Evaluating complementary synergies in integrated crop-livestock systems in Ghana

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 72-85
Author(s):  
Bright O. Asante ◽  
Renato A. Villano ◽  
George E. Battese
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Farm Productivity ◽  
Livestock Systems ◽  
Economies Of Diversification

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the characteristics of crop-livestock diversification among smallholders in the forest-savannah agroecological zone of Ghana. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a stochastic input distance function to investigate the evidence of economies of diversification and its effect on determining diversification decisions of smallholders in Ghana. Furthermore, this study also explores evidence of scale economies in integrated crop-livestock systems among smallholder farmers. Findings The empirical results show that economies of diversification are significant in determining diversification decisions of smallholders. The economies of scale are evident in integrated crop-livestock systems in Ghana, suggesting that opportunities exist to expand crop-livestock outputs without employing additional inputs or improved production technologies. Crop-livestock diversification is a desirable strategy for improving overall farm productivity among smallholders in Ghana. Economies of diversification were found to be significant among the output combinations, maize with other crops and other crops with livestock, in integrated crop-livestock production systems. Research limitations/implications This study is based on a cross-sectional data set. Hence, the findings may be subject to some limitations; however, the authors have sought to minimise such limitations. Practical implications The results imply that crop-livestock diversification is a desirable strategy for improving overall farm productivity. Therefore, the findings are useful for policymakers to design appropriate strategies for enhancing the production of specific output combinations in crop-livestock diversification systems among smallholders in Ghana. Specifically, such policies should promote the production and integration of crops such as legumes with other crops, and livestock with other crops in diversified farming systems to enhance overall farm productivity. This will reduce food insecurity and poverty among rural farm households and the entire rural population. Originality/value These results indicate that to improve crop-livestock productivity through diversification, and reduce the effect of climate variability, it is imperative to provide the enabling environment that will facilitate and encourage production of these output combinations among smallholders in Ghana. The empirical results enhance the literature by providing empirical evidence of the complementary synergies and economies of diversification in integrated farming systems and, hence, make recommendations for improving these farming systems. Peer review The peer review history for this paper is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-04-2019-0274.

scholarly journals Effect of input credit on smallholder farmers’ output and income

2018 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Iddrisu ◽  
Isaac Gershon Kodwo Ansah ◽  
Paul Kwame Nkegbe
Keyword(s):  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Northern Region ◽  
Northern Ghana ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Policy ◽  
On Farm

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of input credit on smallholder farmers’ output and income using Masara N’Arziki support project in Northern Ghana. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional primary data set was used to estimate the effect of project participation on farm output, yield and income using propensity score matching (PSM) methods. Findings The findings are that project participation is skewed towards experienced farmers with big-sized households and farms. The effect of project on outcomes is somewhat unsatisfactory in the sense that participation only raises output and yield, but not income. Research limitations/implications The paper only examined the project effect on farm outcomes among smallholder farmers participating in the programme in just one operational area in the Northern region. Future research should consider all the operational areas for an informed generalisation of findings. Practical implications Greater benefits to farmers from programme participation would require project management to review the contractual arrangement so that the high cost of input credit is significantly reduced. Originality/value The paper applied the PSM to estimate the effect of project participation on farm output, yield and income among smallholder farmers which is non-existent in the literature on the study area, at least as far as we know. This paper can inform future policy on the direction and nature of support for smallholder farmers in Northern Ghana.

scholarly journals Inefficiency patterns in family-owned banks in Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mette Asmild ◽  
Dorte Kronborg ◽  
Tasmina Mahbub ◽  
Kent Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

PurposeMulti-directional efficiency analysis (MEA) is an alternative methodology to data envelopment analysis (DEA) that investigates the improvement potentials in each input and output dimension and identifies a benchmark proportional to these potential improvements. This results in a more nuanced picture of the sources of the inefficiency providing opportunities for additional conclusions about which variables the inefficiency is mainly located on. MEA provides insights into not only the level of the inefficiency but also the patterns within the inefficiency, i.e. its sources and location. This paper applies this methodology to Bangladeshi banks to understand the differences in the inefficiency patterns between different subgroups.Design/methodology/approachThis paper analyses the difference in the pattern of inefficiency between the older family-dominated banks and the newer non-family-owned banks in Bangladesh using the recently developed MEAs technology, which enables analysis of patterns within inefficiencies rather than only levels of (in)efficiency. The empirical results show that whilst there are few significant differences in the levels of variable-specific efficiency scores between the two subgroups, there are clearer differences on the inefficiency contributions from particular outputs in most of the study period and also on most variables in the time window of 2007–2009. This finding provides clues to differences in business models and management practice between the two types of banks in Bangladesh.FindingsThe empirical results show that whilst there are few significant differences in the levels of variable-specific efficiency scores between the two subgroups (older family-dominated banks and the newer non-family-owned banks), there are clearer differences on the inefficiency contributions from particular outputs in most of the study period and also on most variables in the time window of 2007–2009, during the Global Financial Crisis (GFCs). This finding provides clues to differences in business models and management practice between the two types of banks in Bangladesh.Practical implicationsDEA is a conventional tool for benchmarking in management science. However, conventional benchmarking exercises based on DEA do not reveal significant differences in the sources of inefficiency that show differences in business models. While DEA remains the most utilized technique in the efficiency literature, we think that a more flexible and deeper analysis requires something like MEA.Originality/valueThe contribution is twofold. First, examination of performances of family-owned firms is a well-established but analysis of performances of family-dominated banks is relative scarce. Secondly, isolating the sources of inefficiency which differs between types of banks even if there is no difference in inefficiency levels is absolutely new for a complete data set of conventional banks in Bangladesh. It turns out that there are few (significant) differences between the groups in terms of the inefficiency levels, whereas clear patterns emerge in terms of differences in inefficiency contributions between family-dominated and non-family-owned banks, during the Global Financial Crisis

The role of audit quality in preventing firm misreporting: empirical evidence from China

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loan Quynh Thi Nguyen ◽  
Duong Thuy Le ◽  
Hiep Ngoc Luu ◽  
Anh Huu Nguyen ◽  
Thinh Gia Hoang
Keyword(s):  
Audit Quality ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
External Audit ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Tangible Assets ◽  
Retained Earnings

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of external audit quality in reducing firm misreporting practices. Design/methodology/approach Data are gathered from a number of sources including the Osiris database and firms’ annual reports to construct a comprehensive data set containing financial and non-financial information of over 3,100 publicly listed firms in China during the period 2009–2017. A number of rigorous empirical specifications are utilized with the use of probit, logit and conditional logit regressions, as well as panel pooled OLS and fixed-effect estimators. The IV-2SLS, 2-step system GMM and difference-in-differences techniques are also employed to deal with the potential endogeneity bias to ensure the robustness of the empirical results. Findings The empirical results reveal that larger firms and firms having more tangible assets and greater retained earnings are more likely to employ a better-quality external auditor. Subsequently, higher audit quality leads to a deterioration in corporate misreporting. However, these results are not homogenous across firms. While we document similar findings in the case of non-state-owned firms, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) appear to have less tendency to hire a higher-quality auditor, and higher-quality auditors in turn do not play a significant role in reducing misreporting practices in SOEs. Originality/value This paper contributes to a better understanding of the mechanism to mitigate corporate misreporting practices. It is one of the few to empirically investigate auditor selections and the association between external audit quality and corporate misreporting practices in China.

Does contract farming improve rice farmers' food security? Empirical evidence from Ghana

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Reuben Jagri Binpori ◽  
Dadson Awunyo-Vitor ◽  
Camillus Abawiera Wongnaa
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Market Access ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Contract Farming ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Rice Farmers ◽  
Food Security Status ◽  
The Impact

PurposeIn order to improve access to resources for smallholder farmers, efforts are being made to promote contract farming in Ghana. This is seen as a strategy to increase agricultural productivity of farmers, give better market access and guarantee adequate supply of raw materials to agro-based industries. However, the challenge is whether contract farming leads to improvement in food security status of farmers. The study therefore seeks to explore to what extent farmers' food security status is influenced by their participation in contract farming activities.Design/methodology/approachUsing Cragg's double-hurdle model to analyse participation in contract farming, the authors control for selection bias using propensity score matching applied to a data set of 336 observations to examine the impact of contract farming on the food security levels of rice farmers in Ghana.FindingsThe results of this study show that yield of paddy and the wealth of the farmer are the main factors that influence the quantity of paddy rice to be contracted in contract farming arrangements. This study also finds that participation in contract farming will increase food security by 109%. In conclusion, contract farming has a significant positive impact on the farmers' food security status.Originality/valueAgricultural policies and rural development initiatives supporting the promotion and expansion of contract farming should be pursued to persuade more farmers to produce under contract farming agreements.

scholarly journals News and social media emotions in the commodity market

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiancheng Shen ◽  
Mohammad Najand ◽  
Feng Dong ◽  
Wu He
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Crude Oil ◽  
Predictive Power ◽  
Commodity Market ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Market Sentiment ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Market Index

Purpose Emotion plays a significant role in both institutional and individual investors’ decision-making process. Emotions affect the perception of risk and the assessment of monetary value. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence available that addresses how investors’ emotions affect commodity market returns. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether media-based emotions can be used to predict future commodity returns. Design/methodology/approach The authors examine the short-term predictive power of media-based emotion indices on the following five days’ commodity returns. The research adopts a proprietary data set of commodity-specific market emotions, which is computed based on a comprehensive textual analysis of sources from newswires, internet news sources and social media. Time series econometrics models (threshold generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity and vector autoregressive) are employed to analyze 14 years (January 1998-December 2011) of daily observations of the CRB commodity market index, crude oil and gold returns, and the market-level sentiments and emotions (optimism, fear and joy). Findings The empirical results suggest that the commodity-specific emotions (optimism, fear and joy) have significant influence on individual commodity returns, but not on commodity market index returns. Additionally, the research findings support the short-term predictability of the commodity-specific emotions on the following five days’ individual commodity returns. Compared to the previous studies of news sentiment on commodity returns (Borovkova, 2011; Borovkova and Mahakena, 2015; Smales, 2014), this research provides further evidence of the effects of news and social media-based emotions (optimism, fear and joy) in the commodity market. Additionally, this work proposes that market emotion incorporates both a sentimental effect and appraisal effect on commodity returns. Empirical results are shown to support both the sentimental effect and appraisal effect when market sentiment is controlled in crude oil and gold spot markets. Originality/value This paper adopts the valence-arousal approach and cognitive appraisal approach to explain financial anomalies caused by investors’ emotions. Additionally, this is the first paper to explore the predictive power of investors’ emotions (optimism, fear and joy) on commodity returns.

Economic risk analysis of alternative farming systems for smallholder farmers in central and north-east Thailand

2014 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 294-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satit Aditto ◽  
Christopher Gan ◽  
Gilbert Nartea
Keyword(s):  
Risk Analysis ◽  
Central Region ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
Farming System ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Content Type ◽  
North East ◽  
Study Results

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate farmers’ risk aversion using the equally likely certainty equivalent approach and the negative exponential utility function to identify risk preference classification. Design/methodology/approach – Stochastic efficiency with respect to a function is applied to determine the risk efficient farming systems for the farmers in central and north-east regions of Thailand. Findings – The study results showed that maize followed by sorghum is the most risk efficient farming system for the extremely risk averse rain-fed farmers in the central region of Thailand. Intensive planting of wet rice and dry rice cultivation is preferred by the extremely risk averse central region irrigated farmers. Wet rice and cassava together with raising small herd of cattle is the most economically viable farming system for the extremely risk averse rain-fed farmers in the north-east region, while two rice crops with raising cattle is preferred by the extremely risk averse north-east irrigated farmers of Thailand. Originality/value – The findings of this study provide useful information to reinforce the empirical basis for risk analysis for Thai farmers. The results will provide more accurate information regarding risk at the farm level to policy makers and researchers.

Modeling the efficiency of Tunisian and Moroccan banks using the SFA approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (5) ◽  
pp. 879-902
Author(s):  
Hela Kallel ◽  
Salah Ben Hamad ◽  
Mohamed Triki
Keyword(s):  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Stochastic Frontier Analysis ◽  
Cost Model ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Likelihood Estimation ◽  
Foreign Banks ◽  
Bank Efficiency ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Frontier Analysis

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate and compare bank efficiency between the two Maghreb countries, Tunisia and Morocco, over the period 2005–2014. Design/methodology/approach The authors follow the stochastic frontier analysis, where the preferred cost model is determined via various hypothesis tests based on the maximum likelihood estimation. Then, the first and the second derivates of the cost function are employed to determine scale elasticities, scale inefficiencies and technological progress. Findings Specification tests indicate that the Fourier Flexible form provides better fit to the data set. Further, the estimated model shows that Tunisian and Moroccan banks’ efficiency is positively affected by banking service quality, but negatively influenced by both bank capitalization and GDP growth. Overall, Moroccan banks are found to be the most efficient despite the decrease of efficiency levels in both countries. Additionally, foreign banks have a higher scale inefficiency and, therefore, a lower cost efficiency. Equally, the technical progress raises banking costs in both countries, providing a decrease in efficiency scores. Practical implications The findings of this study provide novel insights to Tunisian and Moroccan policy makers on the relevance of the smaller banks’ consolidation to improve bank efficiency by achieving unrealized economies of scale. Also, more reforms should be implemented in Tunisia to reduce non-performing loans. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first which offers a comparison between Tunisian and Moroccan banks to clarify the sources of inefficiency and to make strategic decisions.

scholarly journals Adoption and impact of index-insurance and credit for smallholder farmers in developing countries

2016 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Marr ◽  
Anne Winkel ◽  
Marcel van Asseldonk ◽  
Robert Lensink ◽  
Erwin Bulte
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Index Insurance ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Basis Risk ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Farm Productivity ◽  
Financial Products ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the most recent scientific literature on the determinants explaining the demand for index-insurance, the impact of index-insurance and the existing links between insurance and credit. In this meta-analysis, the authors identify key discoveries on the potential of index-insurance in enhancing credit supply for smallholders and thus farm productivity. Design/methodology/approach – Following a systematic literature search in Scopus and Web of Science, relevant empirical articles were identified by using the following criteria search algorithm: “insurance” and (“weather” or “micro” or “area?based” or “rain*” or “livestock” or “index”), and ((“empiric*” or “experiment” or “trial” or “RCT” or “impact”) or (“credit” or “loan*” or “debt” or “finance”)). The authors identified 1,133 related papers, 110 of which were selected as closely matching the study criteria. After removing duplicates and analysing each document, 45 papers were included in the current analysis. The framework for addressing insurance and credit issues, in the paper, entails three subsequent themes, namely, adoption of insurance, impact of insurance and links between insurance and credit. Findings – It is not confirmed yet that demand for insurance is indeed hump-shaped in risk aversion and the functional form of this relationship should be tested in more detail. This also holds for the magnitude of the effect of trust and education on actual demand. Furthermore, it is unclear to what extent other risk mitigation strategies form complements or substitutes to index-insurance. Lastly, the interaction between basis risk and price is important to the design of index-insurance products. If basis risk and price elasticity are indeed highly correlated, products that diminish basis risk are crucial in increasing demand. On the impact of bundled products, e.g. combination of insurance and credit, limited empirical research has been conducted. For example, it is unknown to what extent credit suppliers would react to the insured status of farmers or what the preferences of farmers are when it comes to a mix of financial products. In addition, several researchers have suggested that microfinance institutions or banks could insure themselves against covariate risk, yet no empirical evidence about this insurance mechanism has been conducted so far. Research limitations/implications – The authors based the research on scientific literature uploaded in Scopus and Web of Science. Other potentially insightful grey literature was not included due to lack of accessibility. Given the research findings, there is plenty of opportunity for further research particularly with regard to the effects of bundled products, e.g. insurance plus credit, on demand for index-insurance, supply of credit, loan conditions and impact on farm productivity and farmers’ well-being. Practical implications – Microfinance institutions, insurance companies, NGOs, research institutions and universities, particularly in developing countries, will be interested to learn about the systematic review of scientific research done in the area of insurance and credit for agriculture and the possibilities for application in their own practice of supplying these financial products. Social implications – A rigorous understanding of the potential of index-insurance and credit is essential for identifying the right mix of financial products that help smallholder farmers to increase farm productivity and their own well-being. Originality/value – The paper is valuable due to its rigorous evaluation of existing theoretical and empirical research around issues explaining the degree of adoption and impact of index-insurance and that of bundled financial products (i.e. index-insurance plus credit). The paper has the potential to become essential reading for academics, practitioners and policy-makers interested in researching and putting in practice the best options leading to greater farm productivity and well-being in developing countries.

The role of savings mobilization on access to credit: a case study of smallholder farmers in Ghana

2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martinson Ankrah Twumasi ◽  
Yuansheng Jiang ◽  
Frank Osei Danquah ◽  
Abbas Ali Chandio ◽  
Wonder Agbenyo
Keyword(s):  
Financial Market ◽  
Financial Management ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of savings mobilization on access to credit among smallholder farmers’ in the Birim central municipality of Ghana. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional primary data set was used to estimate the factors influencing smallholder farmers’ access to credit and size of loan to be borrowed using the IV-Probit and IV-Tobit model. Findings The results of the study revealed that savings mobilization has a positive significant impact on access to credit and the total amount of credit one can borrow as well. Other control variables such as transaction cost and farm size depicted a negative significant impact on access to credit. Land ownership, member of an association, household size, years of farming experience and education also showed a positive significant impact on access to credit. Research limitations/implications The paper only examined the savings effect on credit accessibility among smallholder farmers in one of the municipality’s in the Eastern region of Ghana. Future research should consider all or many municipality for an informed generalization of findings. Practical implications This paper provides evidence that smallholder farmers knowledge on the financial market is poor and it would require the policymakers or NGOs to organize financial management training programs so that the farmers high ignorance of the financial market will significantly reduce. Originality/value Although existing studies have examined smallholder farmers’ access to credit, the unique contribution of this paper is the analysis of the impact of saving mobilization on credit accessibility in Ghana, a major access to credit determinant in the financial market. In addition, those researchers who factored in savings as an access to credit determinant did not also consider the casual relationship between these two variables, thus, the present of endogeneity of which this paper does.

scholarly journals Building climate change resilience through adaptation in smallholder farming systems in semi-arid Zimbabwe

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Obert Jiri ◽  
Paramu L. Mafongoya ◽  
Pauline Chivenge
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Farming Systems ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Farm Income ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Household Decisions

Purpose This study aimed to determine factors that increase resilience and cause smallholder farmers to adapt better to climate change and vulnerability. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors used the vulnerability to resilience model and binary logit model to analyse the factors influencing household decisions to adapt. Findings Households with increased access to climate information through extension services were likely to have better adaptation abilities. It was also shown that younger farmers were likely to adapt to climate change given their flexibility to adopt new techniques and their access and use of modern information and technology. Larger households were found to have higher probability of adapting as most adaptation strategies are labour intensive. Household’s possession of livestock and access to credit significantly enhanced adaptation. However, households with higher farm income have lesser incentives to adapt to because their current farming practices might already be optimum. Research limitations/implications Given that most of the smallholder farmers are vulnerable, such as women-headed households and the elderly, who are labour constrained, there is need for research and development of labour saving technologies to increase resilience to climate change and vulnerability. Originality/value These findings underscore the importance of enabling farmer access to information and better technologies which enable them to increase adaptive capacity and resilience.

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