertheless, the amounts of the transfer based on review of empirical studies and reports, which are done
vary from region to region (Maier, 2014). The transfer through analysis of cross sectional, panel and time series data.
may be in the three forms: cash, food, or a combination
of both. Combination of food and cash does not transfer
on the same time rather, households receive food for RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
some months of the year and cash for the rest of the
months (Devereux et al., 2008; MOA, 2014). Causes of food insecurity in Ethiopia
To the best of author’s knowledge, only a few empirical
studies have been done so far regarding impact of PSNP Most people who live in rural areas and depend on
in the Ethiopian context. Generally, empirical evidence agriculture as income generating activity were faced by
related to the impact of program on rural community food insecurity (FAO, 2015 ). Agriculture is the source of
provides incompatible results. Some of the studies are food and income for over 85% of the Ethiopian
based on data collected soon after the implementation of population, but drought becomes the main cause of
the program or based on cross sectional data, and some livelihood crisis particularly for the rural community. As a
of empirical studies and evaluation reports have focused result, most people are chronically food insecure and
86 J. Agric. Ext. Rural Dev.
around 10 million people, who are chronically food- seven million people (Care, 2014). The PSNP aims are to
insecure, are targeted to PSNP (FSIN, 2017). Failure to reduce household vulnerability, protect household assets,
invest on the sufficient local food production and the improve household resilience and provide labor to create
collapse of pastoral livelihoods are the current food community assets (e.g. check dams and roads). In
security crisis in Ethiopia. Some places of the Oromia, general, the target of the program is for graduate
South Nations Nationalities and People and Somali participants from food insecurity into sustainable food
regions have been threatened by the drought (FAO, secure (Brown and Teshome, 2007).
2017).
Even if the level of food-insecurity varies from one
region to the other (Sewnet, 2015; FAO, 2017; FSIN, Analysis of challenges of PSNP implementation
2017), different scholars and organizations identify many
causes of food insecurity which retard the development of The government of Ethiopia and the donors were
the community in the rural area. The major causes of the involved for the success of the program to attain its
food insecurity in Ethiopia are drought, volatile and objectives. However, some factors affect the
record-high prices, population displacement, flood and implementation of the program. The factors that
localized insecurity (FSIN, 2017). According to Sewnet hampered the program were capacity, ideologies of
(2015), the major causes of food insecurity in Ethiopia graduation and dependency and timeliness of transfers
are natural disasters (drought and climate change), and donor funding (Brown and Teshome, 2007). The
population growth, land fragmentation and degradation other problem or challenge that faces implantation of the
and lack of infrastructure. The major causes of the food program was inadequate financial resources. As result, a
security according to the Welteji et al. (2017), are low rate small number of beneficiaries were allowed to participate
of agricultural production, low access to food, the limited in the program (Fisseha, 2014). According to Mohamed
capacity of infrastructures and local markets, HIV/AIDS, (2017), accessibility of assets has influence on the
investment power, finance gap, poor health, shortage of government strategies to be under taken. Besides, study
water and poor sanitation, environmental degradation, results indicate that geographical location, administrative
climate change and natural disasters, conflict and (selection mechanism used for eligible household), and
persecution. exclusion of poor with inclusion of rich, weak institutional
linkages and lack of active community participation in the
decision making process were the challenges for the
The Ethiopia PSNP as social protection program program (Fekadu and Ignatius, 2009).
According to the Teshome (2013), some of the
Social protection is a program with provision of cash or challenges of the program were targeting of beneficiaries
in-kind transfers to the poor as means of reducing and inability to distinguish between acute and chronic
poverty and economic and social vulnerability (FAO, food insecurity at grassroots level, application of single
2015). In general, social protection has three components wage rate at national level, lack of the capacity to
such as social assistance, social insurance and labor manage, unprecedented amount of cash flowing into the
market protection. Social assistance programs are cash district and linkage problem at grassroots level. The
or in-kind transfers or public works programs. Programs challenges that face PSNP implementation were
that provide cover for designated contingencies affecting inclusion and exclusion of beneficiaries, poor
household welfare or income are called social insurance conservation, and limitation of awareness of
programs. However, labor market programs offer beneficiaries, linkage problem of officials, lack of
unemployment benefits to the workers through building manpower in remote areas, lack of monitoring and
skills. Hence, it increases workers’ productivity and evaluation of locally constructed infrastructures for their
employability (FAO, 2015). The government of the sustainability (Welteji et al., 2017).
Ethiopia implements the social protection program, that
is, cash or in-kind transfers or public works programs for
chronically food insecure community (Care, 2014). Such Analysis of impacts of PSNP on rural community
type of social protection program in Ethiopia is known as
PSNP. It was launched 2005 to smooth consumption of A number of studies conducted show that PSNP has a
chronically food insecure households by providing positive impact on the rural community (Andersson et al.,
transfers of cash and/or food during lean months to 2011; Debela and Holden, 2014; Gebresilassie, 2014;
address both the immediate and underlying causes of Mohamed, 2017; Welteji et al., 2017; Zoellick, 2014).
food insecurity (Brown and Teshome, 2007; Care, 2014). According to Debela and Holden ( 2014), the PSNP has
Like other world countries, Ethiopia is under taking PSNP positive effect on children through providing short-term
to meet the need of vulnerable households and nutritional benefits. The finding of Zoellick (2014) indicates
communities’ to address food insecurity. The program that PSNP has positive impact through preventing
provides cash or food for work and it benefits more than households from selling productive assets; facilitating
Kassa 87
new investment, income increase, reductions in stunting concerned bodies like researchers have to conduct
and an increase in household food provisions, researches that consider social, economic, environmental
infrastructure as well as food security for households. issues and resource availability of the beneficiaries in
Hence, it has improved food security, use of educational each region, that enable them to obtain baseline
and health services and agricultural productivity. PSNP information regarding the root cause of their food
has positive effect on consumption, livestock holdings security, before further PSNP implementation in Ethiopia.
and productive assets of the household as indicated by Researchers should consider overall impact of the PSNP
Gebresilassie (2014). The participation of household in and family support on the beneficiaries’ livelihood, and
PSNP has positive and statistically significant effect on they should depend on panel data to investigate the
food consumption and on their livelihood (Mohamed, impact of PSNP at national level.
2017). The PSNP has positive effect on the participant
household. Therefore, that it helps beneficiaries for
consumption smoothing and asset accumulation (Welteji CONFLICT OF INTERESTS
et al., 2017).
However, some scholars conclude that PSNP has The author has not declared any conflict of interests.
negative impact on the rural community (Mamo, 2011;
Hayalu, 2014; Beshir, 2011; Gilligan et al., 2009; Sabates-
Wheeler and Devereux, 2010; Adimassu and Kessler, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
2013). Some of the negative consequences of the PSNP
program were developing sense of dependency The author special thanks go to Mr. Kindie Fentahun
syndrome (Hayalu, 2014). According to Mamo (2011), Muchie (Assistant professor) and Mr. Awoke Worku
household failed to enhance asset accumulation if they Dessie (lecturer) for their technical assistance provided
are incorporated under PSNP. According to the earlier during review of different literature.
researchers (Beshir, 2011; Gilligan et al., 2009; Sabates-
Wheeler and Devereux, 2010), PSNP has negative effect
on welfare/asset building and consumption. Adimassu ABBREVIATIONS
and Kessler (2013) reported that PSNP has also negative
effect on soil erosion control measures. PSNP, Productive Safety Net Program; FAO, Food and
Agriculture Organization; SSN, Social Safety Net; MOA,
Ministry of Agriculture; FSIN, Food Security Information
Conclusion Network; HIV, Human Immune Deficiency Virus; AIDS,
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.
The causes of the rural community for the food insecurity
are many and varied. Some of the major causes of the
REFERENCES
food insecurity are low level of agricultural production,
drought, environmental degradation, limited capacity of Adimassu Z, Kessler A (2013). Impacts of productive safety net
infrastructures and disease. Different scholars have come programme on farmers’ investments in sustainable land
up with different challenges that face rural community. management. A case study in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopian.
Wageningen University and Research Center, Soil Physics and Land
The challenges that face implementation of the PSNP Management (SLM) Group, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, 6708PB,
were different in different places. In Ethiopia, different Wageningen, the Netherlands.
empirical studies have been conducted in different parts Anderson S, Elisabeth F (2015). USAID Office of Food for Peace Food
of the country and impacts of the PSNP vary according to Security Country Framework for Ethiopia FY 2016–FY 2020.
Washington, DC: Food Economy Group.
the study area. Some of the studies have shown that Andersson C, Mekonnen A, Stage J (2011). Impacts of the Productive
PSNP has been enhancing infrastructure, increased Safety Net Program in Ethiopia on livestock and tree holdings of rural
asset creation, environmental transformation, increased households. J. Dev. Econ. 94(1):119-126.
utilization of education and health services and improved Beshir HA (2011). Impacts of Productive Safety Net Program on
Household Welfare and Labour Supply in Rural Ethiopia: A Panel
agricultural productivity. However, some studies show
Data Approach. Addis Ababa University School of Graduate Studies.
that PSNP has negative impact on beneficiaries such as Brown TA, Teshome A (2007). Implementing Policies for Chronic
developing sense of dependency syndrome, consumption Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia. Chronic Poverty Research Centre
smoothing, asset accumulation and soil erosion control Working Paper No. 2008-09. Available at SSRN:
[Link] or
measures. Impacts of PSNP implementation were [Link]
indicated to be multi-dimensional, which vary from place Care (2014). Achieving Food and Nutrition Security in Ethiopia. Findings
to place. The studies conducted have also their own from the CARE Learning Tour to Ethiopia.
limitations such as being area and variable specific, [Link]
Debela BL, Holden ST (2014). How Does Ethiopia׳s Productive Safety
depending only on cross sectional data and unable to Net Program Affect Livestock Accumulation and Children ׳s
show presence or absence of family support to examine Education? Centre for Land Tenure Studies, Norwegian University of
impact of program. Therefore, the government and other Life Sciences.
88 J. Agric. Ext. Rural Dev.
Devereux S, Sabates-Wheeler R, Slater R, Tefera M, Brown T, Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) (2014). Disaster Risk Management and
Teshome A (2008). Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme Food Security Sector Food Security Coordination Directorate.
(PSNP): 2008 Assessment Report. IDS, Sussex. Available at: Available at: [Link]
[Link] Mohamed AA (2017). Impact of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net
et-al.-[Link]. Programme (PSNP) on the Household Livelihood: The Case of
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2017). Babile District in Somali Regional State, Ethiopia. International J.
Ethiopia drought response plan and priorities. Econ. Energy Environ. 2(2):25.
[Link] Sabates-Wheeler R, Devereux S (2010). Cash transfers and high food
detail/en/c/853939/ prices: Explaining outcomes on Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net
Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (2015). Programme. Food Policy 35(4):274-285.
The State of Food and Agriculture Social protection and agriculture: Sewnet Y (2015). Causes and coping mechanisms of food insecurity in
Breaking the cycle of rural poverty. Food and agriculture organization rural Ethiopia. AGRICULTURE AND BIOLOGY JOURNAL OF
of the United Nations Rome, 2015. NORTH AMERICA ISSN Print: 2151-7517, ISSN Online: 2151-7525,
Fekadu N, Ignatius M (2009). Challenges of Productive Safety Net doi:10.5251/abjna.2015.[Link] © 2015, ScienceHuβ,
Program implementation at local level: the case of Kuyu Woreda, [Link]
North Shewa Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia. J. Sustain. Dev. Afr. Teshome A (2013). Challenges of implementing the productive safety
11(1):248-267. net program. Proceeding of the fourth international conference on the
Fisseha K (2014). Food insecurity and the relative importance of various Ethiopian economy. Addiss Ababa, Ethiopia. Available at:
household assets. Second cycle, A2E. Uppsala: SLU, Dept. of Urban [Link] (Accessed on: 23 January
and Rural Development. 2018).
Food Sovegnity Brief (2013). Social Protection Policies to Fight Food Welteji D, Mohammed K, Hussein K (2017). The contribution of
Insecurity: What Stakes for Farmers?. Belgian. Productive Safety Net Program for food security of the rural
Food Security Information Network (FSIN) (2017). Global report on food households in the case of Bale Zone, Southeast Ethiopia. Agric. Food
crises. Available at: Security 6(1):53.
[Link] Wiseman W, Van Domelen J, Coll-Black S (2010). Designing and
Full%20Report_Global%20Report%20on%20Food%20Crises_v1.pdf implementing a rural safety net in a low income setting: Lessons
Gebresilassie YH (2014). The Economic Impact of Productive Safety learned from Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program 2005-2009.
Net Program on Poverty: Evidence from Central Zone of Tigrai World Bank, Washington DC, 56. Available at:
National Regional State, Ethiopia. Int. J. Innov. Res. Dev. 3(4):426- [Link]
436. Resources/[Link].
Gilligan DO, Hoddinott J, Taffesse AS (2009). The impact of Ethiopia's World Bank (2013). Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP)
Productive Safety Net Programme and its linkages. J. Dev. Stud. Integrating Disaster and Climate Risk Management. Case study
45(10): 1684-1706. report. Available at:
Hayalu G (2014). Assessment of Factors Affecting Household Level [Link]
Graduation from Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP): Evidence hiopias-Productive-Safety-Net-Program-PSNP-integrating-disaster-
from Emba-Alaje District Southern Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. Mekelle and-climate-risk-management-case-study.
University. Available at: Zoellick K (2014). Food security in Ethiopia: lessons to be learned from
[Link] the productive safety net program. Available at:
Maier P (2014). Food Security in Ethiopia. Diploma thesis, University of [Link]
Vienna. Faculty of Philology and Cultural Sciences Supervisor: security-in-ethiopia-lessons-to-be-learned-from-the-productive-safety-
Rohregger, Barbara. Available at: net-programme.
[Link]
Mamo T (2011). Impact of Productive Safety Net Program on Asset
Accumulation And Sustainable Land Management Practices In The
Central Rift Valley: The Case Of Adamitulu Jido Kombolcha And
Meskan Woredas. An [Link]. M. Sc. thesis, Departement of
Economics, Haramaya University.