Cooperatives for Staple Crop Marketing
Cooperatives for Staple Crop Marketing

Author: Tanguy Bernard

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13: 0896291758

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Rural producer organizations (RPOs), such as farmers' organizations or rural cooperatives, offer a means for smallholder farmers in developing countries to sell their crops commercially. RPOs hold particular promise for Sub-Saharan Africa, where small-scale farming is the primary livelihood but commercialization of food crops is very limited. Using the experience of smallholders in Ethiopia as a case study, this research monograph identifies the benefits of RPOs for small farmers, as well as the conditions under which such organizations most successfully promote smallholder commercialization. The evidence from Ethiopia indicates that RPOs do increase farmers' profits from crop sales, but that the beneficiaries do not tend to be the poorest smallholders. Moreover, an RPO's marketing effectiveness is precarious: it can easily diminish if the number or diversity of its members increases or if it provides more non-marketing services. The authors conclude that RPOs have a role to play in the agricultural development of Sub-Saharan Africa, but that role should be complemented by other programs that directly target the poorest farmers. Further, the effectiveness of RPOs should be preserved by allowing them to follow their own agendas rather than being encouraged to take on non-marketing activities. The assessment of RPOs presented in this monograph should be a valuable resource for policymakers and researchers concerned with economic development and poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Determining Factors and Impacts of Modern Agricultural Technology Adoption in West Wollega
Determining Factors and Impacts of Modern Agricultural Technology Adoption in West Wollega

Author: Merga Challa

Publisher: GRIN Verlag

Published: 2014-09-16

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13: 3656744033

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Master's Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Agrarian Studies, Wollega University (School of graduate studies), language: English, abstract: This study analyzed factors affecting modern agricultural technology adoption by farmers and the impact of technology adoption decision on the welfare of households in the study area. The data used for the study were obtained from 145 randomly selected sample households in the study area. Binary logit model was employed to analyze the determinants of farmers’ decisions to adopt modern technologies. Moreover, the average effect of adoption on household incomes and expenditure were estimated by using propensity score matching method. The result of the logistic regression showed that household heads’ education level, farm size, credit accessibility, perception of farmers about cost of the inputs and off-farm income positively and significantly affected the farm households’ adoption decision; while family size affected their decision negatively and significantly. The result of the propensity score matching estimation showed that the average income and consumption expenditure of adopters are greater than that of non-adopters. Based on these findings it is recommended that the zonal and the woreda leaders extension agents farm and education experts, policy makers and other development oriented organizations have to plan in such a way that the farm households in the study area will obtain sufficient education, credit accessibilities and also have to train farmers to make them understand the benefits obtained from adopting the new technologies. These bodies have also to arrange policy issues that improve farm labour participation of household members and also to arrange the ways in which farmers obtain means of income outside farming activities.

The Nature of the Farm
The Nature of the Farm

Author: Douglas W. Allen

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 9780262511858

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A theoretical and empirical study of agricultural contracts and organization based on the transaction cost framework.

Accelerating technical change through video-mediated agricultural extension: Evidence from Ethiopia
Accelerating technical change through video-mediated agricultural extension: Evidence from Ethiopia

Author: Abate, Gashaw T.

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published:

Total Pages: 74

ISBN-13:

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Despite a rapidly growing enthusiasm around applications of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to smallholder agriculture in developing countries, there are still many questions on the effectiveness of ICT-based approaches. This study assesses the effects of videomediated agricultural extension service provision on farmers’ knowledge and adoption of improved agricultural technologies and practices in Ethiopia. The study focuses on a program piloted by the Government of Ethiopia and Digital Green and poses three questions. First, to what extent does video-mediated extension lead to increased uptake of improved agricultural technologies and practices by smallholder farmers? Second, is video-mediated extension targeted at both spouses of the household more effective than when only targeted at the (typically male) household head? Third, how cost-effective is a video-mediated approach to extension provision? The study explores these questions with a randomized controlled trial designed to evaluate the video-mediated approach as applied to three priority crops (teff, wheat, maize) and three technologies (row planting, precise seeding rates, and urea dressing). The trial was implemented in 347 kebeles (village clusters) during the 2017 meher (rainy) season in Ethiopia’s four most agriculturally important regional states. Analysis of data from our surveys of 2,422 households and 896 extension agents indicates that the video-mediated approach is more effective than the conventional approach in achieving several key outcomes. Specifically, we find that videomediated extension reaches a wider audience than the conventional approach and leads to higher levels of agricultural knowledge and uptake of technologies in those kebeles randomly assigned to the program. While our results do point to greater participation and greater knowledge of female spouses in kebeles where both male and female spouses were targeted by the program, we do not find clear evidence that the more inclusive approach translated into higher uptake of the subject technologies and practices. Finally, we find that the video-mediated approach becomes less costly as the scale of operation increases.

China’s 40 Years of Reform and Development: 1978–2018
China’s 40 Years of Reform and Development: 1978–2018

Author: Ross Garnaut

Publisher: ANU Press

Published: 2018-07-19

Total Pages: 709

ISBN-13: 176046225X

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The year 2018 marks 40 years of reform and development in China (1978–2018). This commemorative book assembles some of the world’s most prominent scholars on the Chinese economy to reflect on what has been achieved as a result of the economic reform programs, and to draw out the key lessons that have been learned by the model of growth and development in China over the preceding four decades. This book explores what has happened in the transformation of the Chinese economy in the past 40 years for China itself, as well as for the rest of the world, and discusses the implications of what will happen next in the context of China’s new reform agenda. Focusing on the long-term development strategy amid various old and new challenges that face the economy, this book sets the scene for what the world can expect in China’s fifth decade of reform and development. A key feature of this book is its comprehensive coverage of the key issues involved in China’s economic reform and development. Included are discussions of China’s 40 years of reform and development in a global perspective; the political economy of economic transformation; the progress of marketisation and changes in market-compatible institutions; the reform program for state-owned enterprises; the financial sector and fiscal system reform, and its foreign exchange system reform; the progress and challenges in economic rebalancing; and the continuing process of China’s global integration. This book further documents and analyses the development experiences including China’s large scale of migration and urbanisation, the demographic structural changes, the private sector development, income distribution, land reform and regional development, agricultural development, and energy and climate change policies.

Emerging Challenges to Food Production and Security in Asia, Middle East, and Africa
Emerging Challenges to Food Production and Security in Asia, Middle East, and Africa

Author: Mohamed Behnassi

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-07-28

Total Pages: 330

ISBN-13: 3030729877

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This book, as a part of a series of CERES publications, provides a multi-regional and cross-sectoral analysis of food and water security, especially in the era of climate risks, biodiversity loss, pressure on scarce resources, especially land and water, increasing global population, and changing dietary preferences. It includes both conceptual research and empirically-based studies, which provides context-specific analyses and recommendations based on a variety of case studies from Africa, Middle East, and Asia regarding the fostering of long-term resilience of food and water security. The core approach of the volume consists of: assessing the structural drivers affecting the vulnerability of food and water security, under the persistence of current trends; identifying the best solutions and practices to enhance the climate resilience for food and water security; and fostering climate adaptation and biodiversity protection for food and water security.

Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization: A Framework for Africa
Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization: A Framework for Africa

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.

Published: 2019-03-13

Total Pages: 150

ISBN-13: 9251308713

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This framework presents ten interrelated principles/elements to guide Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization in Africa (SAMA). Further, it presents the technical issues to be considered under SAMA and the options to be analysed at the country and sub regional levels. The ten key elements required in a framework for SAMA are as follows: The analysis in the framework calls for a specific approach, involving learning from other parts of the world where significant transformation of the agricultural mechanization sector has already occurred within a three-to-four decade time frame, and developing policies and programmes to realize Africa’s aspirations of Zero Hunger by 2025. This approach entails the identification and prioritization of relevant and interrelated elements to help countries develop strategies and practical development plans that create synergies in line with their agricultural transformation plans. Given the unique characteristics of each country and the diverse needs of Africa due to the ecological heterogeneity and the wide range of farm sizes, the framework avoids being prescriptive.