Impacts of socio-psychological factors on smallholder farmers’ risk attitudes: empirical evidence and implications

Agrekon ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woldegebrial Zeweld ◽  
Guido Van Huylenbroeck ◽  
Girmay Tesfay ◽  
Stijn Speelman
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Risk Attitudes

scholarly journals Impacts of Socio-Psychological Factors on Actual Adoption of Sustainable Land Management Practices in Dryland and Water Stressed Areas

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 2963 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woldegebrial Zeweld ◽  
Guido Van Huylenbroeck ◽  
Girmay Tesfay ◽  
Hossein Azadi ◽  
Stijn Speelman
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Group Membership ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Probit Model ◽  
Ordered Probit ◽  
Risk Attitudes ◽  
Relational Capital ◽  
Sustainable Land Management

Despite the presence of several studies on technology adoption, there are limited empirical studies on how socio-psychological factors affect the adoption of sustainable agriculture. Therefore, this paper investigates how socio-psychological factors-such as social capital, information, attitudes, efficacy, and aversion-affect smallholder farmers’ decisions to adopt sustainable land management practices, such as agroforestry systems, organic compost, and crop rotation with legumes. Cross-sectional data are collected from 350 randomly selected farm households using a pre-tested and structured questionnaire. A multivariate probit model is used to investigate factors that influence the probability of adopting these practices. The ordered probit model is also applied to identify and analyze the determinants of the number (intensity) of land management practices adopted. The findings indicate that nearly half of the farmers have adopted these land management practices to improve soil fertility, enhance water retention capacity, and increase productivity. It is also found that attitudes, information, education, group membership, relational capital, risk attitudes, and labor supply significantly affect the probability of adopting these agricultural practices. The estimates of the ordered probit model also indicate that extension services, risk attitudes, group membership, relational capital, education and labor supply are major determinants of the number of land management practices used. However, financial resources, biophysical factors and some demographic factors are found to have an insignificant effect on sustainable agriculture adoption. This implies that when it is necessary to promote sustainable land management practices and to stimulate smallholder farmers to adopt such practices in isolation or combination, specific strategies should be designed to improve awareness, build positive attitudes, reduce risk aversion, strengthen formal organizations, and empower endogenous groups (or informal institutions).

Adult testosterone levels have little or no influence on dominance in men

1998 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Hines
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Cognitive Schemas ◽  
Substantial Evidence ◽  
Testosterone Levels

There is substantial evidence that psychological factors influence human testosterone levels, but little support if any for an influence of circulating testosterone on dominance in men. Persistent interest in testosterone as an explanation of behaviors such as dominance and aggression might reflect the influence of cognitive schemas regarding race and sex rather than empirical evidence.

scholarly journals The Impact of Farm Forestry on Poverty alleviation and Food Security in Uganda

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac Kiyingi ◽  
A. Edriss ◽  
M. Phiri ◽  
M. Buyinza ◽  
H. Agaba
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Plantation Forestry ◽  
Consumption Expenditure ◽  
Switching Regression ◽  
Carbon Forestry ◽  
On Farm ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Improve Food Security

<p>To address the problem of high rural poverty and food insecurity, government and international donors have funded on-farm plantation forestry projects as one of the tools for improving the welfare of rural communities. In the wake of climate change, on-farm plantation forestry has evolved to include carbon forestry, with the dual purpose of sequestering carbon and improving rural livelihoods. However, there is a dearth of empirical evidence regarding whether and under what conditions on-farm plantation forestry can deliver favorable livelihood outcomes.</p>Therefore, Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and endogenous switching regression models were used to estimate the average treatment effects of adopting eucalyptus and carbon forestry woodlots (under the planvivo system) on consumption expenditure per adult equivalent and daily calorie acquisition per adult equivalent. PSM and switching regression results consistently indicated that adoption of eucalyptus woodlots increased consumption expenditure by 32 and 28.3% respectively. PSM and switching regression results also indicated that adoption of eucalyptus woodlots increased calorie acquisition per adult equivalent by 36 and 13.1% respectively. Results also indicated that adoption of carbon forestry increased calorie acquisition per adult equivalent by between 22 and 26.9% but the impact on consumption expenditure per adult equivalent was mixed. The findings of this study provide empirical evidence that adoption of on-farm eucalyptus woodlots is an important pathway for smallholder farmers to escape poverty and improve food security. Similarly, adoption of carbon forestry woodlots under the planvivo system can improve food security. However, previous on-farm plantation forestry projects were not well targeted to the poor households.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document