Agricultural infrastructure public financing towards rural poverty alleviation: evidence from West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) States

The paper examines the effects of public financing in agricultural infrastructure on rural poverty alleviation in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) States. To conduct this macroeconomic analysis of poverty, a dynamic panel was used to study the effects of public spending on agricultural infrastructure on rural poverty and to understand the persistence of poverty. We used secondary data of a macroeconomic nature from World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) databases for the period 2000–2016. To correct the endogeneity generated by the dynamic nature of the panel, the estimation is made by the system generalized moment method (GMM). The results showed that the quality of road infrastructure contributes to increasing farm income and thus reducing rural poverty. On the other hand, irrigation does not have a significant effect on rural poverty. In view of these result, it is recommended that WAEMU States make efforts in the allocation of public resources in the area of agricultural infrastructure to boost the development of the agricultural sector and significantly reduce rural poverty.