Linking apple farmers to markets

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanglin Ma ◽  
Awudu Abdulai
Keyword(s):  
Multinomial Logit Model ◽  
Switching Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Net Returns ◽  
Matching Technique ◽  
Apple Production ◽  
Marketing Contracts ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Selection Correction ◽  
Correction Terms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of marketing contract choices including written contracts, oral contracts and no contracts, as well as to examine the impact of marketing contracts on net returns from apple production in China. Design/methodology/approach – A two-stage selection correction approach (Bourguignon, Fournier, and Gurgand (BFG)) for the multinomial logit model is employed to estimate the impact of marketing contracts on net returns from apple production. On the basis of the BFG estimation, the authors also use an endogenous switching regression model and a propensity score matching technique to estimate the causal effects of marketing contract choices on net returns from apple production. Findings – The results reveal significant selectivity correction terms in the choices of both written contracts and no contracts and insignificant selectivity correction terms in the choice of oral contract, indicating that accounting for selection bias is a prerequisite for unbiased and consistent estimation. The findings also indicate written contracts increase apple farmers’ net returns, while oral contracts exert the opposite effect. Originality/value – To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the impact of marketing contract choices on net returns from apple production, accounting for selectivity effects.

Do food certification standards guarantee small-sized farming enterprises access to better markets? Effectiveness of marketing contracts in Kenya

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-459
Author(s):  
Castro N. Gichuki ◽  
Simon K. Gicheha ◽  
Charles Wambu Kamau
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Spot Market ◽  
Snap Bean ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Snap Beans ◽  
Net Returns ◽  
Marketing Contracts ◽  
Step Selection ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of GLOBALGAP standards certification on farmer's preference for marketing contract choices including written contracts, oral contracts and spot contracts, as well as to establish the impact of marketing contracts on net returns from snap bean production in Kenya.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, we use a data collected from 446 Snap bean farmers in Kenya. Using a two-step selection Bourguignon Frontier and Gurgand (BFG) model and Propensity Score Matching (PSM), we analysed determinants of Global Gap Certification and other farming characteristics that influence smallholder farmers preference for marketing contracts and net returns from snap beans venture.FindingsResults indicate that attending GLOBALGAP training, GLOBALGAP subsidy support, membership to GLOBALGAP farmer's groups, and selling beans to GLOBALGAP certified GLOBALGAP buyers would significantly influence better returns underwritten marketing contracts. Producing snap beans underwritten marketing contracts would get farmer's net returns of between 1.8 and 8% while producing under oral and spot market contracts would earn farmer net returns of between 0.2 and 0.08 %.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to examine the influence of GLOBALGAP standards certification on marketing contract choices and net returns from snap bean production, while accounting for selectivity biasness.

Does the Contract Type Matter? Impact of Marketing and Production Contracts on Cashew Farmers’ Farm Performance in Ghana

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Dubbert ◽  
Awudu Abdulai
Keyword(s):  
Driving Forces ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Spot Markets ◽  
Switching Regression ◽  
Farm Productivity ◽  
Production Contracts ◽  
Marketing Contracts ◽  
On Farm ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Substantial Heterogeneity

Abstract Many studies show that participation in contract farming has positive impacts on farm productivity and incomes. Most of the literature, however, does not take into account that contracts vary in their specifications, making empirical evidence scarce on the diverse impacts of different types of contracts. In this study, we investigate the driving forces of participation in marketing and production contracts, relative to spot markets. We also study the extent to which different contract types add additional benefits to smallholder farmers, using recent survey data of 389 cashew farmers in Ghana. To account for selection bias arising from observed and unobserved factors, we apply a multinomial endogenous switching regression method and implement a counterfactual analysis. The empirical results demonstrate that farmers who participate in production contracts obtain significantly higher cashew yields, cashew net revenues, and are more food secure compared to spot market farmers. We also find substantial heterogeneity in the impact of marketing and production contracts across scale of operation. Small sized farms that participate in production contracts tend to benefit the most. Marketing contracts, however, do not appear to benefit cashew farmers.

Capital and credit constraints in the engagement of youth in Ghanaian agriculture

2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martinson Ankrah Twumasi ◽  
Yuansheng Jiang ◽  
Monica Owusu Acheampong
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Credit Constraints ◽  
Rural Youth ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Switching Regression ◽  
Credit Constraint ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Application Procedure ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors influencing rural youth farmers’ credit constraints status and the effect of credit constraint on the intensity of participation of these farmers in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach The econometric estimation is based on cross-sectional data collected in 2018 from the Brong Ahafo region in Ghana. The sample data set consists of 450 rural youth farmers. The collected data were analyzed through different econometric techniques, using the endogenous switching regression model (ERSM). Findings The direct elicitation approach employed in this study revealed that out of the 450 farmers, 211 (47 percent) of the respondents were credit constrained compared to 239 (53 percent) of their counterparts who were unconstrained. The ERSM indicated that youth farmers education, age, savings, parents occupation reduced the probability of the rural youth farmer to be credit constrained but cumbersome loan application procedure and loan disbursement time positively affect credit constraint. Moreover, farmers that are credit constrained have lower intensity of participation in agriculture activities than a random farmer from the sample. This suggests that access to credit has a positive impact on the intensity of participation in agriculture activities. Research limitations/implications In this study, only rural youth farmers in a particular region were considered. However, there are youths all over the nation. Therefore, future researchers could consider other youth’s farmers elsewhere in the country. Originality/value Although existing studies have examined rural youth farmers’ participation in agriculture and credit constraint separately, the unique contribution of this paper is the analysis of credit constraint of rural youth farmers as well as the impact of credit constraint on the intensity of participation in agriculture activities.

Pushed out or pulled in? Participation in non-farm activities in rural China

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuanxiang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Rural China ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Switching Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Income Gap ◽  
Income Differential ◽  
Farm Production ◽  
Commercial Farming ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the determinants of China’s rural households’ non-farm participation. The authors pay special attention to the effect of potential income differential on this participation. Design/methodology/approach The data used in this study come from a household survey conducted in Hubei Province. The authors estimate participation equation and income equation, respectively, then introduce potential income differential simulated in participation equation to examine its effect on non-farm participation. Findings Potential income differential serves as the major pull factor that favors non-farm participation. Education, proximity to a city and specialized commercial farming are crucial in helping rural households to participate in non-farm production; while the land shortage or the labor surplus act as the push factor in non-farm participation. Better quality of land reduces the household’s propensity to participate in non-farm activities. Moreover, the income gap between households that participate in non-farm activities and pure farmers is mainly determined by the differences in household characteristics. Originality/value The authors use the method of “switching regression and structural probit” to examine the impact of potential income differential on non-farm participation, and simulate the response of the participation probability to the change of potential income differential. The authors also analyze the sources of income gap between non-farm and farm households using Oaxaca decomposition.

scholarly journals Consumers’ wine preferences in a changing scenario

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Escobar ◽  
Zein Kallas ◽  
José M. Gil
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Discrete Choice ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Multinomial Logit Model ◽  
Discrete Choice Experiments ◽  
Choice Modelling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Socioeconomic Changes ◽  
Discrete Choice Modelling ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Important socioeconomic changes have been undergone due to the international economic crisis. In Catalonia (Spain), political changes towards independentism also occurred within the same period. The purpose of this paper is to explore the consumers’ wine preferences in Catalonia in two different scenarios. In particular, the authors have focussed the interest in those preferences regarding the regional origin of the wine. Design/methodology/approach Data were elicited from two identical discrete choice experiments performed in two times: before (2008) and during the economic crisis (2010) in Catalonia, Spain. Findings The results imply that the external common circumstances may have had a homogenising influence in consumer choices by decreasing the level of randomness of consumers’ selection. Consumers’ preferences for a Catalan origin were enhanced during the crisis, while price became the most important attribute. Research limitations/implications Ideally, the participants involved in both experiments would have been the same. Unfortunately, this was not possible to maintain and it is one of the limitations of this study. The authors are also aware that other non-controlled variables may have also played a role and the conclusions that are driven should be taken carefully. Originality/value This paper contributes to the literature of the discrete choice modelling using the recently developed Generalized Multinomial Logit Model. To the knowledge this is the first application in the literature of wine preferences to measure the impact of the contextual changes (economic and political) in Catalonia (Spain).

A reconsideration of operating-financial leverage tradeoff hypothesis

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael T. Dugan ◽  
Simon K. Medcalfe ◽  
Sang Hyun Park
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Manufacturing Industry ◽  
Empirical Test ◽  
Empirical Testing ◽  
Switching Regression ◽  
Financial Leverage ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Researchers ◽  
Operating Leverage ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to attempt to perform a test of the operating leverage-financial leverage tradeoff hypothesis that is more methodologically consistent with the logical framing of the hypothesis appearing in the Mandelker and Rhee (1984) paper. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a sample of firms from the manufacturing industry to estimate their degree of operating leverage and degree of financial leverage coefficients. The switching regression methodology is then used to perform the empirical test of the tradeoff hypothesis. Findings The results suggest that firms tradeoff their operating and financial leverage during good economic times, but do not engage in the tradeoff behavior during recessionary times. Originality/value This paper refines the empirical testing of the tradeoff hypothesis using the innovative switching regression methodology. The paper also has important implications for the impact of firms’ risk on the capital markets as well as the economy as a whole, and for academic researchers in financial economics examining the relationships between operating and financial leverage and various firm-specific variables.

IPM adoption, cooperative membership and farm economic performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanglin Ma ◽  
Awudu Abdulai
Keyword(s):  
Economic Performance ◽  
Control Function ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Farm Work ◽  
Agricultural Cooperative ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
Net Returns ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of agricultural cooperative membership on farmers’ decisions to adopt integrated pest management (IPM) technology and to estimate the impact of IPM adoption on farm economic performance. Design/methodology/approach An endogenous switching probit model that addresses the sample selection bias issue arising from both observed and unobserved factors is used to estimate the survey data from a sample of 481 apple households in China. A treatment effects model is employed to estimate the impact of IPM adoption on apple yields, net returns and agricultural income. In order to address the potential endogeneity associated with off-farm work variable in estimating both cooperative membership choice specification and IPM adoption specifications, a control function approach is used. Findings The empirical results show that cooperative membership exerts a positive and significant impact on the adoption of IPM technology. In particular, farmers’ IPM adoption decision is significantly associated with household and farm-level characteristics (e.g. education, farm size and price knowledge). IPM adoption has a positive and statistically significant impact on apple yields, net returns and agricultural income. Practical implications The findings indicate that agricultural cooperatives can be a transmission route in the efforts to proliferate the adoption and diffusion of IPM technology, and increased IPM adoption tends to improve the economic performance of farm households. Originality/value Despite the widespread evidence of health and environmental benefits associated with IPM technology, the adoption rate of this technology remains significantly low. This paper provides a first attempt by investigating to what extent and how agricultural cooperative membership affects IPM adoption and how IPM adoption influences farm economic performance.

What can we learn from experience? An impact analysis of experience on households' preferences for microfinance

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-239
Author(s):  
Zhao Ding ◽  
Awudu Abdulai ◽  
Yuansheng Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Willingness To Pay ◽  
Latent Variable ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Bayesian Updating ◽  
Multinomial Logit Model ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Random Utility Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis article examines the impact of experience on rural households' preferences for microfinance attributes, using household data from Sichuan province in China.Design/methodology/approachWe use the Bayesian updating method to account for the learning process involved in acquiring experience on microfinance. We then use the generalized multinomial logit model that accounts for both preference and scale heterogeneity to estimate the choice probabilities and impact of experience on preferences and willingness-to-pay (WTP) for microfinance.FindingsThe empirical findings show that experience with microfinance products or lending institutions helps households in their selections of microfinance institutions. In particular, experience with financial institutions increase the scale parameter and help respondents to feel assured about their choices, while experience with individual lenders have no such effects. The results also indicate that the willingness-to-pay estimates vary across experiences, with WTP for installment credit displaying the biggest change and the Bayesian updating making the changes even much larger.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the research gap by taking experience as a latent variable that influences personal specific tastes and as an integral part of total utility of rural households in their decision-making processes. We develop a conceptual framework that is based on McFadden's random utility theory and Bayesian inference.

Industry- and occupation-specific human capital: evidence from displaced workers

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sérgio Lagoa ◽  
Fátima Suleman
Keyword(s):  
Multinomial Logit Model ◽  
Displaced Workers ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Worker Flows ◽  
Specific Skill ◽  
Specific Human Capital ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Wage Cuts ◽  
Selection Of

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impact of industry and occupation skills on the wages of displaced workers due to firm closure. Design/methodology/approach – Using linked employer-employee data on displaced workers, this paper estimates the impact of industry and occupation tenure on post-displacement wage changes correcting for endogeneity with a multinomial logit model. Findings – The evidence suggests that occupation has more specific skill requirements than industry. Displaced workers moving both industry and occupation suffer a higher wage decline than those changing only industry or occupation. Furthermore, the transferability of skills varies across occupations and industries; more specifically, intermediate-level occupations are more demanding in specific skills and impose higher wages losses for displaced workers. Finally, the economic crisis reduced the return on firm-specific skills only in some cases. Practical implications – The examination of skill specificity/transferability helps firms, workers and policy makers to draw strategies and policies to improve their individual situation and social welfare. The analysis suggest that when experienced workers are displaced and forced to find a job in a different industry, they suffer considerable wage cuts. While displacement imposes costs to workers and society, different choices impact wages differently. Originality/value – To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first paper studying the simultaneous impact of industry and occupation tenure on wages using displaced workers due to firm closing. The paper also corrects for the selection of different alternatives after the displacement and uses data from a country characterised by low-job flows and low-worker flows. Finally, the impact of economic crises on return to skills is assessed.

scholarly journals The impact of geographical indications on farm incomes in the EU olives and wine sector

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (13) ◽  
pp. 579-598
Author(s):  
Kathrin Poetschki ◽  
Jack Peerlings ◽  
Liesbeth Dries
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Indications ◽  
Switching Regression ◽  
Data Network ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Farm Accountancy Data Network ◽  
Wine Sector ◽  
Farm Performance ◽  
On Farm ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Eu

PurposeGeographical indications (GIs) are expected to stimulate rural development by increasing the viability and resilience of farms in disadvantaged and remote areas. However, little quantitative evidence exists to support this expectation. This study fills this knowledge gap by quantitatively analyzing the effect of GI adoption on farm incomes in the EU olives and wine sectors.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis uses data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network and EUROSTAT and an endogenous switching regression model to analyze the impact of GI adoption on farm incomes for specialized quality wine and olives producers in the year 2014.FindingsThe results show that GI adoption significantly improves farm incomes in both the olives and the wine sector.Research limitations/implicationsThe research uses data from the farm accountancy data network (FADN). This is seen as a limitation of the analysis. The research raises some concerns about the appropriateness of FADN for the assessment of farmers' involvement in food quality schemes and a reconsideration of FADN as a tool for farm performance analysis is advised.Originality/valueThis is one of few quantitative studies of the impact of geographical indications on farm performance. Furthermore, it gives insights into the mechanisms by which GI can affect farm incomes.

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