By analyzing experiences of 210 rice farmers belonging to six villages of six different districts in Bangladesh this article estimates the impact of corruption on farm production and profit. Unlike existing literature corruption here is defined in broader term. Both explicit and implicit cost items are included while calculating the cost of corruption. Through estimating the marginal physical product of fertilizer, a relative impact of corruption on farm production is estimated. Then by hypothesizing different scenarios with different levels of corruption, changes in a farmer's benefit cost ratio is estimated. It has been observed that with reducing cost of corruption farmers observe higher benefit cost ratio and vice versa. Cost of corruption is found to be relatively higher in restricted input market situation and relatively lower when the market is more competitive. Thus our results are suggestive for competitive market policy to reduce corruption which will ultimately result in more farm production and profit.
Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences
2013. — Выпуск 2
Содержание:
The trend of sugar cane production and refined sugar imports for the period 1960-2010 were analysed and forecasted to year 2020. Results show that sugar cane output will rise to 2.8m tonnes from about 88 thousand hectares of land by year 2020. The total refined sugar that will be available from production and import is about 720 thousand tonnes but with Nigerian population growing at the rate of 2.27%, potential demand for refined sugar will rise to 1.6B tonnes by the year 2020 creating a deficit of over 1.5B tonnes. This require a drastic action which if not taken will lead to sugar crisis. Three major options are advocated in this paper i.e. hectarage expansion, massive funding of research to improve sugar cane production technology such that yield will rise to 150 tonnes per hectare and import expansion. Of the three options, only increase funding of research will encourage local technology and save Nigeria foreign exchange of more than $100B annually and will make Nigeria self-reliant in sugar production by the year 2020 and facilitate the emergence of Nigeria as a developed nation.
Ключевые слова
Efficiency and profitability are the objectives of poultry production. Investigating allocative efficiency of feeds will bring development to the poultry industry in Nigeria. Using a set of structured questionnaire, primary data were collected from 60 poultry farmers (30 broiler farmers and 30 layer farmers). Collected data were analyzed using a combination of descriptive and inferential statistics (regression model), convectional profit model and feed use efficiency model. The result revealed that the shadow price of a 25kg bag of layer mash (N=2498.2) is less than the ruling price (Market price) of N2500 by N1.8. The result further shows a shadow price of N1991.4. for broiler mash. This is less than the ruling price (market price) of N2000 by N8.6. That at the ruling price of feeds, egg producers and broiler producers should decrease the quantity of feeds consumed per bird and that farmers should buy feeds directly through cooperatives from feed producing companies to enjoy the advantage of price efficiency.
Ключевые слова
This study analyzed cocoa-based Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems (AKIS) in Atiwa and East Akim districts of the Eastern Region of Ghana by using descriptive statistics and Total Information Score (TIS). Total Information Score (TIS) was used to rank the information sources according to the farmers' extent of contact with and usefulness of the information sources. On the whole, the total information score of mass media ranked the most frequently used and useful information sources, with personal information sources the second and public information sources third followed by private information sources ranking the least thus fourth. The study recommends for the use of mass media especially radio and television sets in availing cocoa-based information to farmers.
Ключевые слова
This study estimates the impact on Burkina Faso of eliminating tariffs on imports from the EU under EPAs, considering trade, revenue and welfare effects. At complete elimination of tariffs on all products imports from trade classification sections (TDC 01-13) from the EU. Burkina Faso is likely to experience both welfare gains and losses depending on the values of imports of each trade classification section in question. The overall welfare effect relative to GDP tends to be very small and positive, but potential tariff revenue losses are enormous even when the country has up to fifteen - twenty-five years in which to implement the tariff reductions, unless with scope for tax substitution. EPAs effects are concentrated on those product sections where trade creation outweighs trade diversion such as Animal products, Vegetable products, Animal/Veg. products, Mineral products, and Textiles products. Besides, product sections with the greatest market opportunities for EU suppliers to displace any of the other suppliers, ECOWAS and/or ROW include sections where trade diversion outweighs trade creation effects, such as prepared foodstuffs, product of chemicals, plastics, raw hides & skin, etc. The sensitive products (SPs) to be excluded from tariff removal should include sections in which ECOWAS member nations are suppliers to regional importers so that excluding them as SPs would improve the welfare gain compared to estimates where tariff are removed from those products in which ECOWAS have zero potential. The results at this level of aggregation will provide useful information to the on-going negotiations between ECOWAS and the EU in determining Burkinabe's products to be exempted from tariff removal during EPAs based on the severity of the effects on varied trade classification (TDC) sections, among other considerations.
Ключевые слова
The study assesses the effects of climate change on poultry production in Ondo State, Nigeria. Eighty three (83) poultry farmers were interviewed to elicit relevant information in line with the objectives of the study. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistical tools were used for data analysis. Findings revealed that majority (93.3%) of the respondents are aware of climate change, 78%, 98.8% and 86.7% of the respondents agreed that temperature fluctuation, increased in sunshine intensity and global warming has a negative effects on poultry production, 72.4% of the respondents agreed that prices of feed grains are usually high in hot and dry seasons which may affect cost of production and number of birds to raise for egg and meat production in the farm, 73.5% of the respondents agreed that climate change has effect on feed grain availability, this implies that high temperature and low rainfall are climatic factors that affect general grain harvest, their supply to the market and ultimately cost of poultry production. the findings further revealed that 94% of the respondents agreed that climate change affects egg and meat production pattern and 95.2% of the respondents agreed that moist climatic conditions encouraged the distribution and development of diseases. Infrential statistics shows that there is a significant relationship between respondents' socio-economic characteristics and perception of poultry farmers on effects of climate change on poultry production since p > 0.05 (r = 0.454, p= 0.001), the findings also shows that there is a significant relationship between socio-economic characteristics of respondents and their level of awareness of climate change since the p > 0.05 (r = 0.652, p = 0.001). it is recomended extension agents and other development agencies need to educate the poultry farmers more about the effects posed by climate change on poultry production and intensify awareness campaign to poultry farmers on how to reduce the effects of climate change on poultry production.
Ключевые слова
Basically, climate change refers to any change in climate overtime, generally caused by natural variability and/or human activities. It has great devastating impact, particularly on agriculture and by extrapolation on farmers and the national economy. The frontline agricultural extension workers are expected to be among the principal stakeholders to teach farmers how to cope with climate change. Consequently, there is a need to develop appropriate teaching package for the training of the frontline agricultural extension workers, based on the myriad of adaptation strategies and practices available in the literature. This paper synthesizes the rationale for capacity building in climate change and the adaptation or coping strategies. The modules (train-the-trainer) for teaching agricultural extension workers and farmers are documented in the paper.
Ключевые слова
To the majority of Zimbabweans, agriculture is a strong option for spurring growth, overcoming poverty, and enhancing food security. More than 90% of Zimbabwe's rural populace depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Improving the productivity, profitability and sustainability of smallholder farming is therefore the main pathway out of poverty in using agriculture for development (WDR, 2008). The adoption of new technologies by the rural communities' world over has been found to increase rural livelihoods and food quality. In rural Masvingo many technologies have been adopted in agricultural production, but the major question has remained, has this improved the households' welfare or it has been inadequately utilized and wrongly applied to an extent that no gain in welfare has been recorded? To estimate the impact of technological adoption on household welfare in Masvingo cross-sectional data of 2010 in 560 randomly selected households who responded to the questionnaire was utilised. Using propensity score matching (PSM) we found out that households that adopted new technologies had high consumption expenditures and agricultural income hence technology improves household welfare in Masvingo province.
Ключевые слова
The study sought to evaluate the effectiveness of community participation in rural development projects in Zimbabwe testing the credibility of the popularized supposition that almost all contemporary development efforts characteristically embrace local participation. Public participation is widely assumed to be an essential ingredient for the fruition of rural development efforts. The research made use of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies in which unstructured interviews, focus group discussions and questionnaires were used as data gathering instruments. The analysis of data was enabled by the use of People-Centered Development (PCD) as a conceptual framework. Findings revealed that the level of community participation in the district is not only minimal, but it is also top down. This has much to do with the negative perceptions by facilitating agents viewing local people as passive recipients of externally crafted models of development and other factors such as the power dynamics within and between the community and other stakeholders. The research also found preferential treatment of other tribal groups by the facilitating agent, intra group conflicts and bureaucratic and political influence as obstacles militating against effective participation. Based on these findings, and consistent with the wider literature, recommendation are that the nature of community engagement should be based on the principle of equal partnership among all stakeholders as this would encourage full cooperation and thus effective participation.
Ключевые слова
This article explores the impact of climate change and variability on agricultural productivity in the communal area of Bikita. The article further examines the adaptation and mitigation strategies devised by farmers to deal with the vagaries of climate change and variability. The sustainability of these is also interrogated in this article. This study juxtaposed qualitative and quantitative methodologies albeit with more bias on the former. A total of 40 farmers were sampled for unstructured interviews and focus group discussions. This article argues that the adverse impacts of climate change and variability are felt heavily by the poor communal farmers who are directly dependent on agriculture for livelihood. From the study, some of the widely reported signs of climate variability in Bikita included late and unpredictable rains, high temperatures (heat waves), successive drought, shortening rainfall seasons and seasonal changes in the timing of rainfall. The paper argues that climate change has compounded the vulnerability of peasant farmers in the drought - prone district of Bikita plunging them into food insecurity and abject poverty. It emerged in the study that some of effects of climate variability felt by communal farmers in Bikita included failure of crops, death of livestock and low crop yields, all of which have led to declining agricultural productivity. Findings in this study however established that communal farmers have not been passive victims of the vagaries of climate change and variability. They have rationally responded to it through various adaptation and mitigation strategies both individually and collectively.