Farmer education and household agricultural income in rural India

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 514-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sitakanta Panda
Keyword(s):  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Rural Household ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Women Farmers ◽  
Farm Income ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
Indian Context ◽  
Farmer Education ◽  
Land Size

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in the rural household agricultural income by farmers’ education while exploiting a nationally representative household survey data set, i.e. the India Human Development Survey-2005, in the rural Indian context. The author seeks to answer the question: how much variation in the household net agricultural income per acre of land cultivated can farmers’ education explain? Design/methodology/approach – The author has employed the ordinary least squares regression model with village fixed effects. The author also analysed the data using some exploratory statistics. Findings – The author finds that farmers’ education significantly increases the net household farm income per acre of land cultivated last year. The results are robust to the inclusion of the five educational degree categories (dummies) in lieu of the years of schooling variable. The results are also robust to its decomposition into that for men and for women separately. Women farmers’ education has an amplified impact on farm incomes. The author also confirms the inverse relationship between the household agricultural income and land area cultivated, which is consistent with the huge literature on the negative relationship between land size-class and farm productivity. Practical implications – In a developing country with a not-so-modernized agriculture sector and low adoption of newer farming technologies, this validated importance of education in explaining the differences in rural farm earnings has guiding policy implications in that a positive return to farmer schooling signals the need for increased investments in the farmers’ education and awareness so as to enhance farm incomes and productivity. The special policy thrust on education of women and women farmers is critical to ensuring higher farm incomes and outcomes. Originality/value – The literature on the impact of farmers’ education on rural household agricultural income is very sparse. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this issue has not been addressed before in the Indian context. The author explains the contribution of farmer education to farm income in rural Indian households. The author also revisits the negative relationship between farm income and land size holdings in the Indian agriculture.

Effectiveness of non-farm diversification on rural household income – evidence and policy implications from India

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shreya Kapoor ◽  
Sanjeev Kapoor
Keyword(s):  
Household Income ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Rural Household ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Sample Survey ◽  
Indian States ◽  
Farm Sector ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Farm Diversification ◽  
Household Incomes

Purpose Doubling farming households’ income through occupational diversification to the non-farm sector has been advocated to be of paramount importance in an agrarian economy such as India. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the effects of non-farm activities on rural household incomes in four different Indian states by using a propensity score matching technique and developing an endogenous switching model. Design/methodology/approach The research is based on secondary data taken from four quinquennial rounds of employment and unemployment surveys conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization. Findings The matching results indicate a maximum monthly rise in per capita income of Rs. 60 in Gujarat and a minimum increase of Rs. 18 in Rajasthan among rural households employed in the non-farm sector as compared to the farm sector. The findings confirm that rural non-farm structural diversification cannot be viewed as a blueprint for increasing rural household incomes in different states. Further, it suggests the need to segmenting the different states on the basis of agricultural development for increasing rural incomes. Research limitations/implications The study argues that Indian states with a strongly developed farm sector i.e. Gujarat and Punjab are not ideally suited to undergo structural changes in their economic pursuit. The estimates suggest that the transition of rural households from farm to non-farm-sector activities is a very weak strategy in agriculturally developed states of Gujarat and Punjab, whereas non-farm diversification becomes a pivotal strategy for increasing rural household incomes in less agriculturally developed states such as Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. A contrasting point that arises from these evidence is that although diversification to the non-farm sector leads to higher income, but the resultant figures are very scanty. Originality/value The present study contributes to the existing literature by providing evidence and policy implications on rural non-farm diversification in India and its impact on the rural household income. The study can help the policymakers in framing policies aiming at increasing the income of the rural household through the structural transition of the rural economy.

Effect of financial knowledge on performance of women farm enterprises in Kenya

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 294-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josephine Cherotich ◽  
Oscar Ingasia Ayuya ◽  
Kenneth W. Sibiko
Keyword(s):  
Selection Bias ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Women Farmers ◽  
Financial Knowledge ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Major Factors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Unobservable Factors

PurposeFinancial knowledge (FK) is considered one of the major factors influencing performance of farm enterprises. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of FK on performance of women farm enterprises. Performance is measured using levels of savings and enterprise margins.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses primary data of 384 farmers from three sub-counties in Kericho County, Kenya. It employs a propensity score matching (PSM) approach to control for possible selection bias and to model the impact of FK on performance of women farm enterprises.FindingsThe analysis reveals that high FK has a significant positive impact on performance of women farm enterprises. Specifically, respondents with higher levels of FK were also associated with higher amounts of savings and enterprise margins.Research limitations/implicationsEconometrically, robust strategies were employed using PSM to ensure minimal estimation bias. Although PSM captures selection bias due to observable characteristics, it fails to capture selection bias due to unobservable factors.Originality/valueThe paper contributes to the growing debate on the role played by FK on performance of small and micro enterprises. It provides insights on the state of FK among women farmers and identifies knowledge gaps and policy implications from a developing country perspective.

Can policy makers count with positive impact of entrepreneurship on economic development of the Czech regions?

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 286-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ondřej Dvouletý
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activity ◽  
Gdp Per Capita ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of the present study is to empirically investigate the impact of the newly established entrepreneurial activity on economic development of the Czech NUTS 3 regions during the period of years 2003-2015. Design/methodology/approach An econometric approach was used to validate the stated hypotheses assuming a positive relationship between the new entrepreneurial activity and regional economic growth and a negative relationship between the new entrepreneurial activity and unemployment rate. For the methods, regression models with fixed effects were estimated on the panel that included 13 Czech regions, covering the period of years 2003-2015. The new entrepreneurial activity was classified into two forms – rate of newly established self-employed set-ups per capita and rate of newly established business companies and partnership set-ups per capita. Findings Different impacts of newly established business companies and the self-employed were found on real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Only the higher rates of newly established business companies and partnership were associated with higher levels of GDP per capita in the Czech regions, and no impact was found for the rate of new self-employed set-ups. Nevertheless, both forms of newly established entrepreneurial activity were associated with lower unemployment rates in the Czech regions; however, the impact of newly established business companies was significantly higher. The obtained results have several policy implications, which are discussed in the present paper. Practical implications Support of entrepreneurship in the Czech regions may improve the situation on the local labour markets and may deliver new job opportunities through the newly established enterprises. The Czech entrepreneurship policies focused on the growth of GDP and economic boom should be oriented more on the support of high-growth enterprises (unicorns). Originality/value The empirical analysis was conducted on the basis of the research gap in the studies related to the impact of the newly established entrepreneurial activity on the economic development of the Czech regions. Obtained results have several policy implications, which are discussed in the present paper.

Does household engagement in concurrent business affect the farm size-technical efficiency relationship in grain production?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min Zhong ◽  
Yuchun Zhu ◽  
Qihui Chen ◽  
Tianjun Liu ◽  
Qihua Cai
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Stochastic Frontier Analysis ◽  
Stochastic Frontier ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
Farm Income ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Frontier Analysis ◽  
Two Factors

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how households’ engagement in concurrent business (CB), which is measured by the contribution of off-farm income to household income, affects the farm size–technical efficiency (TE) relationship in Northern China. Design/methodology/approach This paper applies a stochastic frontier analysis method to analyze data on 1,006 rural households collected from four major wheat-producing provinces in Northern China, adopting a translog specification for the underlying production function. Findings The analysis yields three findings. First, the farm size–TE relationship is inverted U-shaped for all CB engagement levels higher than 5 percent, and the most technically efficient farm size increases with the level of household CB engagement. Second, how TE varies with the level of CB engagement depends on farm size: an inverted-U relationship for relatively small farms (<10μ), a positive relationship for middle-size farms (10–20μ), and a negative relationship for large farms (>20μ). Finally, the overall TE score, 0.88, suggests that wheat output can be increased by 12 percent in Northern China if technical inefficiency were eliminated. Originality/value Unlike most previous studies that examine the impacts of farm size and households’ off-farm business involvement separately, this paper examines how these two factors interact with each other.

Policy implications for the improvement of technology transfer and commercialization process in the Indian context

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 214-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhavisha P. Sheth ◽  
Satya Ranjan Acharya ◽  
S.B. Sareen
Keyword(s):  
Technology Transfer ◽  
Transfer Process ◽  
Indian Institute ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Web Survey ◽  
Indian Council ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Technology Transfer Process ◽  
Indian Context ◽  
Research Organizations

PurposeScientific innovation has resulted in the development of newer technologies for the betterment of humankind. Academic and research organizations are the places where these technologies are actually ideated and/or invented. However, the process of technology transfer and its eventual successful commercialization covers many other facets, in addition to the scientific research alone. This study aims to draw attention towards certain policy gaps and thereby suggest plausible solutions for the improvement of technology transfer process in the Indian context.Design/methodology/approachHere, the authors present an extensive Web survey of technologies available for transfer/commercialization in 12 major Indian research organizations, namely, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Indian Council of Medical Research, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Defence Research and Development Organisation, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Biotechnology, Indian Space Research Organisation, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, IIT Delhi, IIT Kharagpur and IIT Kanpur.FindingsA total of 2,921 technologies were found to be available with respect to the above-mentioned organizations, with the highest of these in agricultural sciences and the maximum reported by ICAR.Research limitations/implicationsCertain significant policy interventions of this study include the need of a central framework for deposition, management and dissemination of institutionally developed technologies. More attention and support is required for the technologically less developed research areas, and there is a need for the promotion of funding mechanisms for the prototype development, in addition to the already available funding schemes for other stages of technology commercialization.Practical implicationsHence, the successful commercialization of the innovation from the Indian research labs requires the restructuring of the existing policies to eventually facilitate the economic growth of the nation.Originality/valueThis study discusses the major policy gaps of the Indian technology transfer process. For this, an extensive Web survey was carried out to enlist the various technologies available for transfer and commercialization in India from 12 major research organizations. The study presents the results and some major policy implications of the technology transfer and commercialization process in the Indian context.

Impact of macroeconomic variables on corporate capital structure: a case of India

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhavna Ranjan Ahuja ◽  
Rosy Kalra
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Macroeconomic Variables ◽  
Large Size ◽  
Indian Context ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Capital Structure

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to examine the impact of macroeconomic variables on the capital structure of manufacturing companies in the Indian context.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs panel regression technique (random effects model) on a sample of 1,029 listed Indian manufacturing companies divided into two categories – large-size companies and mid-size companies for the last ten years from FY 2008–09 to FY 2017–18. Two separate models pertaining to long-term leverage (TTL_TNW ratio) and total leverage (TOL_TNW) have been examined.FindingsMajor findings show that macroeconomic variables play a relatively more important role in deciding the long-term debt component in the capital structure of the firms as compared to short-term loans. Similarly macroeconomic variables are found to be more significant in case of large-size companies as compared to mid-size companies. Also, there is a negative relationship between market capitalisation and leverage and bank credit and leverage, whereas money supply has a positive relationship with leverage.Research limitations/implicationsThe study makes an important contribution to the existing literature in understanding better how macroeconomic variables play an important role in determining the capital structure of firms. In the present dynamic economic environment, such a study lays down the macro areas on which the academicians, policymakers and financial managers can focus with respect to corporate financing decisions. The firm-specific factors have not been taken into account. Inclusion of these factors will make the results more robust.Originality/valueThe study focusses on the impact of macroeconomic variables on the capital structure decision of the Indian firms. Several studies in this area have been done in the context of the developed countries. However, there are not many studies in the Indian context that examine the relationship between financing decision and macroeconomic variables. The results that have been derived in case of developed economies may not be extended in the Indian context as there are considerable differences across countries related to corporate and legal environment, taxation system, corporate governance laws, interest rate environments, banking system, sources of funds and so on. Therefore, it becomes important to focus on countries individually.

Effects of credit constraints on rural household technical efficiency

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 654-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianmei Zhao ◽  
Peter J. Barry
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Credit Constraints ◽  
Rural Households ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Rural Household ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Tobit Regression ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects of access to formal credit on rural household technical efficiency in China. Design/methodology/approach – Based on the rural household survey data in Weifang city, Shandong province in northern China, the authors apply recent developed bootstrapped DEA approach to investigate rural technical efficiency at the household level under the consideration of off-farm activities. Rural households are then identified as credit constrained and classified as supply-side and demand-side credit constraints by applying direct elicitation method. Finally, the authors apply a tobit regression to examine the effects of credit constraints on household technical efficiency. Findings – Rural households in China not only suffer supply-side credit constraints, but also demand-side credit constraints resulted from the transaction costs and risk rationing. The tobit regression discloses that demand-side credit constraints impose significant negative impacts on household technical efficiency. Originality/value – The authors clarify the definition of credit constraints and classify the credit constraints into supply-side and demand-side credit constraints. The results of this paper have significant policy implications for rural finance policies in China.

Rationales of gender diversity management policies and practices in India: an exploratory empirical study in the Indian IT/ITeS industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 667-688
Author(s):  
Shreyashi Chakraborty ◽  
Leena Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
Survey Methodology ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Gender Diversity ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Business Case ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Indian Context ◽  
Management Policies ◽  
Policies And Practices

PurposeThe Indian context is marked with weak anti-discrimination laws and patchy implementation of protection of civil rights of women at workplaces. The purpose of this paper is to unearth the rationales of the adoption of gender diversity management policies and practices in India, in the absence of laws and regulations.Design/methodology/approachInspiration is drawn from previous studies on diversity management in other national contexts, and a survey methodology was adopted. The lead researcher administered the questionnaires personally to all respondents to ensure that the understanding of the questions is uniform across respondents as gender diversity management is a relatively new concept in India.FindingsSize of the organisation (number of full-time employees), the influence of external organisations and perceived enhanced organisational flexibility were found to explain the adoption of gender diversity management policies and practices in the Indian IT/ITeS industry. Findings also indicate that Indian subsidiaries of foreign multinationals tend to adopt more gender diversity management policies and practices as compared to Indian-owned organisations.Research implicationsThis study provides evidence that organisations do not always enact structures or behaviours in the pursuit of normative rationality and also consider the economic value of them, establishing an organisational agency in adopting legitimated norms or practices. The study also shows that gender diversity management policies and practices are not only dependent on the enactment of laws but also are adopted because of the economic benefit perceived.Originality/valueDiversity management policies and practices have been mostly studied in national contexts with anti-discrimination laws or affirmative action programs and have been claimed to be a successor of equal employment opportunity (EEO) policies. In the absence of stringent laws to reduce or eliminate discrimination against women employees in Indian workplaces, this study contributes to the literature by determining whether the business case for gender diversity drives the adoption of gender diversity management in the Indian context.

scholarly journals SME credit constraints and access to informal credit markets in Vietnam

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 787-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lan Archer ◽  
Parmendra Sharma ◽  
Jen-Je Su
Keyword(s):  
Peer Review ◽  
Credit Markets ◽  
Credit Constraints ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Informal Credit ◽  
Banking Services ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Credit Access ◽  
Access Policy ◽  
Correlated Random Effects

PurposeA review of literature has documented that accessing formal credit and other banking services has always been a crucial challenge for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The alternative, therefore, tends to be informal channels. However, the credit constraint vis-à-vis informal channel link does not appear to be well documented in the literature. This study aims to investigate whether credit constraints significantly affect the probability of accessing informal credit, as well as the credit values of Vietnamese SMEs.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a trinary approach and correlated random-effects Probit and Tobit techniques to avoid the incidental coefficients problem.FindingsThe results suggest that relative to unconstrained and partially constrained firms, fully constrained firms tend to be more active in the informal credit markets, shown by their higher probability of informal credit access and larger credit values.Originality/valueTo the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study on Vietnam that takes a different approach to credit constraints and examines their impact on informal credit access. Policy implications arise and are discussed.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2017-0543

Conflict and creativity in inter-organizational teams

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Hu ◽  
Zhi Chen ◽  
Jibao Gu ◽  
Shenglan Huang ◽  
Hefu Liu
Keyword(s):  
Shared Leadership ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Task Conflict ◽  
Relationship Conflict ◽  
Curvilinear Relationship ◽  
Team Creativity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
Organizational Teams ◽  
Study Offer

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effects of task and relationship conflicts on team creativity, and the moderating role of shared leadership in inter-organizational teams. An inter-organizational team normally comprises employees from collaborated organizations brought together to conduct an initiative, such as product development. Practitioners and researchers have witnessed the prevalence of conflict in inter-organizational teams. Despite significant scholarly investigation into the importance of conflict in creativity, a deep theoretical understanding of conflict framework remains elusive. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was conducted in China to collect data. Consequently, 54 teams, which comprised 54 team managers and 276 team members, were deemed useful for the study. Findings By testing our hypotheses on 54 inter-organizational teams, we found that relationship conflict has a negative relationship with team creativity, whereas task conflict has an inverted U-shaped (curvilinear) relationship with team creativity. Furthermore, when shared leadership is stronger, the negative relationship with team creativity is weaker for relationship conflict, whereas the inverted U-shaped relationship with team creativity is stronger for task conflict. Research limitations/implications The main limitation is cross-sectional, which cannot establish causality in relationships. Despite this potential weakness, the present research provides insights into conflict, leadership and inter-organizational collaboration literature. Practical implications The findings of this study offer some guidance on how managers can intervene in the conflict situations of inter-organizational teams. Social implications Managers are struggling to identify ways to effectively manage team conflict when a team of diverse individuals across organizational boundaries are brought together to solve a problem. The findings of this study offer some guidance on how managers can intervene in the conflict situations of inter-organizational teams. Originality/value This paper provides understandings about how relationship and task conflicts affect team creativity in inter-organizational teams.

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